Ride to Leesburg—It was a beautiful, warm Fall day, somewhere in the high 70's (F). We took the recumbents out onto the W&OD Trail, packed with cyclists getting in one of the last rides of the season for many. We passed a few people and were passed by many others, mostly hotshot roadies. At one point we had a problem with a fender. We stopped to fix it and one of the Trail Patrol people passed, riding with a sqeecking chain and not saying a word to us. Usually they at least offer a "need help?" on the way past. Maybe we didn't look incompetent. We fixed the problem and rode on, passing the patrol person who was going fairly slow.

For some reason, many people really dislike being passed by a recumbent, much less by two recumbents, one ridden by a woman. The trail patrol guy sped up and hugged our wheels for a long distance, finally managing to pass us. We kept him in sight until we got to Herndon where he stopped, puffing and wheezing. I tried to look particularly fresh as we passed.
posted by Bruce Wright at 10:15 PM #