"Good Job"

We’ve hit that time of year when I seem to be doing a lot of riding, but not a lot of writing about riding. Balance, as anyone who has read EVL for any stretch can confirm, is not my forte. Try as I might, I seem to be an all-or-nothing sort of individual, and despite wanting to have it all in every facet of my life, and often trying to achieve it, rarely do I strike the perfect balance of completing all of the to-dos on the list. And thus, my silence for longer stretches. I do apologize.

Last week though, I was out on a ride that I do fairly routinely. I had left home on my road bike, but got a massive flat about 2 miles out (large, metal staple – you’d think I’d have seen it coming, but I didn’t and it nearly caused me to wipe out as I was heading down a steep-ish descent). Because the axle on the rear of that bike is finicky, I couldn’t get the wheel to turn without rubbing the chainstays pretty badly and decided to return home to pick up the Surly and head back out on that bike instead.

It was a very warm day and I was getting a later-than-intended start (as is often typical), but I was in a good mood, despite the mishap with the former bike, and just wanted to enjoy the ride. Since I was no longer on my “race” bike, I decided I would chill a bit and take it easy, take in the sights that I often take for granted, and do the route before getting on with work.

All was going well and I hit my turnaround point and started back home. I found myself staring off at a distant object that was shimmering in the sun, wondering what it was that I was seeing and because I was lost in thought, my speed dropped off.

Out of seemingly nowhere, another cyclist passed me on the left and shouted out, “Good job,” as he pedaled up the hill in front of us. It took a minute for things to sink in. At first, I thought he was talking to himself, but when he looked back at me over his shoulder, I realized he was in fact speaking to me.

My venting on Twitter… because I was thoroughly perturbed.

Unfortunately for me, I’m generally not the quickest with responses in the moment, but after a few seconds, I started to get angry. This isn’t the first time someone on a bike passing me has made this comment (or a similar one) and I really don’t appreciate it.

I haven’t been able to figure out why cyclists feel the need to say this or other similar comments to people they are passing. First, the individual has no idea whether or not I’m doing a good job because they don’t know me, nor how I ride or what I’m capable of doing. The comment comes across as rude and patronizing, in my opinion.

Something lit in me and I took off as fast as my legs would pedal in an attempt to catch this fellow. Truthfully, I don’t recall ever moving so quickly on my own, but I was on a mission to catch him. I had no idea exactly what I’d say if I caught him, but I was running through scenarios as I chased.

The unfortunate part of living where we do is that a lot of professionals and semi-professional athletes train here, and I had no idea who I was attempting to chase down, but because it was late morning in the middle of the week, I could make an educated guess that this likely wasn’t another lollygagger such as myself. I pushed my legs to their max, hoping that a signal would stop this cyclist so that I would have a chance to catch up. I was pedaling at over 27mph (42kph) according to my Garmin (which was a vast increase from the approximate 11mph pace I’d been traveling when the cyclist passed me) but I just couldn’t seem to quite get close enough even to yell.

Just as I reached a point when it appeared as though I was gaining on him, he made a turn in the distance and I got trapped at a red light. Ugh. I was a little upset that I couldn’t catch him, but I still hadn’t settled on exactly what it was I would say anyway. I wanted to make a point that his comment was not appreciated, but I also didn’t want to sound like a crazed lunatic either. Finding that balance in the heat of something can be challenging, so maybe it was better that things worked out the way they did.

All of this brought about a lot of thought and reflection. I wonder how many passing comments are made to cyclists that are taken as an offense or are believed to be rude in nature? I wonder how many are intended to be snarky or tactless? Is there such a thing as cyclist-to-cyclist road-rage and how extreme can individual’s reactions be in situations? I know I’ve been more than a little miffed at other cyclists from time to time, but it’s never been anything as extreme as I’ve seen take place with people in cars.

So, while I was unprepared to react to the situation that presented itself, I’m trying to plot the best way to deal with it in the future — because it will happen again, as it has before, and I’d like to be better prepared with my own response. Suggestions are always welcome!