modern_drift

got into a race last saturday, on the river legacy trail. i believe that's my first flat out race with anyone.

so, i'm riding at about 18 m.p.h., in at around 35 miles, and come up on two hipster kids, on their single speeds with their cutoff tight jeans and whatnot. one was tall/mexican and the other was average/white. well, the a/w kid (and by kid i mean early twenties.) was swerving into the on-coming lane, playing around. i give them an, "on your left," and pass them by. shortly after i come up on two slow moving people (14 m.p.h.), in the middle of a long left, so i slow down to wait, for a safe pass (some portions, of the trail, are heavily wooded, on the sides.) as i am waiting i hear, "on your left," and it's the t/m kid passing us. i thought it was a bit dangerous pass. after reaching a clearing i sped up and to pass the slow movers and t/m, moving about twenty. and then, curiously, i hear, "on your left." i say "curiously" because i almost never get passed, on this trail (three times, at most, in three months. and each time i was moving more towards 16 m.p.h.) it was t/m! i thought, "well, okay," moved up a gear, and began to dig in. after he had moved right, i pulled left and pushed up passing him with another, "on your left," at 23 m.p.h. or so. we're both moving and passing other people, one purple shirted, cut off jeans hipster, on his single speed with nothing but a white headband to shield his head and me, in my bicycles inc. jersey and bibs, with my twenty-four gear specialized secteur and halo sweatband and specialized helmet (always wear your helmet!) he comes up, on me, one more time and i laughed saying, "i like you," as well as i could, while breathing that heavily and a parched mouth. so, one more time to really push like i hadn't before and with help, of a slight back wind, i forced myself to 27 m.p.h. and pulled back ahead.
i was a little worried. after passing him, i pulled back to the right a little sharply with us going into a slight turn. a slight glance back and i didn't see him anymore. i thought maybe i had run him off, of the trail, but hadn't heard anything. we were only a half-mile from the turn around so i waited, on him and a/w.
i told him i hoped i didn't run him off, of the trail, and he said he had just gotten winded. i commended and thanked him, for giving me such a run and we talked, for a bit. i wished them a good ride and was on my way.
riding away i realized that was a really good chance to possibly make a new friend, as i don't have many in d.f.w. and am not very good at meeting new people. i've always wanted someone to ride with but after that i think it'd just become some big competition and the joy, of the ride, would just turn into another bit of stress. but it certainly was fun, that once.