pride comes before a tough uphill cycle

I may not have mentioned it but I live half way up a hill. Not a little gentle slope type hill but a f**k off steep one, that has steps going up it in places instead of pavement (think San Francisco) I also cycle home a lot and try and kid myself and everyone else who looks at me in amazement when they realize I cycle home, that it is good for my heart! Hahahaha. Though if I am trying to impress some tall, dark, good looking stranger then I may omit (or play down the fact) I live half way up the hill, not the whole way! Also the fact that the route to my place goes uphill, a flat bit, more uphill, a flat bit, a very long uphill bit, a teeny tiny flat bit, and then another uphill bit (which I live part way up).

So, enough scene setting.
Last night I was cycling home and to my astonishment I over took someone on the second uphill bit.!!!!!!!! You cannot imagine how pleased I was with myself. I cycled along the next flat bit feeling Queen of the Hill.

Then came the extremely long uphill bit and my pleasure began to turn to panic. I could hear the guy getting nearer and nearer me (his padlock was clanking against his bike frame) Was I going to let him overtake me? Oh No. Pride kicked in. So I was doing my best to maintain a steady speed up the bloody hill. With a sigh of relief I zigged off the main road (or is a zag?) and continued up the hill, thinking he would go straight on and I could slow down a bit. When I hit the teeny tiny flat bit, I realized to my horror that he had zigged as well and was still behind me. No chance of slowing down.
I went into the last uphill bit, cursing him, as this meant that I had to cycle the entire way up to my front door, rather than get off at the crossroads a few metres before and walk the last few paces because otherwise he would go past me before I reached my door and it would look like I had given up ....

So I got to my front door, a sweaty, heavy breathing mess and made a big show of getting my keys out of my bag. The man cycled past and as I was pushing my bike through the door and thinking to myself 'Got away with that, well done.' I could see out of the corner of my eye the guy getting off his bike and starting to walk up the hill.

What's the betting he was thinking to himself 'Thank god she stopped there, I'd never have made it up the hill at that pace!'?