It Happens Too Often

[Razors Edge ★]

...but it never fails to annoy me

My rides start at the bottom of a hill, and then go over a couple easy up and downs, before flattening out.  I always start the ride with 10 mins of easy pedaling and keep my HR low.  This video starts about two or three mins into the ride just after the final little "down" section and going into the false flat section that goes for a few miles.  I heard this guy shortly before the pass as he has aero wheels that make a fairly loud whooshy noise.  But, for whatever reason - likely the nice boost one gets coming off that hill - this guy thought he ought to roar past me.  But what drives me nuts is that he then was gassed and became a turtle.  Really, I'm just noodling at 15-18 mph, so for me to get passed, have a little gap, but then roll back up to him and have to pass him shows just how dramatically his pace changed.  He has the "look" of a newer rider, but I don't feel like I was "that guy" when I was starting out.  

It's one of my pet peeves - the pass and slow down - and it is one I annoyingly see quite often because of that starting stretch of my ride. It's easy for folks to be coming with a nice head of steam down the initial hill where I join at the bottom, so I get why it happens, but I also think folks should have a better estimate of their own capabilities and not do the pass and fade routine.

 

 

[Longjohn ★]

You have a busy bike trail. My local trail I might see a half dozen bikes on a nice day on a weekend in 12 miles. Usually I see nobody. When I used to do the MS150 the skinny little girls would pass all the Clydesdales on the climbs and then go about the same speed down hills. The Clydesdales would all fly buy them and then we would do it all over again on the next hill.

That guy did ride like a noob, he was all over that trail and it wasn’t because of the trail surface.

[Razors Edge ★]

15 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

You have a busy bike trail. My local trail I might see a half dozen bikes on a nice day on a weekend in 12 miles. Usually I see nobody. When I used to do the MS150 the skinny little girls would pass all the Clydesdales on the climbs and then go about the same speed down hills. The Clydesdales would all fly buy them and then we would do it all over again on the next hill.

That guy did ride like a noob, he was all over that trail and it wasn’t because of the trail surface.

It was July 4th, so as busy as any nice weekend day.  I can say, on a particularly nice weekend day, I could count hundreds of roadies and a similar amount of "casual" riders and likewise walkers/joggers - all over a couple hours of riding and coming/going in both directions.  

It's the standard "if you build it, they will come" sort of thing.  A 45 mile paved trail with a parallel unpaved gravel trail that runs from a city to the countryside is a GREAT corridor for multiple uses.  For me, it is right out my front door (literally an underhanded toss of a stone away) and I use it regularly for rides but also walks and taking my pup out for her exercise.  I can get to horse, cow, farm country directly by hopping on the trail and riding for less than an hour.   

Regarding Clydesdales, I have a rule to never pass one just prior to cresting a hill.  I'll slow and let them get to the top first, noodle along behind them until the next climb, and pass them then.  Otherwise, they're gonna pass me on the original descent and I'll have to get into that annoying back and forth until a real climb shows up.

I had another "noob" do the same as him about a month ago.  The difference was that that guy caught me again while waiting for the light.  He complimented my bike and started talking about his new bike and his adventures, so I then spent a good 10 mins chatting with him and answering some of his noobie questions, and it was fun.  I'd love to have had this latest guy roll up next to me on my warm up to chat rather than blast by and blow up like he did