Just passing by

When I've been on the club rides there has been a familiar pattern. Hit a hill riding strongly and 99.9% of the time the rest of the group that I'm out with will quickly pass by inducing a kind of panic in me. The sense of panic in this case is an emotion constructed of embarrassment, failure, frustration, anger and a heavy dose of self-loathing.

One good thing about doing sportives though is that due to the high numbers of other riders it's pointless panicking when you are passed - I mean, logic takes over and you realise that out of a 1000 people the odds are that a lot of them will be quicker than you.

So on Sunday for example I got quite used to being passed, and not just on the hills. It was even quite interesting noting who was going by. I was passed by a bloke who was cycling with no hands and seemed to be looking for some info on his Blackberry. I was passed by a tandem going up one of the steep hills (I don't know why I think I should be quicker than a tandem). I was passed by someone who wasn't even in the race: he had no number, no helmet and a heavy bike with mudguards.

On one of the steep climbs I was going painfully slowly - I think the Garmin showed I was at about 4 or 5km/h max and my cadence was at about 12 - when I could hear what I first thought was a horse trotting behind me. I sped up a bit but the hoof steps came closer and I thought, "sh*t it's a ram or something chasing me - I'm gonna get butted for shouting at that lamb earlier". I couldn't go any faster and when I looked fearfully to the left where the noise now was the beast started to pass me. It was a bloke running in his cleats pushing his bike up the climb faster than I was riding. Cheeky git.