Funner Than I Expected!

[Razors Edge ★]

With rain in today's forecast (Tuesday), I figured it made sense to ride yesterday afternoon (Monday) despite feeling a bit tired from Sunday's ride.  I figured, get out, take it easy, and just enjoy the ride.

Anyway, I saddled up and got going.  It was busy out as the weather was BEAUTIFUL.  Through the series of stoplights & road crossings, and around quite a few cyclists, I was just wrapping up my warm up when a young guy zipped past me.  In my mind, I said, "Once I get rolling, I'll see if I can chase him down", and he got a nice gap ahead of me and passed another guy pretty far ahead of me.  I lost sight of him as the other guy was in the way, and I started to increase my pace in hopes of pulling back the young guy.  Well, whoever he passed sped up a bit, so even though I was gaining on that new guy, it was a slower close, and I really lost view of the original guy.  As I caught up the the one guy, it turned out he was on a bike with aerobars, and had been trying to hang with the young guy too.  He seemed beat when I passed him (just before a nice overpass).  I kept cruising along hoping I'd see the young guy not too far ahead, but some slower traffic kept me from getting a nice boost from the descent off the overpass  but I could just pick him out ahead of me.  

Anyway, just where the descent flattened out for for a long 1% down stretch, the aerobar guy came past me at full steam (may 30 or so?), and really made the most of the descent and following decline to catch the young guy in the distance.  I HATE that stuff - poke poke then ZOOM - but with aerobars, that's sort of how they ride.  I always think, "I'd love a TT bike for the pure speed", but then I remember that almost all TT/aero folks are seemingly miserable and rarely smiling or in a "chatty mood". Not my vibe. 

I think he passed the young guy, and those two seemed to "go at it" for a while pushing each other to go faster, but I just stuck to my own rhythm knowing the downhill portion of the route was almost over, and some longer climbing sections were on the horizon.  Fast forward five minutes or so, and I see a rider ahead of me and recognize the aero guy's position.  I close the gap, nod, and ride on.  About 1/4 mile later, I spot the young guy on the side of the trail, reading a sign.  He looked like he had been there a little bit, but I couldn't tell. I waved and kept going.  FFWD another 5 miles or so, and I turn around, swap bottles, and get going towards home.  Ahead of me, I see the aero guy finally arriving - about 3 or 4 mins behind - and give him a wave too   No smile from him.

About 1/4 mile later, I see another young guy turning around ahead of me to start going my direction.  This guy hops in behind me, and then zips on past at a small 5% rise in the road, and, of course, I say to myself, "He might be fun to play with", and step up my pace to catch and then match him.  I sit back maybe 50' and hold that steady - drifting closer at road crossings, gapping back while passing slower folks.  He eventually notices me back there, and in typical cycling fashion, hammers a bit to shake me.  I just ramp up a bit and he settles back down, but since he knows I'm back there, he does that more and more often.  I can see his form, though, and can tell he's not comfortable - head bobs and more arm movement than optimal - so I'm in the he'll pop or pull off soon mode, and that makes it even easier to keep the pace.   If I thought he'd keep it up for another 30 miles, I might have dialed back, but knowing he wouldn't, I'd let him hammer and get a gap, and then I'd just cruise back up to my spot.  It was a bit of an interval game, rather than my normal steady state ride for fun.

As we hit one more overpass with a nice descent into a steady 1% up (where the aero guy zipped past earlier in the other direction), he hammered, I followed, he hammered again, I matched, he hammered again, I matched, and then he signaled he was done and turning off into the car park.  I gave him a "Great work!" and a thumbs up and carried on my way.  Super fun.

Then, with just a couple miles to go, after a stop at a light where I caught a pack of riders, it was another chance to chase, pace, and pass.  Again, fun having a series of carrots to use for incentive, and my "easy" ride turned into more of a fun & mixed intensity sort of thing.  Rarely are there enough folks out and about who are pushing a good pace, so yesterday was sort of a perfect storm of nice weather and folks itching to ride.  I love the long days of summer! 

[Razors Edge ★]

Orange frame guy is the young guy and then the aero guy is on a red frame.