Originally Posted by
cobrabyte
I'm probably the least competative cyclist ever. I could care less who is faster than me. That said, if I am enjoying the pace I'm at, and someone ahead is riding at a slower pace, I will pass them. On more than one occasion, said slow rider has decided to pick up the pace and pass me just to get ahead again. I find that seriously annoying, you can see them struggling to maintain a pace they aren't comfortable at...just to save face? I wonder if it's the same folks that drive 50mph on the highway and all of a sudden kick it up to 65mph when you get in the left lane to pass them?
I'm with you. I ride at my pace and I don't particularly like to ride with a group since I've been riding solo most of my life. Last week I caught up (at a light) with a couple of guys with nice CF bikes and full kits. They were apparently discussing their last bike race so I stayed behind them expecting them to be fast. They plodded along at about 14-16 mph on a flat so I passed them. 5 min later they came roaring past me at about 22-23 mph got about 100 m ahead and dropped back to 18 or so. Since I didn't want to play that game I just stayed behind them until they finally turned off. I guess being nearly 2x their age on an old steel bike without a kit or bike shoes they had to prove that they could go faster than me.