Nice stories!

My route is generally a lot of odd driveways, parks, and ally shortcuts, so I don't usually run into people until I get to the base of campus. Since I'm in a college town, I pass most people though, especially in the hills :)

I love this sentiment. I also love how different our definitions of "tool along" are. When I'm tooling along it's at about 10-12 mph. 15-17 is hauling butt for me!

In fact, from now on I'm going to consider my morning commute a public service for other commuters' egos!

bragi, I agree! NYC start its giant bike share program this year, and ridership has increased over the already-high rate. Now there are so many people on bikes who are not bike nuts, and this is so good for everyone. I'm seeing lots of very fat people riding bikes. My heart melts. I can't tell you how thrilling this is. I imagine many people are figuring their time has come to get on a bike and start moving on their own power.

Tom, I just saw a video about some of the biking improvements in NYC with the bike lane put in between the parked cars and the sidewalk by taking out a driving lane. That and the bikeshare program are awesome. I agree, the more bikers the safer we all are and the better for everyone.

A guy passing me today shouted Kudos to me as he passed. (It was a steep hill for this Clyde)

He was jogging. :lol:

I used to cross country ski with our recently deceased lab #cough # Pitbull #cough # mix. I ski on old time 3 pin wood skiis, so we'd get passed all the time by the racer/ski skaters, and my dog did NOT like that. He'd turn himself inside out trying to catch these folks. I loved it, since I had him attached at my waist for a DIY version of skijorring! If I had his motivation, I might have been a champion racer myself.

My sentiments exactly. But then, after a few minutes of watching that roadie lollygagging in front of me, I have to ask myself "WWJD"? (That is, "What Would Jamie Do?". Jamie is my riding buddy.) And of course, the answer to that question is that Jamie would turn himself inside out to pass that guy; I feel obligated to try to live up to his example.

This week, it was an older guy on a Lemond road bike. And by "older guy", I mean somebody about my age, or maybe a couple years older. So, he was up ahead, pulled away a little, then I reeled him in again. Decided to pass him, and "put the hammer down". And he was right on my wheel. I gave it my best for about four miles, and he was on me like flypaper. Finally, I had to slow down because of MUP traffic(not to mention the fact that I was toasted!). When it cleared, I waved him by, and he thanked me for the pull. I told him I should have known better than to try to pass a roadie on my (slick tired) mountain bike! All in good fun. The silly commuter racing rules rock.

I'm like that. I check my average time at each commute to break my own records. That's one way of checking my own improvement...

I always commute by stopwatch checkpoints(both to know if I'm going to be late or off-paced), so its kinda strava-ish low tech style ;) Around here there don't seem to be many commuters at the times/routes I go but in my post college years in a different locale there were.

One hot summer day after work which was a solid 20 miles away, I took my newly rebuilt and overhauled Sedona out for the ride home in typical style. Felt solid, kept on driving. In the flatter straightaway I saw a pair of well dressed well paced roadies which took a while to catch(as they should). Eventually I caught them and drafted before they looked back a little closer to see me in a sleeveless and cut-offs on a very knobby mtb. Not sure if that was what killed it or me just wearing them down :) They didn't catch up for another 5 miles. Either way it was a good maiden run for a bike rebuild that took almost a full winter. Oddly, that tubeless mtb setup was faster on the total time than the Trek roadie that I had been riding. Go fig.

Jeez, nobody knows how many miles the other person is doing/has done so it's a bit arbitrary aint it? Like bragging about being a high bidder in an ebay auction.......all that matters is the end. Time to put on a number folks! :notamused:

In my experience, racers are far less likely to turn every commute into a race.

I commute on a BMX 24", so I realize I'm never going to be the fastest guy around and don't normally even try, except for one section of the commute that is over a bridge and represents the biggest/only hill on the trip. At the start of this hill I try and give it a good run and usually pass at least a few people during this stretch. Really I'm not doing it to be competitive, it's just if I don't get a good head of steam going I'm going to have trouble making it up and over at all. After the initial burst I'll just try and pick someone out in front of me and try to pace that person to the top, gives me the motivation to not give up and walk the rest of the way. Invariably one or two people that I passed at the beginning of the hill will repass me again before we reach the crest, and I always hope that they don't hold my burst of speed and subsequent slowing against me. I'm happy just to make it to the top.

