Commuting - who would pass another cyclist just to slow down in front of them?

so i'm commuting along chicago's lakefront bike trail as usual this morning, cruising along at about 22-23 mph - not killing myself, but moving at a decent clip none-the-less. then a lycra-clad non-commuter on his fancy cervelo catches up to me and passes me slowly going maybe 1 mph faster, and once he was immediately ahead of me and switched back into our lane, he broke his cadence, reached down for his water bottle and proceeded to rapidly slow down as he rehydrated, causing me to slow down as well. WTF? who would kill themselves to catch up to another cyclist, only to break speed immediately upon passing them and thus forcing the cyclist behind to have to slow down as well?

i gave him a little bit of time to pick it it back up, but after i realized that he was now spent from trying to catch up to me, i turned on the afterburners and buzzed right past him. this seemed not to sit well with him as he tried to turn it on to keep up with me, but after a mile or so, i could no longer see him behind me. victory for the commuter!

This happens on the highway in my car all the time too.

Ram him next time.

More testosterone than brains.

This old guy ( and I am 50) on a walmart hybird, no helmet etc, just kinda an eccentric old guy, passes me occassionally when I come to work a little early. He works his butt off to pass me then slows down drastically. It is obviously important to him so i dont have the heart to pass him back. Some guys just need that.

How do you know he was not a commuter?

cervelo?

How do you know he was not a commuter?
He was fully lycra-clad riding without any panniers, back pack, messenger bag, etc.

unless the guy works somewhere with an EXTREMELY lax dress code, my best guess tells me he wasn't on his way into work.






This old guy ( and I am 50) on a walmart hybird, no helmet etc, just kinda an eccentric old guy, passes me occassionally when I come to work a little early. He works his butt off to pass me then slows down drastically. It is obviously important to him so i dont have the heart to pass him back. Some guys just need that.
the guy who did this to me this morning wasn't terribly old, maybe mid 40s or so, on a nice high end ride, fully decked out in his roadie kit. he may have "needed" to pass me for his own ego stroke (or to justify the buckets of money he had to hand over for his cervelo), but it seems to me that a guy riding his set-up would have had the good sense to keep his speed up upon passing me rather than set himself up to be repassed.







cervelo?

you've never heard of cervelo? carlos sastre won the 2008 tour de france on a cervelo bike.

http://www.cervelo.com/en_us/

I knew what it was, I meant that was a bit upscale for me/us.

Ok..........Wait for it.............An...........................................IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This happens on the highway in my car all the time too.

^^^+1. There's something in some people's minds that makes them unable to handle the idea that they're not IN FRONT. I think it may have something to do with being forced to "line up" in elementary school, and the resulting desire to be at the front of the line. I have found this effect to be most pronounced with motorists in relation to cyclists; I can't count the number of times I've been passed by motorists while I was technically speeding in a 20 mph zone. It doesn't matter how fast the person on the bike is going - I'm driving a car and I have to be in front of that person on the bike - wouldn't be right for me, in a car, to drive behind a bicycle...blah blah blah... but I know many of you have experienced this too.

"You can be Gestapo but not Hitler or his staff."


Can I be Horst Wessel???

Lots of cyclists do this. Many of us enjoy little impromptu races, for various reasons. Training, motivation, competition, or just the enjoyment of passing someone. It sounds like your friend falls into the last category; just passing you is what's important to him, not so much staying ahead. See http://ItsNotARace.com.


He was fully lycra-clad riding without any panniers, back pack, messenger bag, etc.

unless the guy works somewhere with an EXTREMELY lax dress code, my best guess tells me he wasn't on his way into work.

I ride in cargo pants or slacks, plus a wool base layer top. I don't have panniers, a rack, pack, or anything like that; my sole cargo space is my Freddish saddle bag. I certainly don't look like a typical commuter, but then I make medical software for a living, so the company really doesn't care how I dress, so long as I make this damned WCF thing work. I would say the same might be true of your buddy ... but spandex is a dead giveaway.

Once or twice a week I ride a bike with a rack and panniers and bring food and clothes for several days. The other days I ride my road bike in cycling clothes with just a small saddle bag and change my clothes when I get to work. Many people do this.

He could have had a change of clothes at the office...

+1

I used to haul everything in one day using my commuter and then ride my road bike just wearing a kit the next day.

you can be anything you wanna be.
"You can be Gestapo but not Hitler or his staff."


Can I be Horst Wessel???

^^^+1. There's something in some people's minds that makes them unable to handle the idea that they're not IN FRONT. I think it may have something to do with being forced to "line up" in elementary school, and the resulting desire to be at the front of the line.

