hurley.girl

Meh. To the OP - the guy in question may have been doing intervals, or may not like being passed by anyone. You can't assume it was the presence of a woman that made him speed up and catch you and your female partner.

However, some men do have fragile egos and can't handle women being better than them. I remember one first date back in college. We played tennis. I won. Guy couldn't handle losing to me and never asked me for a second date. I also remember being dumped by a guy I was dating when I got accepted to Yale. He couldn't handle having a girlfriend that smart. I was the same person all along, but suddenly I was a threat. I took both of these in stride - feeling like I dodged a bullet. Guys that have to be better than women aren't the type I want around me.

BillyD

That "intervals" excuse is a bunch of crap. Most men don't like being bested by a woman . . . in any way, period!

I know several women who have told me about passing/re-passing incidents while driving cars. Routinely . . . it's a regular thing with men. And the likelihood of occurrence increases as the male's age decreases . . . no surprise there.

Erzulis Boat 

I know the feeling, I challenged a woman to an arm wrestling match on our first date, she never called back.

powers2b

She probably felt bad for breaking your tiny cyclist arms.

Enjoy

elader

I'm fat, but working on it. I go fast downhill and slow uphill. Maybe it was me? If you would just carry a back pack with 30 pounds of salami in it, I am sure I would do better to keep up on the hills.

And I like to follow girls, not pass them. Makes the scenery more interesting.

echappist

are you a daughter of Eli?

banerjek

Probably less fun to draft in multiple respects....

Though you'd be surprised how many people will ride on the wheel of a 'bent, particularly if headwinds are present.

CyciumX

Now, that I'm done making counter points... long story short: I like looking at women more than guys by a ratio of infinity:zero

I usually ride solo and I like to burn myself out (piss poor training) So guy or girl I'm gonna pass most of them (I don't hang out in the hills where the cool kids hang(...not yet)) and then I eventually slow... get passed and then I pass them again. Just so happens I enjoy the view more when its a female - shoot me for being human.

I honestly don't think its a fragile ego thing either.... I was on a small hill here off of Bailey road and a woman (not tiny) on a bad-friggin-ass Felt DA with a 1080 rear and 404 front came up behind me when I reached the apex and stopped to snap a photo. She asked about the pics I was taking. I complimented her on the bike and she asked if I had been down that road before. I told her yes and that I was about to go again. She looked at me as if she expected for me to go so I shook my head, no and told her I wanted to save some face while I still had it she chuckled and took off... a lot faster than I would have.

bluevelo

I ride for fun. I don't care if I get passed or who I pass. Life is not a race to see who gets to the end the fastest, IMHO. I've done a little bike racing, a couple of tris and a couple of dus. I've also done a lot of run formats from 5Ks to finishing a marathon - in 4:39:59 at age 46 if anyone cares about that stat.

The only 'racing' I do now is 5Ks against the clock and myself. Any longer distance its simply about finishing it, if I have a decent time all the better.

I'd much rather be the 80 year old guy finishing a five mile in 1:10 than ever standing on the podium of any race in any AG. Believe me, they - the elder finishers - get more applause than anyone else in a running event.

Just keep moving. How fast does not matter.

bluevelo

My GF is a juvenile Type 1 diabetic - diagnosed at age 6 - she's 45 now - that is actually a pretty good athlete for someone that has a hole in her heart and a chronic life threatening condition. She's had her retinas lasered to keep the diabetic blood vessels down and has no peripheral vision, but is one hell of a driver. She could easily do stunt work in movies.

I, OTOH, drive like a little old lady, which she constantly reminds me of. Shrug. I honestly don't care, although riding with her in the car sometimes is a little more exciting than I would like for my tastes.

bluevelo

Girls that are nerds are hot. I'd much rather hang out with smart women than high maint that worries about how good their last nail/ped job was.

jaebberwock

I won't lie, when I was in the military and we did PT in the morning, I made damn sure no girl was in front of me during runs. I was 17 and in good shape but there was this one girl who made that really tough sometimes. I'm too soft and old to keep that up now and there are some strong, strong female runners out there. I don't know what it is, I think it goes way back into our primal caveman days.

