I was a jerk today..

However, the good news is that I am in good enough shape to pull it off!

We have a great bike path that runs along the river. It's 3 miles from my house. I have a 20 mile and 30 mile route that I ride. I use it a lot. As do walkers, joggers, homeless people, dog walkers, other cyclists and for some reason, the occasional police vehicle..always a surprise. I am a polite cyclist and share the path nicely. When I come up behind someone, even if there is plenty of room for me to pass, I always say, in a loud, clear voice, "Coming up on your left". That way they don't step out in front of me, or so they will move over if they are already in front of me. I thank them as I go by. See? Nice. We should all share nice. But today, I came across one of those people who irritates me to no end. If one cyclist catches up to another cyclist from behind, obviously that cyclist is moving faster than the front cyclist. If everyone just maintains speed, it all works out. The rear cyclist passes and moves on. Granted it can be hard on the ego, so if you don't like it, get better. I used to hate it when I would be cranking along at a top speed of 10 miles an hour when I first started riding and some real cyclist would pass me like I was standing still. But that's life. Now I ride at an average speed of 14 to 15 miles an hour comfortably.

So today I got off my bike and walked it across a wooden bridge that is a real rim bender if you try to ride it. Some guy passes me, still on his bike. Whatever. its a big bridge, so when I get back on the path, he's about 50 yards down the path. Pedaling comfortably I caught him in about a minute and a half. I wear my iphone in a shoulder holder and I don't use earplugs, so he could hear me coming. When I got behind him, if he had just continued as he was and I continued as I was, I would have passed him, gotten a few yards out and continued to pull slowly and steadily away. But nooooo...he looks over his shoulder and starts pedaling harder as I go to pass. I HATE that! You either have to kick it up to try to pass them and end up competing, or drop your speed below where you want to ride. I dropped my speed a little and let him pull away, only to catch him on a hill. I could easily have passed him, he wasn't real good on hills. But he looked over and started pedaling hard again. I thought, "Ok sucker, you want to stay in front of me, go for it" Although I could have passed him even though he was pedaling harder, I dropped behind..about 2 and a half feet and proceeded to chase him up the hill. I made him pedal hard all the way up. And when we hit the flat, I stayed there. I chased the idiot for 2 miles, always staying close enough for him to hear my music and see me over his shoulder. Only way he could stay ahead was to pedal as hard as he could. Every time he sped up, I sped up. Got to give him credit though, on the flats he gave me a run for my money. I was getting tired. We rode for 2 miles to where the bike path ended. I shot ahead of him, just so he knew I could have done it at any time, about 15 feet from the end of the bike path. I pulled into a turnaround spot and let him go by. He looked back at me one last time. I grinned and stuck out my tongue.