Today was gorgeous weather, which of course means that half the city was down at the lakefront.  As a public service to... well... me... I'd like to ask a few things of those you driving down there while I'm biking down there.  Check your mirror before you open your door!  I almost won a door prize twice today, and that is not the way I like to get my heart rate up while biking.

Now on to some biking etiquette.  First you have to understand, most of the time that I bike, I'm training for triathlons.  The bike leg of a triathlon is more like a time trial then a stage race.  In fact, USAT rules strictly prohibit drafting.  So when I train, I train alone.  I've never done a pack ride.  I don't want to get used to something in training that I can't have in a race.

With that said, today I did 21 miles.  The return half of my ride was into the wind... a stiff wind.  I passed one guy and moved back over and looked behind.  He's on my tire letting me break the wind for him.  We come up on a second guy a minute later and pass by, and now all of a sudden I'm leading a pack of three riders.

Here's another reason why I like riding alone.  It's safer.  Nothing makes me more jittery then having someone I don't know on my tail.  The majority of bike accidents happen in pack rides.  Time trialing is extremely safe in comparison.  So you'll understand that I wasn't too happy to have two riders sucking my wind without even asking.

After about 2 miles of my being in the lead, one of the riders moves up and takes point.  I'd rather just be out on my own, but I'll take advantage of the wind break for a bit.  He only lasts a short time before I end up taking the lead again because his pace is too slow.  Rider number two seems content to just stick behind me.  He did that for 5 more miles.  Rider #1 finally broke off and took a turn somewhere, and so now we're down to me and this other guy who just seems content to freeload.

Finally, sick of this guy... I stopped pedaling and raised up.  He didn't move up ahead until I looked back and glared.  That lasted about a half mile until he broke off and took a turn somewhere.  Either that was his plan all along, or he didn't like actually having to work.  And so I rode the rest of the way back to the lagoon where I was parked alone, and enjoyed that part of the ride better than the rest.

Moral of the story... ask before taking someone's tire, and then share the load.