Sullalto

Worrying about whether you get passed or don't get passed is generally something I think is silly. You don't know if that person is doing 5 miles or 80, where they are in that 80 mile ride, whether their legs are blown from doing intervals the day before, if they're an injured runner doing rehab, if you caught them in the rest period of their interval, if they blew by you during the work set of an interval, etc etc.

But I have to say: Passing the e-bike and getting drafted by somebody in aero on an expensive tri bike today: Those made me happy.

scroca

Guess I never thought about it before but now that you bring it up, I realize I virtually never care if you get passed either.

ThermionicScott 

Nobody passes me on a commute unless they're a car!

TenSpeedV2

I don't think that I have been passed on a commute by a bike yet.

wolfchild

Commuting to work and racing/competition have nothing to do with each other, they are two different things...I am not interested in racing anybody during my commute and I will often allow other cyclist to pass me. I don't really care if other cyclists pass me, let them pass me and let them blog about about it on internet.
I am not interested in wasting my energy to defeat other peoples big ego, I save my energy for other activities which are more important to me.

cooker

One segment of my ride is a 5% grade where a lot of runners train, and it annoys me if they pass me on the uphill. Usually I try to repass them after a couple of hundred metres, so it's not obvious that I am doing it deliberately. Once in a while there is a very strong runner I can't catch until after it flattens out.

TenSpeedV2

I simply don't get passed because there are not a lot of cyclists riding at the same time as me. Working 2nd shift has its advantages and disadvantages. It has nothing to do with ego, but I will be damned if some random guy on a Wal-goose BSO is going to pass me.

Antieverything

I just ride along at my pace, I don't wave, I don't make eye contact, I don't acknowledge, I do pass with as much space as possible if or when that happens. I just try to get where I'm going.

alan s 

I'll let someone pass me so I can draft and get a free ride. Great way to get there faster with less effort.

Gyrine

"virtually"? Get real man.

imi

Nah, if I get passed it's RACE ON!

It's just a kick in the butt to go faster and catch up... If the other guy then feels the same, then heck, it can turn into a great workout all round!

On occasion when this happens and our paths finally part we have both acknowledged the fun with a wave and a smile

Jim from Boston

This reminds me of an adage I learned on Bike Forums, "My 15 mph is to me, as your 23 mph is to you.," FWIW.

mgw4jc

In my younger, more risk-taking days, I passed a semi-truck. I was living in Colorado and coming down a mountain pass. He was in a low gear and I was in a tuck. This was pre-GPS days and I did not have a bike computer, but I'm sure I was in the 50 mph range. The uphill direction had two lanes so I used one of them to go around the truck.

As for while I'm commuting, I rarely see another cyclist, but spotting someone up ahead will usually make me want to work a bit harder to try and pass them.

cyclokitty 

I cycle pretty slowly so passing cyclists is the norm. But one day there was a cyclist with the squeakiest chain and cogs I've ever had the misfortune to encounter who rode just ahead of me on the road. The squeaking was driving me nuts and I sped up and passed him and his sad squeaky bike and continued briskly for a couple of blocks.

Several weeks later I saw the same guy on the same squeaky bike riding along the street while I was unlocking my bike. I decided to let several minutes pass by before getting on my bike. Such squeaking! How somebody stand riding that bike is beyond me.

Bill Kapaun

If someone is going to brag about passing a 66 year old with emphysema, bad knees & bad back, their life must really suck.

Leisesturm

This thread is useless without polygraph results

BobbyG

I'm 52 and there is an older gentleman who overtakes me from time to time. He's not racing or visibly working hard. I want to be him.

mcours2006

I'm curious where this is?

I have kept up with a rider one time on an uphill, on foot, I mean. He looked dead tired. I could have surged and passed him, but I couldn't be bother, and I thought it might be demoralizing for him. Maybe he was on the last miles of a century.

unterhausen

there is one dirt road that goes up a mountain near my house where there are a lot of runners. I have never been caught while riding, but it has been close

I don't usually see cyclists on my commute until I'm near campus. The college kids are usually moving pretty fast, although I have also passed a number of students walking their bikes up one of the bigger hills. But I am almost always in sweat conservation mode, so I wouldn't race anyone anyway

mcours2006

I rarely see other rides in either direction of my commute. I've passed a few, but there were doing like 10km/h. I run faster than this.

I wished there were more of us commuting by bike round these parts.

Hypno Toad

I'm one of the "SQUIRREL" riders, see another rider... MUST. PASS. IT. {sweating, gasp, panting** It's dumb, I know.

I have battled a road bike commuter about once a month over summer, we've gotten to be friends chatting at the stop lights. Days with my Kona (commuter set up), he can get the better of me; days with the Felt (no frills road bike), I can drop him. Either way, I get most of my Strava PR on days we see each other.

My favorite (& dumb) ego boosts come from riding the Globe Daily (city bike), one afternoon I was pacing a group ride for a couple miles. I got props at the red light, then the dropped me on the long climb.

Ky_Rider

I've never seen another bike on my 15 mile commute. Wish I had some company somedays. I'm so slow I'm sure I would get passed often though. Don't care.

yankeefan

~90% of the time I feel the same as the OP, but occasionally I get bored and try to spice things up a little bit by giving someone "the eyes". If they return the look then it's race on!

KCBikeCommuter

I'm the same way. I don't have to worry about passing or getting passed... because I rarely see another commuter.

Papa Tom

When you're driving in your car, you're constantly passing people and being passed without even taking notice. Why should we expend any energy thinking and worrying about these things when we are on our bikes? In my opinion, there's ENOUGH to worry about out there on the big scary road.