Am I am evil vindictive person?????

[mikeprice]

OK - the answer is - probably

 

anyway - people who frequent the less technical threads will have realised that I often go out riding a bike

 

OK ebike - it has a little motor which assists pedalling

 

 

a bit

 

for reference - it is street legal and I normally ride it in one of the lowest power levels

 

anyway - today I went on my normal loop - about 20 miles - takes about 2 hours including a 10min break for a drink and chocolate biscuit (shhhh - my wife doesn't know about that bit!!!)

 

then a route along potholled paths through a nature reserve - followed by a cyclepath/towpath along a canal back home

 

anyway - today, at the start of the nature reserve there is an old road - in bad repair and leading only to a footpath

and a big wide tractor and trailer with MASSIVE wheels was coming along it towards me

as I know the driver of that thing regards the path as his, all of it - so I pulled over to let him just get past

 

he passed - AT SPEED - because that is what he does - and I started off again

as I started a bloke - 40s ish with close cropped grey hair and a good looking 'proper' mountain bike (hard tail if anyone is interested) shot past me at a distance of about 1 inch with no attempt at reasonable clearance or normal inter cyclist acknowledgement

 

and shot off

 

OK - I was annoyed

 

but I have an ebike - and I ride it most days - but I look like a dorky old bloke wearing a high vis coat and a helmet - but I am fitter than I look (actually it would be difficult to be less fit than I look and actually ride a bike - I have always been like that!)

 

so I sighed and set off

 

then found my normal speed meant that I was actually catching him up slowly

(OK I was annoyed I MAY have been riding a bit less carefully round the puddles than normally - hence going straighter)

 

 

 

and there is a thing

works with walking and running (huh - like I'd know) but definitely with cycling - where is you pass someone then you need to stay ahead - other wise you look like a prat - so you have to do whatever it takes to stay ahead

this may only apply to men - duuno - I'm not a non-man

 

anyway - due to the puddles and splashing - he would have been clearly able to know that I was behind him

 

OK - I was nice and maintained a clear 10-15 yards distance

 

but I wqs doing about my normal speed

 

He was clearly pedalling hard

 

I was not sympathetic

 

then he decided to leave me behind

 

and clearly accelerated

 

 

now - at that point I MAY have been a bit unreasonable

 

Now - I could have upped the motor assist - but I didn't

 

I just pedalled harder - i.e. actually used muscle power

 

and caught him up again

 

he kept up the speed

 

so did I - at a clear 15-20 yards - but consistent

 

he didn't leave me behind

 

it was a rough path - took some concentration to wind around the potholes - but I do this path every day - I know it

 

after a while he just stopped - bending over the handlebars breathing heavily

 

so I just sailed past

 

and carried on at my normal speed

 

 

about 1.5-2 miles later I got to a gate thingy - he was about 10 yards behind me - had been maintaining my speed

looked 'puffed out' (other phrases are available)

 

he kept behind me for a while - even along a nice wide road

 

until I stopped a while later to clear some rubbish that had collected under my mudguards

 

 

some time later I caught up with him again - he was doing the same loop as me

 

he was ahead but - by chance - must have taken a slightly different route and ended up ahead of him when we got to a locked gate

 

I let him through first as I had been checking it was locked and not just closed (there is a route round the far side for walkers and bikes

 

boy did he pedal hard to get in front of me

 

 

 

 

 

I am a bad person

 

especially if you annoy me by being rude and entitled

 

 

 

 

another thing people who follow my posts will have noticed

 

I do tend to go on a bit at times