I went for a lunchtime ride again today at work. I had a bit of extra time so I decided to do the Verdun loop as I call it.(24km)Today was a day for real cyclists. It was sunny but only 14c and pretty windy. I started off pretty easy averaging only 2o km/hr. I needed some motivation. At one point a squadron of "road freaks" passed me in formation. (like the yellow and blue shirts) I like to sometimes use other cyclists as motivation to work harder & go faster... but I do try and stay in my range.(middle age male, slight beer gut) Well lo and behold 10km in my ride I get passed by similar dude...(MTB & slight beer gut)Perfect. I noticed that he actually had to work to pass me & his pace had reduced once he believed he had cleared and gotten rid of me... Believed. Within a few minutes I caught up to him but stayed back. I established the same pace as him a waited for my move. I did not want to make the same mistake as him & run out of steam. After awhile he noticed I was tailing him... looking back every so often trying to figure out my intentions... he knew... he picked up the pace... so did I. I became a thorn in his side... he could not shake me... the pass was inevitable. I knew there was a slight hill coming up then a nice long downhill. Like Lance Armstrong... I would take him in the mountains.
I pulled up next to him... side by side in the hill. Both of us not giving an inch. Then a mistake... he changed gears (anticipating the downhill) too soon. His paced reduced... I passed him moments later... and then "click,click" off I went. I never looked back... (to afraid) to see my opponent. I rode hard for the next 10km... and never saw him again. Hey... motivation is where you find it.
2 comments:
I had a similar experience this week, though without the happy outcome. On my way to work, as I approached the riverwlk, a guy on a hybrid bike launched himself down the entry ramp ahead of me. This guy was wearing long dress slacks, a corduroy jacket, had a scarf around his neck trailing behind him, was wearing a beret and was sitting upright in his saddle like a big kite. No self respecting cyclist in spandex shorts would allow this guy to stay ahead of him. I pedaled hard to catch up, but he stayed ahead. I noticed his legs were moving at a steady cadence and when I glanced down I saw I was already going 35 KPH on loose gravel. Who the hell was this guy? I finally managed to pull close after a two Km chase, glimpsed the oversized rear hub on his machine, heard the whir of the electric motor... and he pulled away. He kept up a pace of 35 kph going up a hill pedaling slowly like he was going to the corner store. Yeesh. Note to self: look for oversized hubs, electric motors and battery packs before expending massive amounts of energy to catch rabbits.
I love it. :)
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