StephenH

I haven't ridden that ride, but will pass along some general advice.

First off, look at the route maps on the website. The shorter route than the 50-miler is the 27-miler, and it's part of the 50-mile route. So if you get to the turn-off for the 50 mile route, just make the call then as to which route sounds good and how tired y'all are. Then also notice that the last several miles on the 50-mile route is an out-and-back on the same road, which means you could turn around at any point on that route if you wanted to. On these charity rides, you're never obligated to ride the whole 50 just because you signed up for it, and the organizers would rather have you switch off to a shorter route than to have to haul you in with the SAG wagon anyway.

Secondly, everyone "struggles with the hills". Even Lance Armstrong slows down and works harder on the mountains. So that's a pretty elastic term. I would guess that in this case, "struggling with the hills" means she's having trouble keeping up with you. And the first lesson there is that she doesn't need to keep up with anyone. She needs to downshift until she can ride on up at whatever speed that gives her, and if that's way slower than your speed, that's okay. If she needs to stop and rest a minute half-way up, that's fine, too.l If she's trying to keep up with you or with a group, or trying to ride up in too high of a gear, it may do her in, otherwise, she can probably make it through okay.