which is worse "The Look" or "the Laugh"?

this morning i rode with one of the owners of my local bike shop & three of his friends. this is the first time i have ridden with them and we had a great time. the 40 mile ride consisted of mostly cruising along the local rural backroads, shooting the sh*t, intersperced with all out efforts usually on downhills and long climbs.

so we were cruising along early in the ride approaching a downhill section & one of the guys in the back (i'll call him joe) charges past the owner & me. now the owner and i are built about the same, him 205 me 195, and "joe" was about 165. as joe accelerated by he gave us the obligatory "look" and we took off after him. we easily reeled him in and passed and afterwards he was chided by the other riders for attacking the two biggest riders on a downhill. he agreed it wasn't the smartest move and then mentioned "next time i'll wait for a climb".

a little later in the ride we were approaching a moderatley long climb with the owner & myself side by side leading at a comfortable pace. out of the corner of my left eye i see joe blowing past us and figure this is the climb he was waiting for. he gets about 20 yards ahead, pedalling out of his saddle, and turns to look to see if we're coming. i didn't see the owner make a move so i decided to go after joe solo. i sprint out of my saddle but i'm in to small of a gear and spinning out. he sees me coming and doubles his effort. i make a quick stab at my thumb shifter and start to gain. now i'm in the right gear and he can feel the freight train coming. as i pass him, lungs heaving & thighs throbbing, i'm audibly laughing. i beat him to the top by a good 25 yards and we slow to wait for the other riders to catch up.

they mention to joe that they guess attacking on a climb wasnt going to work either and he said, "the worst part is, he was laughing at me when he went by".

for me laughing under high effort expenditures is kind of like a nervous tick and i'm not laughing at anyone in particular it's just a weird thing i do.

so this begs the question, which is worse "The Look" or "The Laugh"?

Since "Joe" and you don't know each other very well he probably thought you were laughing at him. I would say the "Look" would have been more appropriate.

The "look" from Lance or the "laugh" from you?

That's a toughie - I've never given it much thought. I'll get back to you. ;)

55/Rad

- i ride with a 68-yr-old and he can kick my butt into a 25mph-headwind on some runs...

- but he doesn't look or laugh when he speeds by, but goes:

"Ooga-booga-booga! Ooga-booga-booga!"

- and then proceeds to smoke me for the next five minutes...

:-)

Charge up a long hill, standing on the pedals all the way, whilst smiling and whistling the "Andy Griffith Show" theme...nod and wink at your fellow cyclists as you pass.
This is a fantasy, mind you, I've never actually tried it.

The 'Yawn' is by far the worst.

i really hate the "old grandma butt" i'm pretty sure that is the worst to look up and see her steadily increasing her lead on you

yes, i told him i wasn't laughing at him but i was just caught up in the joy of the chase which caused the laugh. he understood and didn't take offense.

i equate it to chasing my son around the backyard, both of us laughing as we run.