Originally Posted by MikeRides

Couldn't have asked for a better commute in this morning. The sun was starting to come out, the birds were chirping...and I actually saw another bike commuter out on the state road. He was riding on the wrong side of the road, but going my direction, I waved him over and explained to him that he's supposed to be riding with the flow of traffic (even when there isn't any). He just said he prefers to see the car that's about to hit him. Climbing the one hill on my commute, I dropped down a cog in the back, and spun up the hill at 14mph while he was still in his highest gear (large ring in front and smallest cog in back) mashing up at ~6mph I yelled to him to drop down into the middle ring. He smiled and said "oh that's much easier" and told me he hasn't been on a bike for 15 years and is only riding because he had to drop his car off at the shop for his annual state inspection. He was burned out by the time we crested the hill so I pulled away and dropped him fast on the descent. As a way of congratulating him for trying, I offered him a free cup of coffee when he made it into town, which he gladly accepted. He told me he's seen me on the road before and thought it looked easy enough, so he just went for it. I said, once you get the hang of it it becomes natural.