See? I CAN go faster than you if I want to

[jur]

Even though I have joked a few times that whenever 2 commuters are going in the same direction, there is a tacit race, I don't take this seriously. Most of the time, that is. I like to pass riders who are slower than my pace of the day, but I don't speed up to keep up with people who pass me.

There is this one guy who annoys me by suddenly speeding up whenever I get near. Occasionally I ride past him, he then suddenly speeds up and sucks my wheel, then on the steep little hill in that section he powers past me, making some nonchalant remark about gears or sh!t. Perhaps he is not deliberately trying to show me up, but it sure looks like that.

So last night on the way home, there he is again, waiting for the green light to cross and to go up that hill. I was on my Swift (Raleigh 20 is sidelined, worn BB). He casts disparaging glances at my 20" bike. So I think, right, thickhead, wanna race again? I am more than ready for you on my Swift.

Light goes green, there he goes powering up the hill. I am spinning easily and deliberately stay on his right just behind his wheel, not drafting, but so that my lights wash all over him so he can see I'm right there breathing in his neck.

He piles on more power. I spin easily, keeping up no effort. More power! His chest is going like a bellows. I am still breathing down his neck. Instead of putting my foot down and blowing past him, I stay on his side, forcing him to keep up appearances.

We get to the top and I slow down on the downhill, in case of debris on the road. He races down and hops on the bike path. I accidentally overshoot the turnoff, turn around go back and also hop on the path. Crossing the bridge over the creek, I am going easy again. His blinkie is about 50 paces ahead.

I think, OK see you next time! Only, while pedalling briskly, I begin to catch up again. So I put my foot down and ride right behind him again, not drafting, but again to the right. He puts on more power. I stay right there.

After a minute or so of this surreptitious speeding up all the time, I decide OK, time to say goodbye. I put the foot down with a hard effort, speed past him, saying nonchalantly, "See you!" and make sure he can't suck wheel this time.

Maybe he won't be so eager to race-while-pretending-not-to next time.

[LittlePixel]

Ha! You rule!
Picked up my £4.99 twenty tonight... Still sure you don't want bb bits?

[DaFriMon]

Feels good, doesn't it? ;)

In my case, I think that people on regular bikes just assume that they ought to pass that scruffy guy on the funny looking bike. Sometimes I give in to the temptation to show them up. Unfortunately, some of those times I discover that, by golly, they really are faster than me. :(

[jur]

Ha! You rule!
Picked up my £4.99 twenty tonight... Still sure you don't want bb bits?
Actually, I do want them. Especially the spindle if it is in good nick. I am looking to get new YMT cups with built-in seal from Loosescrews, but will have to get another spindle, there is one in Cyprus. The threads are being retapped now, so the R20 cups probably won't screw in but I want to use the sealed cups anyway. So I am interested to see the condition of the spindle, thanks...

[14R]

Most of the roadsters that I bump into have while riding have a good perspective of my speeds, never making a big deal if I pass them. On the other hand, if I pass a mountain biker, oh boy, that is like cursing their moms and running...90% of the time they try REALLY hard to keep up.

[maunakea]

Capreo, 53/9 on 406s. Roadies can't believe it, but the fit ones can leave me if they choose. MTBs never get a chance.

[spambait11]

I put the foot down with a hard effort, speed past him, saying nonchalantly, "See you!" and make sure he can't suck wheel this time.
So this all happens after he's ridden 100 miles, right? :)
Next time he sees you, he'll know what to expect, so I expect the competition will be better.


MTBs never get a chance.
Goes without saying. :D

[psykoocycle]

Nice "engagement" Jur. Some riders are just rather annoying that way. Sounds like a younger fellow though.

I rarely ever pay attention to who is passing whom, but some riders are a bit too much. Was he riding roadie or MTB?

[EvilV]

:)

:)

Hilarious story Jur.

[rhm]

Feels good, doesn't it? ;)

In my case, I think that people on regular bikes just assume that they ought to pass that scruffy guy on the funny looking bike. Sometimes I give in to the temptation to show them up. Unfortunately, some of those times I discover that, by golly, they really are faster than me. :(

Yeah, I know the feeling.