Part 1: Yep. Part 2: It's simpler and deeper than that.

My mom loves dogs, and has always had a few of them. When someone knocks on the door, or when my mother goes to let them out, it's like a group of Roman warriors running off to battle, jockeying for position at the front. Basset hounds are especially competitive about having to be in front (or, maybe fought harder because they were the alphas).

Cyclists who spend every bit of energy they have to get in front of other cyclists, then slow down because they're spent, are a lot like basset hounds.

http://media.mercedsunstar.com/smedia/2010/02/10/00/MER_p0210_P10_JOURNEY.standalone.prod_affiliate.111.JPG

I used to have a bassett hound. I miss her. I called her Killer. Thanks for bringing that up.

Part 1: Yep. Part 2: It's simpler and deeper than that.

My mom loves dogs, and has always had a few of them. When someone knocks on the door, or when my mother goes to let them out, it's like a group of Roman warriors running off to battle, jockeying for position at the front. Basset hounds are especially competitive about having to be in front (or, maybe fought harder because they were the alphas).

Cyclists who spend every bit of energy they have to get in front of other cyclists, then slow down because they're spent, are a lot like basset hounds.



My labs do the same thing. Walking them together is flat out evil.
Cute dog btw. :)

fair enough, the guy could have had a change of clothes at the office for all i know. that part wasn't really the point though, the point was that this guy, with his fancy kit and ride, should have had the good sense to pass me and maintain his speed as opposed to passing me and immediately breaking cadence to slow down and rehydrate. wouldn't he know that by slowing down directly in front of me that he was being an obnoxious jack-ass?

Just another guy who wants to be able to brag about passing someone -------

Many of us are clueless.
However, I have done this exact same thing when interval training.

fair enough, the guy could have had a change of clothes at the office for all i know. that part wasn't really the point though, the point was that this guy, with his fancy kit and ride, should have had the good sense to pass me and maintain his speed as opposed to passing me and immediately breaking cadence to slow down and rehydrate. wouldn't he know that by slowing down directly in front of me that he was being an obnoxious jack-ass?

All you need to get a Cervelo and fancy kit is the money. No actual skills or etiquette training are required.

Be honest though, you were a bit peeved that he even passed you in the first place, weren't you? ;)

Though there are plenty of people that can easily go faster than 22 or 23mph, I don't really expect to get passed (during a commute anyway) if I'm going that fast.

Eh, I got passed yesterday and it sorta irked me. Then again he didn't pass me with speed, he just passed me while I stopped at a light. Then I watched him blow through other stop signs, never signaling turns, etc.

I caught up to him on the big hill on my commute and passed him. :D Roadies may pass me but they slow WAY down on hills, so the touring bike wins! :D

Be honest though, you were a bit peeved that he even passed you in the first place, weren't you? ;)


not really. it doesn't happen often, but when another rider passes me up, that's totally cool. i have no skin in the game and i fully realize that there are much stronger and faster riders out there than me, i'm just trying to get to work every morning in a reasonably fast and safe manner. if another rider is riding faster than me, then they should ride on and rock that sh*t out. but when someone passes me and then immediately (i'm talking 1 bike length here) slows down directly in front of me forcing me to break speed and slow down with them, well, that's just extremely rude and annoying in my book.

Hmmm. This is good; perhaps my retirement mindset is kicking in, afterall. I don't commute, but we do ride more mornings than not on the Silver Comet Trail near my home in Atlanta. And we are slow; the other morning we were thrilled to complete our 36 mile ride in just under 3 hours for an average speed of about 12.5 miles an hour.

The boy racers and twelve year old girls who pass us, don't bother me in the least. But none has yet passed us and slowed down.

We is me and my 42 lb german shepherd puppy. Puppy plus trailer, water, bowl, leash, total about 75 lbs, and I am riding a Surly LHT with fenders and racks, so passing people is the last thing I think about. Nonetheless, at least once a morning, I notice someone a quarter mile ahead who wasn't there five minutes before. My first thought is, "oh no, I am gaining on someone that I am going to have to pass." The whole time we are closing the gap, I am hoping that whoever it is will speed up. But after a while we are right behind them. I either pass or slow down even more. I pass because my sole goal is to train for a transamerica next year and I want to train my cadence.

I don't like passing because I have to use to much energy to get me and the trailer past, before we encounter oncoming traffic. If I have gone to the effort of passing, I sure don't want to be in the way. It is the only time I ever use the drops. I figure once past I had better keep up the extra-effort to put some distance between us, so that he or she doesn't have to pass me back.

I do, however, encounter other rude behavior on the Silver Comet, but it almost always involves pedestrians who are oblivious to the lanes.

