beautiful picture Con! Looks like a nice ride.

My commute today was an evening commute- I didn't have to be in until 6:30pm. So I did a 41 mile loop on my road bike before I had to head downtown. It was a gorgeous day and I rode pretty hard doing the 40 miles in 2:05 and given the number of stop signs and lights on the route that's a good run for me.

As I waited at one light about 8 miles from the end of the ride another rider pulled up behind me and we rode the next 4 miles at a good pace. I'd pulled away from the light pretty quickly and it's a slow climb out of there and as I crested I noticed him on my wheel- not something I normally appreciate but we'd exchanged hello's at the light and he was riding smooth and well so I was less annoyed than I might otherwise have been. He came around me on the descent and I asked if I could sit in and off we went.

Turned it he was a real good rider and it was a pleasure to power along with him. We split off and I finished up, took a shower, changed into street clothes, jumped on the commuter and headed downtown.

It was on the MUP that I had an almost opposite experience. About 1/2 way in I noticed a rider hammering along in too high a gear, weaving in and out of the walkers and joggers and ringing his bell like a maniac who just stole an ice cream truck. Unfortunately, he was going just a mile or two slower than I was so I was slowly gaining on him and since I was running a bit late I couldn't really afford to hold back and so it meant I would have to pass him. I knew it would be ugly.

Just before I caught up to him he had just startled yet another pedestrian cutting way too close. Part of me wanted to get by him because he was such an embarrassment with that stupid bell. I use a bell but far more judiciously. As I approached I gave a light ding to my bell and went round him. There was a short quick rise after I passed and that allowed me to leave him a bit more in my dust but sure enough, as I suspected, I could hear him pounding away to catch up.

I rode as smoothly as possible. Nice straight line. Politely moving around joggers etc. but I could hear him like a bull in a china shop behind me. As I approached one of the few intersections on the MUP (at the Harvard Bridge) I slowed a bit for some pedestrians and in order to negotiate my cross when suddenly I realize he has jumped the curb and is scrambling up the road against traffic in order to cut me off as I'm crossing the road. Given we're both aiming for the same curb cut I found this particularly discourteous and gave him a look that let him know I would be going through first. This seemed to have snapped him to a bit but just to insure I wouldn't have to deal with him. I pushed just a bit harder to the next intersection. He seemed to have turned off somewhere or dropped dead or something but what pain in the butt!

The ride home in the dark was lovely and I was on my own.