IS IT BETTER TO CHASE OR BE CHASED?

I like routine.

Not crazy routine.

A little structure to my day.

I like to ride in the afternoon.

I like to ride for the afternoon.

It is a nice time to ride.

Leave around one and get home whenever.

It is the getting home where the routine begins.

The shower.

Putting on nice clothes.

Cheese, crackers, and a beer while I make dinner.

It is a nice way to ease into the night.

But sometimes I have to change this up.

An afternoon appointment.

Meeting up with friends.

The weather.

I ride in the morning instead.

It happened today.

Lots of rain, aka ‘Beryl,’ beginning around lunchtime and continuing until tomorrow.

I headed out around nine.

It was quiet out.

Not many other riders.

But something happened this morning, and it has happened before.

Not often, so I am very aware when it does.

I have rides where I see lots and lots of cyclists and connect with none.

Or I have rides where I see two cyclists and connect with both.

That was today’s scenario.

I was waiting at a light.

It changed, and off I went to cross The Champlain Bridge and continue from there.

I heard the changing of gears behind me.

‘Oh good,’ I thought, someone to ‘chase’ me.

I knew this ride could not be a long one.

‘Let’s get as much as we can out of it.’

A ‘chase’ it was.

We crossed the bridge, and he or she followed me for the next twenty kilometres or so.

Right behind me.

I never turned around to see who it was.

I got to a point where I thought I had better start heading home.

I could see the dark clouds arriving.

I looked behind me, and they were no longer there.

I turned and headed back.

Up ahead, I saw a guy enter the road.

He did not see me.

The roles had been changed.

I am now the ‘Chaser.’

We followed the exact route in reverse.

I was trailing him by a couple of hundred metres.

It remained like that.