Leapfrog

When I go to campus, I generally do a combination of biking and riding the bus so that I can avoid biking up the hills.  This morning, as I was biking to the transfer center, I saw another biker, wearing a blue-green shirt, who was headed toward campus.  He did not take the bus.

I got on the bus, and it took off toward campus.  As we were coming up to the first stop after the transfer center, we passed* the same biker wearing a blue-green shirt; once the bus stopped, the biker with the blue-green shirt passed the bus and continued on.  The bus passed the biker, and then stopped for more students, and the biker passed the bus.  Then we both stopped for a stoplight.  Since the bus was behind a long line of cars, the biker got across the street first and started up the hill.  The bus was just about to pass him when it stopped to pick up more students, and the biker pulled ahead.  At some point on the hill, the biker got off his bike and started walking, and the bus passed him.

I got off the bus and pulled my bike off the rack in front, then headed toward my building.  As I locked up my bike, I saw the same biker with the blue-green shirt, bike put away, walking toward his building.  It's really not faster to take the bus.  Of course, I don't take the bus because it's faster; I take it because I'm a wimp with hills.

* Note:  The biker was on the sidewalk and the bus was on the road; passing did not involve going around and pulling in front of one another.


PS:  On my way back to the transfer center after my class was over, I crossed a street at the same time as another bus.  It stopped to drop off riders, and I passed it.  It passed me a little further along the street.  Then it stopped at a stoplight, and I caught up.  It passed me again, but it had to travel a farther distance to navigate some one-way streets and end up pointed the right direction at the transfer center, so I beat the bus there.  (No, this was not all downhill; the portion where I was playing leapfrog with the bus was mostly flat.)