"Passin N' Gassin"

[dmc]

Dedicated to the folks that pass me and then "gas out" a block or two later.

In probably 25% of my rides I encounter this phenomenon. I am traveling at a consistent rate of speed to be passed by a much faster rider. 2-5 blocks later, while maintaining the same speed, I pass the same rider traveling at 50 percent of the speed of which they passed me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Story 1

Intended as humorous, here is an encounter or two. I will use a visual aid to better explain the first one.



Green Box: While traveling south bound on the I-5 bridge into Hayden island I notice someone right on my tail. We are traveling ~20mph.

In between Green and Yellow Box: I travel a little faster than I usually do so I am not a hindrance to the rider behind me. At the crosswalk at safeway I notice they are 50 yards or so behind me. I am happy I am not slowing them down and realize if they want to pass me they can at the upcoming M.U.P..

Yellow Box: I am traveling about 14mph and they pass me hunched over in their drops cranking hard at around 19mph.

At the three way split at marine drive we separate.

Orange Circle: While I am turning onto Union Ct. I see them enter Delta Park. They are sitting completely up right and traveling at 8-10mph. I chuckle to myself and shake my head.

Pink Box: I (blue line) stop at the Vancouver Ave bridge to answer a phone call. 10 minutes later I see a rider coming towards me at a slower rate of speed in the distance. As they get closer I realize it was the same rider. My hunch from the Orange Circle was confirmed. They passed me JUST to pass me.

~~~~~~~~~~~ Story 2

I catch up to a person waiting at a red light in the bike lane. It appears that they are riding home from work. I wait ten feet or so behind them. During our wait at the red light, they look behind them and stare at me for an uncomfortable 3-5 seconds. They had sunglasses on but I am pretty sure they were staring at either me, my bike or both. I make a friendly hand gesture and without recognition they spin back around to look at the light.

The light turns green and they take off like a bat out of hell on their mountain bike. They are a block or two ahead of me when we start to climb. 2 blocks after we start to climb I close the gap and ride at a polite distance behind them. We are traveling ~12 mph for 100 yards or so when I feel that I should pass them rather than tail them for who knows how long. I kick up my speed to my usual 15-16 mph and pass them. No more then 5 seconds after passing them they come burning past me at 20mph.

I was thinking about pacing them from a distance and seeing how long they could keep up the pace. However, my turn came and I turned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I refrained from mentioning age or gender for a reason. In both cases it was obvious that they passed me at an unsustainable pace JUST to pass me.

Am I ignorant? Are these race challenges, egos or inexperienced riders with a sense of pride? How do you tell the difference?

Hope you enjoyed the stories. Share some of your chuckle worthy moments!