answer:I once took a very long bike trip with a friend (this was before cell phones). We were in rural Spain, in hilly terrain, and I got up ahead of him by a fair amount. We didn’t yet have any food for lunch and it was coming up on the time when every little shop in Spain would be closing for the afternoon siesta. I came to a little village with a small grocery store and realized that if I didn’t buy food within the next 10 minutes, there would be no lunch. Still no sign of my friend though, and I was afraid that if I went into the store he might cruise right on past and we would be separated. So I parked my bike right out beside the road where he couldn’t miss it and went in the shop. When I came out, I was horrified to see that a big truck had parked right between my bike and the road, so that it couldn’t be seen from the road. I panicked, realizing that I now had no idea whether my friend was still behind me or ahead of me. Should I wait for him to show up? But if he was ahead of me, then I should ride as fast as I could to catch up, and waiting would only make things worse! I couldn’t imagine that I had been so far ahead that he wouldn’t be here by now, so I convinced myself that he must be ahead, and probably riding very fast to catch up with me. So I started riding hard. I would only catch him if I rode harder than he did. The wind was at my back ,and the anxiety gave me extra energy, so I was really eating up the road. Hours passed, and still no sign of him. I was now in serious doubt about whether he was in front or behind, and had no idea how we would ever reconnect. It was late in the evening and would soon be dark. We had no agreed destination for the night. I was desperately confused about what to do. I stopped beside a roadside cafe, paralyzed with uncertainty. Then, a Highway Patrol car pulled up. We had a hard time communicating, but they made me understand that my friend had put them on my trail, and that I should stay put. About an hour later he came riding up. He was furious. Turns out that shortly after I had first pulled ahead, he had a flat tire that took him awhile to repair. This was what he was doing while I was in the shop. He knew all along that I was ahead of him, and was pissed as hell that I never stopped to let him catch up. After I explained how things had looked from my point of view he eventually calmed down.