There aren't many cyclists around where I live, so when I do see one I'm not too sure how to interact.

I was out on a short easy ride, which for me translates to 30km of hill climbing. Anyways, as I was going up this dude on a still frame oldie roadie slowly gained on me. I said hi, he said hi.

For a minute I was behind him, continuing up with moderate intensity. When we got to a rebound I noticed the dude kinda hammered up because when he got there he slowed even more than when he was climbing.

I took this as a cue that he just had to get ahead of me there. Well, the testorines and endorphines were in charge then, so I wasn't about to take that. I dropped him right there and on the next hill.

Then came a down slope, and out of habit I just like to coast down. A minute after the dude zipped down twice my speed... now he was asking for it!

So dropped him again on the flat and every climb after. This was pissing me off cause I was missing out on the scenery. So I slowed down to get a drink and let the dude pass by and be on his way. I don't think he was about to give up.

When I stopped, he came behind me and said "So you turning around here too?"....
Yes, I'm sure .... I said "no" and he turned around...

Now this brings me to my point: I am about as mature as a 12 year old. But if I had the chance again, I would do it all over again.

Oh come on, I bet most of you have had similar experiences.

I remember once when I was living in London, my wife and I were riding home to Clapham from the city at what was for us a fairly moderate pace (about 20-25km/h). We were passed by a rapidly pedaling guy at about the halfway mark and thought nothing more of it until we saw him slow waaay down just up ahead of us. Maintianing our pace, we passed him fairly soon thereafter - that's how much he had slowed down. Almost immediately we saw him pass us again in the same frantically pedaling style, and again he slowed down just ahead of us allowing us to pass.

We played this little game of hopscotch pretty much all the way home, and every time he passed us our amusement just grew and grew. The look of concentration on his face was priceless.

I admit I've been guilty of giving terstosterone free reign at times, but it can also be quite amusing to observe it in others, especially when their ability doesn't quite measure up to their ego.

Amir,

You should thank him, think of the great workout
he provided you. I seem to recall you
complaining about hills recently, well you
dropped him on the hills so it really
benefitted you.

Marty

I've been riding numerous times with my bike shop manager friend. Every time we see a rider or a group ahead of us, or behind us, we uncousiously speed up! I notice that we hold a pretty steady pace, but will increase at least 2 mph every time! I asked him about it and he didn't realize we've done it!

L8R

every time i run into a rider i always have to zing by him.. sure its always just a kid on a bmx bike thats like 10, but 75 percent of the time i win! Nah, i've only run into real riders like twice, my first instinct is to leave them in the dust, but then i realize i'm still a new rider and odds are i'd make a fool of myself. So i just keep my pace.