Last Friday I caught up with a guy on a road bike going up the Queensborough bridge, and I stayed right behind him the whole way down the other side. He tucked down into aero position and coasted along at about 28 mph while I shifted my DT Mini up to 8th and pedalled hard to keep up. And I did, too, but there was no way I was ever going to get past him. I didn't want to go any faster anyway.

A couple weeks ago I was riding in traffic down a two-lane road with a lot of cars going maybe 30 or 40 mph. I was on my DT mini, having just ridden it about 13 miles from the train station, only two more to go; I was tired, and was hugging the curb, happy to be cruising along 16 mph. At this point a bunch of teenagers on MX-style bikes shot out of a parking lot and onto the sidewalk just in front of me and are making a big show of how cool they are, doing wheelies and other stunts, which I ignored as I went whizzing past them. Then they started making a lot of noise about being passed by "that scruffy guy on the funny looking bike," and in my rear view mirror I saw them catching up to pass me. But they didn't pass me. In my mirror I saw them gradually falling behind... now trying to catch up... and before long they were too far behind me to see. This is when I noticed I was going 24 mph. Normally my top speed is around 18 mph. Now, maybe I had a slight decline and/or a tail wind, but I don't think so. There's just something about a little competition....

[Speedo]

I put the foot down with a hard effort, speed past him, saying nonchalantly, "See you!" and make sure he can't suck wheel this time.


You're the man!

[bookishboy]

This thread is incomplete without a description of wattage.

:)

[SesameCrunch]

He tucked down into aero position and coasted along at about 28 mph while I shifted my DT Mini up to 8th and pedalled hard to keep up.
Hats off to you for taking the Mini up to 28mph!!! :eek:

How did it ride at that speed? I'd be soiling my undies at that point, I think...:o

[pm124]

It's funny how passing people is always tricky. I've resolved to just watch the speedometer unless there is a nice draft to be had.

But drafting can be touchy as well...it's quite difficult to tell whether the person you are drafting off of knows what s/he is doing. One guy in a pack in the park this weekend would veer quickly without warning despite being situated in the middle of a pack. So, sometimes it's best not to ride with strangers. It's certainly a cause of a lot of high speed bike crashes.

My cruzing speed is about 20 with no wind. However, I get nervous if I'm rolling over 35 unless it's on a straight downhill with no cars in sight. Then again, I would get nervous on a motorbike going that speed.

I watched that speed wobble video Jur pointed to on Wiki. Yikes! 40+MPH is a serious crash.

Don't watch this one unless you need to be scared straight: http://www.bestofgooglevideo.com/video.php?video=116. Also don't ever, ever move a crash victim like they do in this video.

[rhm]

Hats off to you for taking the Mini up to 28mph!!! :eek:

How did it ride at that speed? I'd be soiling my undies at that point, I think...:o
Nah, it was fine, you'd have loved it, trust me. The bike/pedestrian path on that bridge is long and straight and eight or ten feet wide, with a chain link fence on the river side and a barrier of some kind on the traffic side, so there's no way a car will pull out in front of you; and visibility was excellent, so I could see there were no other bikes or pedestrians... so no problem. And even though I was pretty far back from the guy on the road bike, I was probably catching a pretty good draft.

I'm going that way again today, maybe I'll hit 29 this time!

[juan162]

I had a similar experience on my Raleigh Twenty. Some middle age guy on his mountain bike passed me going down hill, trying to be all cool and nonchallant. The difference was that I was taking my time and he sas clearly working to pass me on a downhill! I caught up to him and kept up a conversation with him for about five minutes. In that time he started breathing harder and harder, while my breathing stayed even as we were going around 17-19mph. At some point I decided to dust him so I said goodbye and got up to about 27mph and didn't look back for abouth 2 minutes. When I did, he was a teeny, tiny spec. BTW, I hit a new record speed for me (on a different ride than the one previously described). I hit 44mph on a wicked downhill.
Juan

[Nachoman]

He was aware of the race, wasn't he?

[JeremyZ]

Good story.

[Brian]

Takin' the piss outta big wheelers. Jur, you're a legend.

[pm124]

OK, I'll admit it. I love passing $3000+ custom bikes with my tiny wheels. I pass 99% of the rolling advertisment types. But then some innocuous looking woman in a baggy tee will come flying by me at 30MPH and disappear into the horizon.