you can't win unless you know it's a race: cat 6 triumphs against unwitting opponents

Despite the forecast I've had blue skies for pretty much every mile of the 38 I've done this morning.

Am okay with gilets but must insist on pronouncing it 'gillit'.

I was late and trying to speed in to school as quickly as possible this morning, when a dude in Birkenstocks on a comfort bike passed me like it was nothing

fuck a giblet, it's 80F in SF. hotter than LA right now. gonna ride today after clocking out early.

I will be riding molto tranquilo today so guaranteed which means open season for the Cat6ers.

coffee shop ride today and on our run along the jail trail, normally good for some paceline riding. A tail wind broke everyone apart and I found myself on the wheel of a pretty blonde triathlete* who towed me up to some early escapees, I then hopped wheel to wheel and "won". Strave PB and onto the first page of strava riders and second place in the fatties category. This is truly the essence of Cat 6ing.

*Everyone wants the wheel of the pretty blonde triathlete in the coffee shop ride, some might say its because no one wants to ride in front of someone riding on unstable tri-bars, there may be other reasons but I couldn't possibly comment.

literally impossible

Is it cat6ing when I ride 15 yards behind some guy seemingly desperate to distance me, or just passive aggressive assholedom? I feel kinda bad now but it amused at the time.

well technically you were both cat6ing, so it's a push imo

It depends if you follow him all the way home and then outsprint him up his driveway

ha

Running errands on Market Street when I'm surprised to see a guy I already passed come up on my left. Oops, nope, different guy, much faster. Riding fixed with clipless pedals. I push a little harder, he keeps accelerating, I reach for my downtube and get a few more gear inches. We're side by side when we approach a stopped cab, with a curb on either side. I slow down, he's nervier and finds the gap on the left. Cab pulls away, I'm now in his draft and considering if and when to come around him (dangerous because of streetcar tracks) when I realize I'm about to pass my destination on the left and pull over. Probably for the best, I don't think he was working as hard as I was and riding that fast on that section of Market is fucking idiotic anyway.

He wasn't unwitting, but I got completely smoked by a middle-aged recumbent bro. I could tell he wasn't even trying hard!

It doesn't really count as cat 6ing as we were riding together and had, 10 minutes previously, done an across the road sprint. However I think I pulled off my finest bit of race craft yesterday evening, made all the sweeter my besting Dr Pinarello 'my buddy works at SRAM look at my SRAM Red, Qarq and ZIPP' Dogma.

I gapped my buddies at a stop sign, didn't really go that fast until I saw them over my shoulder so did a 1.5km breakaway until a little hill. They almost brought me back on the hill but I used my knowledge of the hill to spin up as it flattened out towards the top and pegging it down the descent and up the next hill. Cancellara besting Boonen on the Kapelmuur it wasn't but it felt like it.

Best of all at the top of the last hill I pulled left to do a couple of laps of the park but they tapped out and called for the pub.