Men, aren't they funny...

[Flybye]

As a female, I can honestly say that I don't like to get passed either - by a man or another woman. Luckily, I've never been passed by a child!

[7rider]

As a female, I can honestly say that I don't like to get passed either - by a man or another woman. Luckily, I've never been passed by a child!

+1.
However....I've learned to accept it, as it happens so often! (well...except the kid part)

[smilingcat]

my ultimate dream!!

ride a beach cruiser with a fat tire and pass a "train" (group of men doing the rotation).

My favorite past time used to be playing cat and mouse. Men just have to pass but don't have enough to keep on going so I have to pass. So I used to speed up as the guy would pass. He would look back and see that I'm not too far behind. No drafting. just far enough back. He then would have to speed up. I speed up to match his speed. We continue to do this until one of us blows up. I've had it back fire on me a few times. I'm just a meany at times.

One memorable experience was a climbing up Jamboree from Santiago Canyon side in Orange County. I just blew by the boys in my big gear 52x13, I think it was, and they were struggling in the lower gears. I did it just right so just as I crested, I ran out of gas but the faces on the guys were just so worth it. too precious.

Another memorable ride was climbing up El Toro from Irvine Blvd?? in Orange county. Some bozo guy said "This is where we separate the men from the boys" FINE YOU *&^* I'm a girl and I'm gonna kick your A##@. I waited for them at the top of the hill pretending to enjoy the view. Guys were arguing something to the effect of you made us look really stupid!! yeah you were...

ahh the glory days the good ol days. I can still gloat after 20 years.

[ASammy1]

I'm a total hill slug and very jealous of all your stories! One day... One day...

[channlluv]

Oh, Andrea, I was just thinking the very same thing! Ha!

I've been passed by a white-haired man on a flat stretch...oof. He was on a road bike, though, and I was on my mtb. And finishing my last lap. He was probably really fresh. Yeah, that's it.

:P

Oh, to be a hill climber like you ladies. Powerful. Woohoo!

Roxy

[katluvr]

+1.
However....I've learned to accept it, as it happens so often! (well...except the kid part)

I get VERY excited when I pass ANYONE...as I am usually passed--And sometimes by hybrids or moutain bikes, older "folks", you name it!

I always hate when climbing a hill and I get passed and they say "looking good" , "good job". The may be words of encouragement...but I just feel that they are patronizing. When I pass people struggling on a hill...I often apologize. Not sure why!

[Righteousbabe]

Papaver...thanks for bringing a smile to my face with your story! I always laugh about this same thing with my fiance ...and he even gets a kick out of watching it happen. I will be riding in front of him, and pass a male rider, and then he watches that rider struggle to pass me. And sometimes when I am having a really bad day...I will let them get ahead and then pass them like they are sitting still. I know that sounds childish, but I can't understand why, if a woman is riding her pace and she passes a man, that he has to pass her back. I get passed all the time...but I don't rush to pass that person back just to prove myself.

Last year I had a man even admit to me what he was doing. I was riding around White Rock Lake here in Dallas on my heavy steel touring bike...panniers and all. I passed an older guy, and he raced up along side of me and said "I cannot let a girl on a decked out touring bike pass me." I chuckled, and said "at least you admit what you are doing...most other guys do not." And then I left him.

This year I am turning it up a notch. I have a sweet Specialized S Works Roubaix...all black. I am adding a fuzzy pink saddle bag and a Hello Kitty bike bell. That way when I pass them, they can think "I cannot let a girl with a fuzzy pink saddle bag and a Hello Kitty bike bell pass me." It may just sting a little more

[grey]

When I did that to a roadie while riding my hybrid, I don't think it was my fat tires, saddlebags, backpack, or Pilates mat that really got to him. I think it was my bunny-shaped squeeze horn.

Too funny!

There is always someone who gets grumpy when passed.

[Grog]

I don't understand the whole passing frenzy. Sometimes I pass people. Sometimes I get passed. Most of the time I try to say hello, whether passed or passing, unless I'm out of breath.

My dear partner and his father are both amazing cyclists. My dear partner, age 33, is particularly fit and a very, very strong cyclist; his father, pushing 65, still kicks my @$$ any day and is in great shape. They both have this issue about passing. They also get upset if they are in a conversational ride (together) and someone passes them without saying hello. But the worst is about passing.

When I ride with my husband, it almost becomes a problem: we are closing in on someone ahead of us who is obviously slower, but my husband slows down (causing me to break - which I don't appreciate, as I need all the momentum I can get to save energy when I ride with him) and just won't pass, even if we're riding 5-10 km/h faster than whoever is ahead. I think it's because he doesn't want to make anyone feel bad about being passed. Usually I get tired pretty quick and go ahead, passing whoever-is-ahead (saying hello) with my husband on my wheel. A few hundred meters later he'll take his position ahead of me again (phew!). As if guys being passed felt better being "chicked" than being passed by a fit man with a little woman on his wheel.

I don't put anywhere near as much thought into the psychology of cycling as they do!

[redrhodie]

I don't understand the whole passing frenzy. Sometimes I pass people. Sometimes I get passed. Most of the time I try to say hello, whether passed or passing, unless I'm out of breath.

My dear partner and his father are both amazing cyclists. My dear partner, age 33, is particularly fit and a very, very strong cyclist; his father, pushing 65, still kicks my @$$ any day and is in great shape. They both have this issue about passing. They also get upset if they are in a conversational ride (together) and someone passes them without saying hello. But the worst is about passing.

When I ride with my husband, it almost becomes a problem: we are closing in on someone ahead of us who is obviously slower, but my husband slows down (causing me to break - which I don't appreciate, as I need all the momentum I can get to save energy when I ride with him) and just won't pass, even if we're riding 5-10 km/h faster than whoever is ahead. I think it's because he doesn't want to make anyone feel bad about being passed. Usually I get tired pretty quick and go ahead, passing whoever-is-ahead (saying hello) with my husband on my wheel. A few hundred meters later he'll take his position ahead of me again (phew!). As if guys being passed felt better being "chicked" than being passed by a fit man with a little woman on his wheel.

I don't put anywhere near as much thought into the psychology of cycling as they do!

My dbf is the same! He won't pass anyone ever. I thought it was just him...

[shootingstar]

In reading this whole thread over last few days, I mulled over my dearie who has never competed in any bike race, but has done some cross-country touring rides on his own and has done some group rides, where I know he was near the front of the group ride.

What he is now compared to what he was like as a cyclist when I first met him..over 17 yrs. ago., has changed. But even then, and even now, all along he has no hesitation to tell me of situations and stories where some fred-like cyclist passed him (keep in mind, he probably looks fredlike to many roadies ) or any woman passing him. To him, the greatest thing was simply to see people on bikes, regardless of their age, size or shape.

I'm wondering if also because he was never boy wonder athlete as a kid/teen, and the fact that he had a string of childhood illnesses plus his lifelong problems on tinnitus, sleep disorder, etc., makes him and other men (with similar health histories), who just know being on a bike, is a gift itself, makes them less upset when "passed" by another cyclist.

If a guy doesn't get upset on the bike, then perhaps he's just competitive or competent, in another sphere of his life.

It does bother me abit to get passed, but I also know for myself, one has to build up momentum to make it up a hill, etc. What I do dislike is that suddenly cyclist passes me very closely and I had no idea they were even around behind me because they did not warn me at all. I've had some close calls.

[madscot13]

oh I get passed all of the time, but at least the men around here have the decency to keep it to a "good morning!" And if I so happen to pass another biker of the opposite sex or if I keep pace with a biker going at a good knot than they usually give me a kudos- after catching up.