"commuter racing" revealed :)

[Geonz]

http://www.bikecommuters.com/2008/03...k-elder-of-nz/

[Melalvai]

I don't know what he's talking about.
Often I'm riding home at a stroll, and some young fit college kid on a road bike decked out in full lycra paraphanelia blows past me, I kick it in and very often, catch up to him, but I am careful not to pass him so as not to bruise his ego. (Actually so as not to induce him because mostly likely he blew past me at a pace he considers a stroll.)

[KnottedYet]

I have no clue what the heck he's talking about....
I generally just want to get home to my kid and my dinner.

But, if I *happen* to pass some poseur racer-boy on my way home, well...

[lph]

ROTFLMAO!

Actually, riding through winter has made me positively mellow - there aren't that many people out there to overtake after all, and the speed isn't exactly breathtaking in the first place - but now come spring I'm beginning to do it again. It feels like talking to a dog: "Look - someone up ahead! Go get him!!"

[bikerHen]

I rarely see anyone else on a bike. But the one time I did last summer, it was an older man on this crappy looking MTB. He blew by me, I was going about 20 mph, and it was all I could do to keep up. bikerHen

[coyote]

secretly...thats why I got the road bike.

[susiej]

Don't know what he's talking about. I rarely see even a pedestrian on my commute.

However, on weekend rides, if I can manage to pass anyone, I will ask my friends, "Did you see that?! I passed that guy/gal/toddler!" because it's so rare.

[Crankin]

I have been passed by old guys on mountain bikes, carrying huge backpacks, when I was on my road bike . And not going slowly either (15-22).
When I commute, I don't care who passes me. I see other cyclists once in awhile; one of the roads I go on is a popular training road for cyclists, so I do see them here, usually in the morning, going the other way. I tend to go slower on my commute, especially in the morning. Who cares???

[Voodoo Sally]

Alas I don't see many fellow cyclists on my commute. The few I've seen have always overtaken me. DH, on the other hand, commutes on the busiest bike path in the nation, full of fellow commuters, and ALWAYS encounters this tacit "racing". "You wouldn't believe it! This one (insert toolbag / dork / nerd) . . ." He comes home and rants and rails against it, don't you know, but I know that's he's as into it as the rest of 'em.

[Starfish]

I don't commute, but that was a great article. It reminded me of something written in a Bicycling mag article a couple years ago, by someone who went to Italy for a ride. Something about all the "old Italian men with a million miles in their legs."

[lph]

Heheh - the busiest bike path in Oslo runs along the ocean, from the poshest suburb in to the moneymaking office hotspot area. It's apparently chock full of extremely driven lean men of all ages on expensive bikes, and the morning "race" has been dubbed the "Tour de Finance"