All that being said, there's one exception to not being competitive on the commute. At the beginning of the summer I was on my bike just tooling along and got passed on a gentle downhill by a guy on a skateboard. I figured I'd catch up to him pretty quickly, but he ran a couple of red lights and stayed just out of reach. But then I had mostly caught up to him at the bottom of the bridge. This is my spot, 1 and a half miles of no lights, half of it up a pretty good hill. I hit it all out, and this guy pulls away from me like it was nothing. I swear he was doing 15mph going uphill on a skateboard! Might as well had been Christian Slater in Gleaming the Cube.

So you don't see why people need to make commuting a race but are upset at being forced "to pass them again and again". Interesting.

I don't feel the need to race on my commute but I do like to maintain a steady pace and I can see lost architect's point. I will only pass someone if I feel they are going to slow me down. However, I try to make sure that if I pass someone, they stay passed. Of course, some people get sand in their vagina when you pass them and they take it personally. Usually, this means that will try to catch up and pass you because you hurt their fragile ego.

Why are you in such a hurry, speed racer? Slow down and smell the roses! :p

.................................................................................................... ......

As caloso alluded to, 99% of cyclists accused of "racing" are just getting from point A to B (a bit faster). Also, when I give a cyclist an "on your left" and 3 feet of space it's a safe pass even if it felt dangerous.

It was rather fun to drop a guy who was being a total arse on the MUP. He passed, with inches to spare, an old guy using a motorized wheelchair (a WWII vet, I've seen him before) with his stupid road bike at a far too high rate of speed. My friend and I chased him down on our laden city bikes and bounced him when he turned on the next surface street. It was rather amusing to watch him flail trying to hunt for the correct gear as we blew by at well over 40 km/h. The only reason we did it was because he was a total jerk to the old guy in a wheelchair.

Love it! I've been up Torrey Pines a few times myself, it's a bear!

This is true but the point I was trying to make is that if a rider actually races -- has a USAC racing license, trains according to a plan, and pins on a number at an event where everyone agrees that it is a race and they post your results -- that rider is a lot less likely to take the bait and get drawn into a Cat 6 MUP race.

At least among the racers I know.

I gotta get to work! :lol:

Indeed, the more the merrier.. as long as the lane doesnt get too clogged heh. I saw a big guy recently about 250+ lbs on a beater bike zoom past everyone on the hudson river greenway. I thought to myself wow, good for him.

I would say I am middle of the pack/above average, passing 7/10 people on my daily route. Ive been riding about 4 months but daily. Thoroughly enjoying my recent upgrade to 700x25 armadillo slicks. It is kind of fun to pass the guys suited up in the full kits on a hybrid :), the ones that are trying that is. Then again I also get owned by the racers, (what looks like) messengers and regular joes in shorts. I try to keep up with them which is fun. Now I definitely dont judge a book by its cover, I get my ass handed to me by some of these chicks out there. Least it makes for a great view when you are behind them trying to keep up :lol:

I'm sure some people are jerks about passing but I think for the most part someone is just trying to push or entertain themselves.

I should post a video of the Hudson River Greenway (bike path). You will be surprised at the volume of traffic on it. People will have different paces, so it's not at all obnoxious to pass.

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?

Sometimes, if someone passes me on my morning workout I'll try to keep up with them to see what their pace is like. But I won't struggle to pass them because I know better then to out-pace my ability 10-20 miles from home. And like you said, I don't want to annoy someone speeding by and then slowing down. Keeping pace with a faster rider for a longer time is more challenging than passing them.

I won't get that close to them either. Just like I don't get right up on someone's tail when I'm standing in line at a store. It's kind of creepy.

FCN = Fredly Commuter Number, on a scale of one to Portland?

Just because a roadie like me is wearing a full kit doesn't mean I'm riding at tempo pace. I commute to work on my carbon bike so I can join a group training ride at 6pm. I ride slowly in the morning to avoid sweating. Heavy duty steel bikes pass me from time to time. I always say hello and often try to start a conversation.

http://www.itsnotarace.org/fcn-calculator/

Awesome! I was going to pass a small asian girl once on a mild incline (probably a few percent for a kilometre or so); soon as she saw me pulling up beside her though, she took off ahead of me! As I wondered what was wrong, I noticed the electric assist package on her bike...

I have no problem (well, maybe a little lost respect ;)) with people who choose to use e-assist on their bikes. I hate it though when they try to get competitive with me, riding solely on leg power.

Love that you were able to pass this guy :-)

Oh sweet man, thanks! I'm not sure if I should rate my CrossCheck as "4. Roadies with hairy legs – like men" or "6. Touring Bikes (Mud Guards)", since I do have drop bars and hairy legs, but I don't have fenders. Depending on that, my final FCN is 7 or 9. Also, I just this week replaced my panniers with a kittier, so I think I should get +1 or +2 for that!