Missed Connection?
 

I was out last Thursday doing my usual weeknight loop, but this time I was going solo (normally my wife and I ride together, but she had to work late). I decided to see what kind of average speed I could hold while "unencumbered" by a riding partner who is typically slower than me. Along my route, there is a 7-8 mile stretch of uninterrupted pavement that is a dedicated bikeway (although it does see the occasional walker/jogger).

So, I turned from the roadway onto the bikeway and start to spin up. I hit 20 mph pretty easily, and before long I'm cruising at ~24 mph with moderate effort. After a few minutes, I come to the next bikeway entrance, and I see another cyclist in full kit (white 'The Velo' jersey), but he's clearly slowing down. I sit up and slow to around 18 mph as I pass, but I don't make a big deal of it. He is pulling off the trail when I go past.

Once I was clear of the bikeway entrance, I get back in the drops and start to spin up again. As I'm getting back to about 22 mph, the White Rider spins past me, probably doing 28 mph. I think he kind of looked back at me, but it was getting dark at this point. It didn't take long before he disappeared around a bend, so I shrugged it off and went back to my pre-planned workout. Then, maybe 5 minutes later, I see his tail light ahead of me and his white kit reflecting my headlight. I'm not sure what to do if I end up catching him, but that worry gets blown away by a literal monsoon that rolled in and turned my ride into a survival fight. I got sand blasted by the wind, pelted with sideways rain, and ended up running over some goathead thorns that would later cause a flat. I made it home just as the front wheel was getting spongy, but holy crap was that a thrilling storm!

My question for the board: was this Rider in White trying to goad me into some competitive riding? Was he flirting with me? Should I have asked for his Grindr handle? Or was this all just much ado about nothing in my head?

Too late. https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...s-sprints.html

Love a MUP racing thread:thumb:

There's always someone faster.

The White Rider, know henceforth as the Don Quixote of the cycle lane...he mooches along in an aloof manner just waiting to tilt his lance at however or what ever passes him. He was probably showboating...Something, I'm ashamed to say I've done. My tactic is to lurk out of sight like a motorcycle highway patrolman...Then as my quarry passes I'll give them 100 yards, then give it the beans...I'm in their draft, out of the saddle, rocking my Trek like a ship in a storm...then silently move out and pass. I tend not to look back...becasuse the face I'm pulling is of a man who's about to be sick...And all I can hear from behind me is the phrase,'WTF!?'. Great sprint training...but a guaranteed way to make no new friends on the road...Unless of course they chase me down and write their phone number on the back of my hand... :)

Nerd.

Everybody is a tough guy, until they meet one.

White bibs. Pouring rain. Wife working late.

This post should have started "Dear Bikeforums - You wouldnt believe what happened to me last weekend"

I am a sophomore at a large, mid-western college. I had always read the amazing accounts on Bikeforums but never believed them to be true--until, that is, the most amazing thing happened to me....

"it was a dark and stormy night..."

Maybe the White Rider was a ghost?

If he blew by you at 28mph, he could care less about you. He is way more fit than you. He might have pulled off the the trail to answer the phone or fiddle with something when you passed him. Riders who can hold that kind of tempo usually aren’t going to pick fights with riders who aren’t there yet.

This is what I thought at first, but then I thought about the fact that I caught up to him (within about a 100m or so). If he were so fit that he could hold that 28 mph tempo as you said, it seems like I should have never seen him again. The fact that he hit that speed to pass me, but then slowed down by ~5 mph makes me think he "dialed it up to 400W" to get past me in some kind of attempt at showing dominance, or flirting. Idk, it was weird.

Riders who are that fit don't get that way by just riding along and then randomly choosing someone to sprint past. He was likely doing an interval set: he sat up when the interval ended and he could have been pulling off the trail for any reason: nature break, eat a gel, check his weather app so he knows he better hustle to get home before he gets caught in a downpour wearing white bibs.

Best not to imagine any one thing about the other persons intentions. Without asking them you'll never know.

Certainly since they didn't communicate with you, then they didn't know your intentions either and between the two of you there was a lot of doing things because of what was thought the other was doing.

Also the only thing that's weird about this exchange are the references to flirting, dominance, missed connection, and grindr.

Too obvious. OP needs to work on his game.

Honor the bike path speed limits; around here it's only 15 mph. While I do creep up a little above the limit when it's empty, I do slow down when passing people and give them a wide berth. It's good ambassadorship. Whereas racing on MUPs is unsightly, produces complaints, attracts law enforcement, makes government bureaucrats generate more rules, or just flat out might get cyclists banned from sections. Given the limited few miles, or far less mostly, we need to use them here and there to get around freeways, it makes absolutely no practical difference. Leave them to the joggers and beginners for whom 10 miles on the MUPs is an adventure.

I don’t see how anyone can go that fast....the bike manufacturers around here make us buy 1x drivetrains...

They're elite.

If you see him again say "Hi". You could make a riding friend.

Elite? I don't know. But a half a percent or a tad more negative slope sure makes my speeds look good. I used to not be so aggressive on that stretch as it just looked like a lot of flat and was after several climbs I always go hard on so that was formerly my section to rest up on at an easy pace.

I tried one day and was way better than I knew I should be. I figured out after a while that it was ever so slightly sloped and I couldn't get the same speeds going the other way.

why do you think flirting is weird? doesn't anyone ever flirt with you?

You seem to be completely ignorant of the actual situation. This was on a dedicated bikeway, not a MUP. There is no posted speed limit, because it's meant to be an area for cyclists to get a workout. Lurk more.