A few weeks back I’m out riding at the lake and I’m on the Jones Road heading north. I notice another rider up ahead and I start to work on closing the gap. I’m thinking this person must be a fairly good rider as I’m not able to close very fast, if at all! For some of the time we seem to be keeping pace and then some of the time I’m closing up a bit.
Finally, I’m on their wheel, an she slows down a bit and I go by, we say “hello”. Then she’s pulling along side and passing. OK, it’s on now! Turns out she’s training for a triathlon and doing some intervals. We ride along for a number of kms and I manage to keep her behind me most of the time, but she’s realy putting the hurt on me.
We round a corner onto Airport Road and slow the pace a bit and talk. We exchange info on our riding life, she tells me about her triathlon training. I mention how I normally never meet up with anybody on the Kenora rides, and she says she almost always has a riding partner. Then it happens. She says to me, “There’s another old guy who rides out of the Longbow Lake area, do you know him?”. Old Guy! Kids these days, just no respect. And by the way you were drafting me for a good portion of the section.