This morning when I was returning home on my morning road ride I was passed by a guy wearing a full Google Kit. As he passed me he gave me a nod and smile, since I’m a Yahoo! I couldn’t let this Googler get away with that, so I got on to his wheel and drafted a bit.
My plan was to attack him at the Sunnyvale city limit (which if you don’t know city limits are always sprint points on road rides). About 100 feet before we hit the point which I was going to mount my attack I noticed he was wiggling his left elbow and looking back at me.
Hey! I’ve seen that move before, that’s an invitation to take a pull up front. So as any honorable cyclist would do I accelerated enough to overtake him and take my turn up front. I focused on pedaling at a good even tempo (not dropping the hammer) just enough to pick the pace up a bit and say “I’m game!”
After about 3 minutes I relaxed, wiggled my left elbow and glanced back relinquishing my pull. The Googler speed up enough to over take me and I fell back inline on his wheel. We played this hopscotch game for about 3 miles till my turn off point. Since I knew I was turning off I took an extra long pull and then yelled at the end, “Thanks for the pulls!” He responded with the same enthusiasm “you too!”
This is one of the many reasons I love cycling, two strangers working together against the wind. The only thing that would have made it more beautiful is if I was wearing my Yahoo! jersey.
I'm just your average 30 something white geeky male who rides a bike and
Co-opetition is the name of the game.