Originally Posted by rpenmanparker

Just wanted to answer your questions, as disingenuous as they happen to be. Don't be obtuse. Of course it is both about me being faster than some and slower than some others. That is what this idea is about, making it irrelevant who is faster on a given day and who is slower, speaking about "friendly" rides of course. I am neither the fastest rider in the world nor the slowest. So I can see this thing in both directions. Sometimes it will be me needing the help, sometimes someone else.

And you are wrong. I gave you a specific case where it is important to bolster someone's performance for the ride to be enjoyable (not competitive, just enjoyable) for both riders. Maybe you are the perfect friend, but that isn't very common. If riding with a slower rider is painful for you, unless you are hoping to be nominated for sainthood, you aren't going to do it very often. I can think of a number of times I made an excuse not to ride with someone and likewise I have been blown off as well for just this reason. If the stronger rider has a goal for the ride that will suffer if a weaker rider comes along, he may beg off riding together. To me that is a lot more polite than leading your companion out by 50 yards for the whole ride and forcing him to struggle to keep up. Yes, I have experienced that too, usually from behind. But better yet would be to obviate the issue with motor-assist.

If you want to continue this in a separate thread, go ahead and open one up. I will be happy to participate. This idea is important to me.