I was out riding neighborhood loops yesterday during the lunch break. There was another rider going in the opposite direction doing the same loops. I've seen this guy out riding a few times over a year, and I swear that he has never even come close to waving back, much less speak to me. The way that this guy operates during these encounters is to try and shorten the interval to when we pass again. So if he passes me deeper into my loop the next time around he just grins as he passes, like he gets a point or something. I can see him riding past my house while I am gearing up, going slow and easy. As soon as I hit the road though he hammers like a maniac. After a few laps around he will start cutting across the neighbor, or will pull out and hide to shorten the interval when he gets tired. It is really something to see, and it is actually entertaining too.

And yes I should be above all this but I can't help but jack with the guy. So what I do in these situations is to keep at my pace and basically just ride the guy into the ground. And man does he hate it. He will do everything but farmer blow me every time that I come by late in the ride. He really goes from grin to death look by then too.

So yesterday was the first time that I have had this guy doing this during my lunch ride. It usually just happens in the evening or every now and then on the weekend. And since I had to get back to work, I really didn't have time to go forever. So I decided just to try looking fresher and fresher every time that I passed him. It's hard to describe, but I could tell from his expression and body language that he was getting more and more pissed. I was down to my last few minutes of ride time, and yes I'll admit that I was all the more determined not to quit before he did. So the next time that we passed each other, as a last resort I made sure that I was whistling. I guess that did it, because that was the last that I saw of him.