By the way, it makes my heart and legs hurt just thinking about crusing at 20 miles an hour like you guys talk about. I am guessing that we hit 20 every now and then coming down the back side of an overpass (yeehaw).

I caught up to him on the big hill on my commute and passed him. :D Roadies may pass me but they slow WAY down on hills, so the touring bike wins! :D

You're aware that the broad brush police are monitoring this thread, right? :)

not really. it doesn't happen often, but when another rider passes me up, that's totally cool. i have no skin in the game and i fully realize that there are much stronger and faster riders out there than me, i'm just trying to get to work every morning in a reasonably fast and safe manner. if another rider is riding faster than me, then they should ride on and rock that sh*t out. but when someone passes me and then immediately (i'm talking 1 bike length here) slows down directly in front of me forcing me to break speed and slow down with them, well, that's just extremely rude and annoying in my book.

You didn't say anything to the rider? "Dude, you picking it back up again soon, or should I go around you?"

I would not pass someone and then slow down, unless it was an emergency.

Another scenario can happen, I slowly catch up to someone, perhaps pass them easily, then they speed up. From their point of view, it might look like I slowed down, but I have a speedometer and know they were probably taking it easy for a while, and then did not want to get passed.
If they speed up, pass me, and keep going, then it's fine with me. If they start to suck my wheel, I don't like it, especially if they have a road bike, since I have an old beater mtn bike with panniers, and knobby tires, etc...
I have also seen it where I get passed, then they cannot hold the effort for too long and slow down. I generally feel they do not do it on purpose; if they could keep going faster, they probably would.

Man, people just hate hate hate lycra. And expensive bikes. I don't see at all what either of those things have to do with what the cyclist did.

I gotta know, was he a "Lance wannabe"?

Another scenario can happen, I slowly catch up to someone, perhaps pass them easily, then they speed up. From their point of view, it might look like I slowed down, but I have a speedometer and know they were probably taking it easy for a while, and then did not want to get passed.

yeah, that's a totally different and (depending on scenario) acceptable situation, but the guy who passed me when i was doing around 22-23mph immediately broke his cadence directly in front of me and proceeded to roll as he drank his water and we eventually were down around 18mph. when he got back to pedaling, he had down shifted a couple cogs and he was in the 20mph range. all i wanted to do was cruise at my standard 22-23 mph pace, but i knew if i passed him back at that speed that he'd just try to catch up to me again, pass me, and then pull in front of me and slow down, so i just opened my pony up full throttle to remove myself from his antics.




Man, people just hate hate hate lycra. And expensive bikes. I don't see at all what either of those things have to do with what the cyclist did.

they don't have anything directly to do with what the cyclist did, but i would have thought that someone who, through their kit and bike choice, was apparently a fairly serious roadie would have known that passing someone and then immediately slowing down directly in front of them for a water break is a dick move. but as someone said earlier in this thread, you don't have to have good sense to get a fancy ride and kit, all you need is the dough.

Man, people just hate hate hate lycra. And expensive bikes. I don't see at all what either of those things have to do with what the cyclist did.

I gotta know, was he a "Lance wannabe"?

No one wants to be Contador or even Greg (if one insists on wannabeing a U.S. cyclist). I think they're the real victims here.

22-23mph is standard cruising speed for you? Not bad..

... but when someone passes me and then immediately (i'm talking 1 bike length here) slows down directly in front of me forcing me to break speed and slow down with them, well, that's just extremely rude and annoying in my book.

+1. That's when you should pass them back, slow down so that they're right behind you and then break wind. Crop dusting takes care of pests.

To answer your question- a HOBAGCLOWN does such things. You just have to deal with these people because they can never be corrected.

Just a bit of Triathlon trivia since I'm sure everyone wants to know. If you get passed in a no-draft Triathlon you're obligated to drop back at least 1.5 bike lengths (or something like that).

Maybe Mr. Cervelo was mad 'cause the OP didn't drop back the requisite amount. And who can blame him ?

This old guy ( and I am 50) on a walmart hybird, no helmet etc, just kinda an eccentric old guy, passes me occassionally when I come to work a little early. He works his butt off to pass me then slows down drastically. It is obviously important to him so i dont have the heart to pass him back. Some guys just need that.
The same thing happened to me recently and the old guy won the "race".

Could have been doing intervals. I've had plenty of people in full tri-kit whip past me down on their aeros while I'm doing 19 - 20mph, only to have me start gaining ground on them 15 seconds later. Then as I get close, *ZIP*, off they go again.

If I see someone coming up in my mirror, I'll first test their mettle, if they pass me, usually I'll be the one slowing down.