"The riders who joined us on the ride had been sent by God to annoy Bernard"

Four riders good, eight riders very bad, reckons the Doc

- 

I was out for a ride recently with my friend Bernard. At one point we saw two riders up ahead, whom we gradually overhauled. As we drew alongside we said hello.

“Do you mind if we join you?” one of them asked.

“Yes, we would mind,” said Bernard. And with a potential life-long friendship successfully snuffed out at its very inception, we went upon our separate ways.

I believe my friend was thinking back to a similar incident some time ago – probably before the pandemic. We were out together with a couple of other friends. Four is an excellent number of riders for a group – you can always see ahead, you can keep the changes going nicely. You don't get lost because the front riders were too far away to hear directions, and you don't have to remember a whole heap of names or pretend to be interested in some guy named Matt who works in an engineering job you don't understand. It's just nice.