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