Frontin'

Just got home from a mtb ride and I've gotta gripe. Actually this goes back to yesterday and a few other incidents as well.

I mostly train alone, a little out of preference, but mostly out of necessity. Most of the guys that I would train with train at different times from me, have families, or other obligations. In a way it's kinda boring, but more often than not I prefer it because it lets me do what needs to be done without distraction.

Well, the last two days in a row, and I'm assuming this is because the weather has be down right gorgeous here, I've had these annoying 'wheel-suckers' come up on me when I'm out riding. Yesterday I was doing a ridiculous amount of hill repeats-the first half of the hill steady, then a sprint for the remainer. The hill's about a half mile long, so they add up after a bit. On about the 19th of 25 repeats, some stupid motherf*cker (yeah, basically that's what he was), decides to go with me on my sprint. Then, when we get to the top of the hill, he says something to the effect of "you're not so fast" (I was too crosseyed to make out exactly what was said, but it was something like that). Needless to say, it pissed me off.

Then today on the mountain bike, after about 5 hours in, I passed a couple guys standing on the trail. I hadn't planned on doing any tempo stuff today, just a steady endurance ride. Anyway, here we go again-one of the guys probably said to his buddy, "let's go catch him" and the next thing I know, the dude is coming up behind me fast. Now maybe I'm too competitive, or maybe I'm not disciplined, but I just couldn't let this duchebag pass me. So, being the meathead I am, I had to tear the legs off him. To his credit, he hung on for a bit, but it was sheer bliss seeing him come undone and drop like a bad habit.

Being tested against others in competition is something I really enjoy, but it annoys me when it comes into my training. I realize that I could be more disciplined and just do my own thing and let them do theirs, but then I guess I wouldn't be competitive.