I did a 31 mile solo ride in the early afternoon. It was a gorgeous day - in the low 70s. And the leaves still look beautiful. I decided to do hills in the beginning and then have a flat second half. As I was riding, it hit me - why does a 60 mile ride with friends seem to take twice as less time as a 30-mile solo ride? No, this is not one of those tricky math questions that you find in school text books! When I'm riding by myself, it feels like the odometer barely moves.
It was an uneventful ride except for one "incident". At one point, a guy decided to draft off of me. It was on a road with a lot of traffic. Because he doesn't know me and doesn't know how I ride (and vice versa), it always makes me nervous when some stranger latches on to my rear wheel. I could see his shadow and I could almost feel his breath on my neck (okay, I'm exaggerating) But then he passed me...and I looked at him...and it was like looking at Adonis on a bike! He was tall and lean and gorgeous and beautiful and gorgeous and...(did I mention that he was gorgeous? ) Any kind of irritation I was feeling went poof! And then he said, "Hi! How are you?! Nice day for a ride. Have a great ride!" And he took off. And I couldn't keep up with him. But I do think that he had to be the most beautiful cyclist that I've ever seen in person.