Woman v. Robin

So I was coming off the 35E bridge on my bike this afternoon. It's downhill and I was flying. Just as I peeled away from the cars and headed down the bike path that bottoms out at Shepard road, a robin jumped off the chain link fence to my left and started flying parallel to me, about an arm's length away. Of course I tucked a bit lower and sped up my peddling. I looked to my left and I swear to you that I saw the bird condense it's tiny little bird bones to become more aerodynamic. I'd be lying if I said I saw it squint it's eyes and throw me a challenging look, but I bet it did. It flew right along side me, we were neck and neck, for about 200 yards. Then, right as I was getting real worried about how I was going to take a left and make it through the tunnel under the bridge, the bird put on a burst of speed and banked right, flying just inches in front of my nose and then up and out of sight. I think that it was the bird version of buzzing the control tower. I had to admit defeat. But what a race!