Originally Posted by marqueemoon
The other thing that bothers me is people who try to pass me when they're clearly not going fast enough to get by me quickly and keep up a pace that's sufficient to put some distance between us when they do. I'll slow down to let them by if I need to just to keep them from hanging out there, because they just don't want to give up. I don't want to speed up and drop them, because that will only piss them off.
I can relate to this. There used to be one younger fellow on my route who, upon seeing me would do his hardest until he passed me. I can be fast when I want to, but I'm old enough to let someone pass me without feeling bad. I don't care that much. But then, this moron would slow down! His speed would fall off until it was not even a gentle commute, and would cause me to arrive at work late if I didn't pass him and pick up the pace. He did this consistently
One alternative was to pass him and fend him off. If I was determined to stay ahead, I could beat him and pull away from him. He would keep up the attack as long as I was ahead.
But I use commuting time to work as an attitude adjustment period, because that particular job was hellish. I wanted to enjoy the ride, not turn it into a daily struggle. I put him to shame every time, what did he want?
I finally decided the only way to deal with it was to change my route if I saw him. Just anticipating that he would be there was depressing.