'Some kind of Monster'

with apologies to Lars and Co...

riding into work, spot a guy i see quite regularly on my commute. He'
on a slicked up mtb and perpetually seems to be wearin the same kit (o
maybe that's my stereotype gland overheating )

Anyway's he a fairly strongish rider and he/me often tail each other o
the way in-out. I cant say we ride together cos he's obviously not use
or experienced with riding WITH anyone else, as he perpetuall
half-wheels, does fliers at the lights and basically treats it lik
some dodgem derby race!
This morning we were comin in together and everytime he tired I'd go t
the front. He would take it as some challenge to his peckerdom and zip
past again and wonde rwhy he kept tiring, no doubt

Obviously still in race mode as we get ito the CBD, he starts runnin
red lights, footpathing and brushing way-too-close to other riders.
Oh well, let him go, me thinks.
However ironically enuff me stopping at red lights and riding mor
realisitcally i keep rolling up next to him. No doubt he was gettin
wound up by his own inability to win this mythical 'race' he wa
running in his head. hehe. Kind like watching drivers fly off at light
only to stand stationery longer at the next ones. sheeeesh.
Cross flinders St and he jumps on my wheel. big open road so im windi
up and i can see his shadow halfwheelin me again, as Im a block fro
the gym i shower at i ease up, he flies past and does that nuff-nuf
drver move/assyumption where the brain tells them that if they cant se
you out of their peripheral vision they must be WELL past you and so h
swerves from the left-half of the rightlane across me and in front o
the parked bus we passed! I hit the brakes and shorten the lives of m
previously square-topped tyre a tad more!!!

Calm, dutchie, he didnt mean it!
Pull up next to him and say "Do you realise you almost killed me bac
there?"
"I was well past you" he assumes
"No, i had to brake so you didnt knock me off!"

OK, i can see the perspective but the following is gold!...

"Oh yeah, well we were 'duelling' all the way in!"

OK, i knew he was in race mode and having some fun, but:
How about an apology?
How about coming to the realisation that you werent 'well in front'?

and just to add his seal of quality to the scenario, the lights tur
green, i weel up onto the footpath to head into gym and he rides of
and yells out,
"Loser!".

Im stunned. shortly followed by anger, and the fog is descendin.
It takes all the 'the little white guy' on my shoulder to not chase hi
down and kick him into Thursday, but somewhere thru the fog is a voic
tellin me I'll regret that big time and only makes me as bad, if no
worse than him!

Im no doubt going to come across this guy again, so my question t
y'all is what (if anything) do i say do?

Im thinkin of introducing myself and pointing out i enjoyed our ride
together adnthat he's obviously a good rider, just not with othe
people perhaps due to lack of bunch experience.

suggestions welcom

--
flyingdutch

flyingdutch wrote:

Im stunned. shortly followed by anger, and the fog is descendin.
It takes all the 'the little white guy' on my shoulder to not chase him
down and kick him into Thursday, but somewhere thru the fog is a voice
tellin me I'll regret that big time and only makes me as bad, if not
worse than him!

Im no doubt going to come across this guy again, so my question to
y'all is what (if anything) do i say do?

Im thinkin of introducing myself and pointing out i enjoyed our rides
together adnthat he's obviously a good rider, just not with other
people perhaps due to lack of bunch experience.

suggestions welcome



Kicking into Thursday sounds good to me. Just coz they ride doesn't mean
they can't be an a#$%hole, just less likely to be. I think in all my
commuting time I've only come across one rider I felt like snotting so
that is a pretty good ratio over the years.

DaveB

"flyingdutch" wrote in
message ...

with apologies to Lars and Co...

riding into work, spot a guy i see quite regularly on my commute. He's
on a slicked up mtb and perpetually seems to be wearin the same kit (or
maybe that's my stereotype gland overheating )

Anyway's he a fairly strongish rider and he/me often tail each other on
the way in-out. I cant say we ride together cos he's obviously not used
or experienced with riding WITH anyone else, as he perpetually
half-wheels, does fliers at the lights and basically treats it like
some dodgem derby race!
This morning we were comin in together and everytime he tired I'd go to
the front. He would take it as some challenge to his peckerdom and zipp
past again and wonde rwhy he kept tiring, no doubt

Obviously still in race mode as we get ito the CBD, he starts running
red lights, footpathing and brushing way-too-close to other riders.
Oh well, let him go, me thinks.
However ironically enuff me stopping at red lights and riding more
realisitcally i keep rolling up next to him. No doubt he was getting
wound up by his own inability to win this mythical 'race' he was
running in his head. hehe. Kind like watching drivers fly off at lights
only to stand stationery longer at the next ones. sheeeesh.
Cross flinders St and he jumps on my wheel. big open road so im windin
up and i can see his shadow halfwheelin me again, as Im a block from
the gym i shower at i ease up, he flies past and does that nuff-nuff
drver move/assyumption where the brain tells them that if they cant see
you out of their peripheral vision they must be WELL past you and so he
swerves from the left-half of the rightlane across me and in front of
the parked bus we passed! I hit the brakes and shorten the lives of my
previously square-topped tyre a tad more!!!

Calm, dutchie, he didnt mean it!
Pull up next to him and say "Do you realise you almost killed me back
there?"
"I was well past you" he assumes
"No, i had to brake so you didnt knock me off!"

OK, i can see the perspective but the following is gold!...

"Oh yeah, well we were 'duelling' all the way in!"