Ted46

I was out riding one day when two women come riding past me. I'm a slow rider so I have people passing me fairly often. However we were about to come to a hill so I thought I'd try to catch them on the climb. One of the two was faster and got over the top and was gone. The other was a little slower and I managed to close the gap to about 20 yards where I decided to stay. There was no point of trying to pass her and then just getting passed again after we got over the hill, besides I was really enjoying the view!


Also these discussions remind me of the book "Miles from Nowhere" by Barbara Savage about her & her husbands ride around the world. When they were traveling across Canada they met another guy touring. He wasn't able to keep up with them but would end up meeting them at the end of the day where they were camped. This happened for several days and they noticed he seemed to be depressed. Finally one day he told them he really couldn't stand the idea of a women being able to ride faster than he could. Ha! If you haven't read this book I'd definitely recommend it.

dstrong 

In my first year after I returned to road biking, I went on a 60-something group ride to prepare for my first century. I ended up with a smaller group of two older gents and a young, fit woman they apparently rode with quite frequently. They were long time recreational cyclists, she was new to the sport and preparing for her first century also.

On the route, there was a mile long climb at about mile 15. We had a loose paceline going, with the two vets up front, the woman, then me. As we started up the climb, the two guys moved over and said "Go ahead" to the woman. I was like, "huh?". Well...I tried to hold her wheel and about 1/2 way up, I was totally gassed. As the two guys caught up to me, they were smiling. They said "yeah...she can climb". That was my first practical introduction to the whole power to weight ratio thing.

Tsuru

I don't get sexism..... women cycling, women's cycling, etc is awesome! Shame it don't get more love on the tv.

With that being said, personally, when I see a person up ahead on the road, male, female, or otherwise, for me it's extra motivation to step it up. Not ego, just a goal, something to aim for... Sometimes (on solo rides), without a carrot out in front of me, I occasionally hold back & get a little lackadaisical.

If it's a woman, I don't even notice until I pass by...

fly:yes/land:no

i have no doubt that dudes feel extra motivation not to get chicked. but it would be foolish to think that some of teh womens don't engage in similar competitions when exercising. i have seen a treadmill battle between a guy and girl - it goes like this:

guy is running on treadmill at n pace
gal steps onto neighboring treadmill and goes n+1 pace
guy increases speed to n+2 pace
gal increases speed to n +3 pace
continue until one person merely matches pace of other
run at same speed, and winner is the one who stops last

note: this usually ruins at least one of the entry's workouts.

point: men don't have the market cornered on intersex competitiveness. i have noticed that, particularly when females are strong, they have a kind of man crusher attitude. perhaps this is conditioned as women typically encounter that competitiveness in men not wanting to be passed by the fairer sex.

wfrogge

If it bothers her its an estrogen problem not a testosterone one...

peculiarplanet

This video, while tongue in cheek, is pretty funny. Joey Brooks isn't a poser either.

ldh6

That's why man invented the wheel.

dstrong 

So he could get somewhere faster than a woman?

Kneez

If someone were dragging a 30-pound sack of salami in front of me I would follow them anywhere, no matter the pace. I mean, who can say no to salami?

Camilo

That was my thought exactly. I ride with a lot of guys who I can keep up with, even lead on the flats or low rollers. But they drop me easily on the hills.

I just couldn't get the point of OP's first story- I wouldn't see it that way at all.

Wilkenstein

I never see other riders on the road around here. SE Bama

JFlurett

To quote a friend of mine who is a pretty good runner:

"So there I was, at mile 7.5 of Sunday's Half Marathon, nearing the top of Terwilliger Boulevard, and a runner passes me for 20th place. As he passes, he remarks "Man you don't even know how disheartening that is." "What do you mean", I counter. "I chased you all the way up the hill and finally pass you, only to find... out that you aren't a girl." For extra credit, what is the moral of the story?"

After numerous jokes about how good looking his hair and butt are, responds:

"I suppose that if I had spent the last 45 minutes running behind someone with an ass as good looking as mine, only to find out I was gay, it would be disheartening..."

longbeachgary

I passed someone once....don't worry, it won't happen again.