chris' loop

Following a man that's near double my age on a fixed gear road cycle is quite amusing. This guys has been riding fixies since I was two years old and it's apparent.
I mimic his ride style of simplicity and constant velocity until we encroach traffic, then I chicken out. Christopher rolls slowly into the intersection and makes eye contact with the person belted in what is essentially a steel cage. Hesitation leaves me in the intersection as Christopher makes a move with all his weight on the front pedal. He is through, I'm waiting while freewheeling backward. If I were on the fixey I would have certainly dabbed.
The sun had sunk below the trees and still 20 minutes from home. This ride had started out to be an hour spin but now we were working close to two. I with no blinky light or reflective clothing. Christopher had a blinky (and all black clothing) so he was behind acting as the warning light for on coming cars as we rolled along rt133 in Essex. On a long downhill we caught a couple of 20 year old guys on downhill bikes with dual crown forks. They were on the side walk and we were on the street. They were give'in it their all to keep with us, their 7 inch travel dual squishies bouncing and weaving, we exchanged greetings and all had a good laugh. They stayed with us for a minute laughing the entire time.
This week has been a non structured bike week in terms of training. I haven't kept a log of miles, just a casual hour or two a day. My thinking is the next three weeks are going to be sheer pain.