OK, i knew he was in race mode and having some fun, but:
How about an apology?
How about coming to the realisation that you werent 'well in front'?

and just to add his seal of quality to the scenario, the lights turn
green, i weel up onto the footpath to head into gym and he rides off
and yells out,
"Loser!".

Im stunned. shortly followed by anger, and the fog is descendin.
It takes all the 'the little white guy' on my shoulder to not chase him
down and kick him into Thursday, but somewhere thru the fog is a voice
tellin me I'll regret that big time and only makes me as bad, if not
worse than him!

Im no doubt going to come across this guy again, so my question to
y'all is what (if anything) do i say do?

Im thinkin of introducing myself and pointing out i enjoyed our rides
together adnthat he's obviously a good rider, just not with other
people perhaps due to lack of bunch experience.

suggestions welcome


--
flyingdutch


G'day Dutchie,
It's very easy to react quickly to other's critisims or sarcastic jests but
i was really impressed on your way of thinking on the last sentence you made
(even though you wanted blood at first) about introducing yourself to him
seeing as you've been riding in together, may as well make it formal.

I reckon you might find a way to mention that he really needs to fine tune
his group riding ettiquette and suggest he join a club to encourage him to
do better and get fitter. By riding with a club, he might learn to
appreciate the dangers or riding on another's wheel. Ok that's my 4.5cents
worth!!

DJ

flyingdutch Wrote:


Im no doubt going to come across this guy again, so my question t
y'all is what (if anything) do i say do?

Im thinkin of introducing myself and pointing out i enjoyed our ride
together adnthat he's obviously a good rider, just not with othe
people perhaps due to lack of bunch experience.

suggestions welcome

Gotta admit your story gave me a good laugh. Not at you....this tim
(kidding) but this macho on the mtb. He probably refers to himself i
the 3rd person and sped off thinking "Your a God Bob! Bob really showe
that guy. Bob is the real deal now. Bob your the poo and he got
whiff!".

But seriously if gonna come across him again sounds like you´d be wis
to be polite about it and mention his skills in riding with others nee
some work. Maybe give macho "Bob" some suggestions on how to improve
otherwise sounds like he will just continue being a danger to you o
any other cyclist he comes across

--
oely

DaveB Wrote:


Kicking into Thursday sounds good to me. Just coz they ride doesn'
mea
they can't be an a#$%hole, just less likely to be. I think in all m
commuting time I've only come across one rider I felt like snotting s
that is a pretty good ratio over the years

DaveB
I dunno about the kicking bit.. obviously he's going to run into th
same angry guy some time shortly on the commute home, so I think
conciliatory action would be best

Call me lame but I'd ride up to the dude and have a good old chat abou
the wather or something inane and pretend it didn't happen (bit brittis
I spose but it seems to work)
Nothing worse than having your fave route spoild by an unpleasent ride
whos often there - like the dog that runs to the fence and suppris
barks, even years after its moves/dead, you still fear the surpris
attach. Diffuse now, rather than have overlying angst

T
(my 2c worth

--
casurina99

Dunno... as unconfrontational as I am, it sounds like this guy is s
filled with testosterone and penis envy that words are going to b
relatively pointless. He sees the world as a (individual) race an
everyone else as someone to beat... Wonderful arrogance - the trait
hate the most...

Having said that, perhaps a bit of sly flattery about "gee, you'r
really fast, you should join us at Kew crits - you'd whip everybody..
" to get him along and then have his ass communally kicked by th
entire field, not to mention marshalls and such?? Just
thought... unlikely to work I'll admit..

--
eddiec

oely Wrote:


He probably refers to himself in the 3rd person and sped off thinkin
"Your a God Bob! Bob really showed that guy. Bob is the real deal now
Bob your the poo and he got a whiff!".


FAFL

oh, that's 24 carat gold!!!

need that....

Hippy no doubt would kno what to do. oh ,grasshopper, are you stil
'with us' ?

F"smilin again"Dutc

--
flyingdutch

"eddiec" wrote:

Having said that, perhaps a bit of sly flattery about "gee, you're
really fast, you should join us at Kew crits - you'd whip everybody...
" to get him along and then have his ass communally kicked by the
entire field, not to mention marshalls and such?? Just a
thought... unlikely to work I'll admit...

Nah, remember he's the competitive jerk. "You're real fast. Maybe you should
try the Kew crits. But then you probably won't be able to beat those guys,
they're way faster than you" Draw him along, then get him thoroughly beaten
(on the track and off!)

Cheers
Peter

flyingdutch wrote:
with apologies to Lars and Co...

riding into work, spot a guy i see quite regularly on my commute. He's
on a slicked up mtb and perpetually seems to be wearin the same kit (or
maybe that's my stereotype gland overheating )


I saw some guy on your tail up High St in heavy traffic.. same guy I
assume?.. Call me back around next time if you need to tag team this
****!



cheers,
GPL

GPLama Wrote:

I saw some guy on your tail up High St in heavy traffic.. same guy I
assume?.. Call me back around next time if you need to tag team this
****!



cheers,
GPL

That was him. i was even going out of my way to 'pull' him around car
where ethe gap wasnt going to be big enuff for his wide-mtb-bars

and thanks for the offer but your just gettin sucked in to th
competitve side of it (like 'BR' aint seen that side of the 'Lama' :
)

Monsieur Signorini's suggestion of tempting him with the kew crits i
subtely evil just enuff to work!

F"I like it! I'd buy that for a dollar"Dutc

--
flyingdutch