I had to drive today, have a wake to go to tonight right after work. :-(

Last night I encountered a younger guy (early mid-20's) in a road kit as the MUP I was on crossed a county road. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him turn on to the MUP behind me. I'm more or less accustomed to being the fastest thing on the trail at the time of day that I'm riding, so I didn't give him much thought and continued on at my 19 mph pace (Did I mention that I'm a scofflaw when it comes to the MUP speed limit?)

Anyway, I had almost forgotten about the guy behind me when on a straightaway he blows past, pulls out ahead, sits upright and while maintaining speed takes a pull off his water bottle. I'm not a really a competitive person and I had no illusions of passing him, but I decided that I had no intentions of being dropped either. So I notched it up and stuck with him, close enough to say that I was with him, but far enough back not to crowd him. Our speeds went up to 22-23 MPH. On the MUP. Joggers, rollerbladers, biketrailers, all went past in a blur. He never spoke a word, but I still called out each time I passed. We must have been some sight, a young fit guy on a nice road bike being chased by some old fat guy on an ancient touring bike, with panniers & a handlebar bag.

Eventually MUP gave way to road. To my surprise he was going my way. He definitely had the leg up on the road, though I gave him hell for as long as I could. I suspect that he was toying with me. He finally dropped me on an extended climb (Hill + a bonus freeway overpass). As I came down the other side I saw him about a block up, turning off of my route. I kept the screws to it for the rest of the way home and finished my route in my best time ever, 20.5 miles in 1:09:42 pedaling, 1:15:18 elapsed.

BTW, I had broken yet another rear spoke on the way in yesterday morning. So I did the ride of the season on a busted wheel.