dookie
02-05-2008, 04:23 PM
mid-70s, sunny, breezy, and i managed to pack all my business in before noon...so i'm feelin' good as i roll out on my recently neglected fixed gear. got it last june, put maybe 1k on it, then got sidetracked by the purchase of spoke's moots...but i digress.
about 25mi into it, everything is sunshine an puppy dogs...legs feel good, bike feels good, sun feels good...nice. then at ~35mi i turn directly into the wind. did i say 'breezy'? local weather website says 15 sustained, gusts to 25. i'm by myself and pushing a 77in gear, terrain is rolling hills. next turn is over 10mi away...yuck.
i finally get there. it's a crosswind now, but a sustained climb. sun now just feels hot, puppies long gone. i plod along in the drops but out of the saddle, trying to use my body weight but hide from the wind at the same time. as i limp over the top, the puppy dogs return...
i see him coming ahead left, out from under the trailer like a bullet. i'm wearing jimcav's john deere jersey, but this NC redneck isn't impressed. it does not appear to be a friendly flyby/escort...hackles up, ears back, teeth bared. i can hear him snarling over my earbuds. i find myself thinking of the squirrel in the spokes photo and wondering how the equation would work out with bladed spokes and a 50lb dog...not that i'm going more than 12mph. slo-mo kicks in about now...
ever try to kick a fast-moving dog while completely exhausted and riding one-legged clipless on a fixed-gear? it ain't as simple as it sounds. i make one flailing left-footed attempt as the dog skids past on my left snapping his jaws. he is for damn sure not playing, and i decide it might be better to stay upright.
i glance over my right shoulder as i'm trying to get back in the pedal and see the dog sliding one way and frantically scrabbling at the pavement cartoon-style. i make a feeble attempt at a sprint, but my legs are too cooked. he gets hooked up all too quickly, is even with my rear wheel in an instant, and lunges at my ankle. this is serious now.
as i let up to reach for my mini-pump he lunges again and connects, gouging my shoe and ripping my sock...thankfully not my skin. but the karma is instant and i then connect, bending my pump on his face. he yelps, his front legs buckle, and he skids on his chest.
my HRM says 185. it occurs to me that if i missed him, i would probably have put the pump in my rear wheel, breaking away style. glad that didn't happen. i look back and see him trotting back to the trailer as the front door is opening. a fast-moving van is oncoming, and i kind of hope it flattens him in front of his owner. it does not.
after that, the return trip was a piece o' cake. i end up at 60.0mi @ 19.0mph, which i am quite pleased with given the conditions. saw 39mph a couple times (~170rpm!), but not smoothly and not for long...
for the record, i typically resort to less drastic methods (water bottle?), but at the time this felt like a genuinely threatening situation. and i do not hate dogs (share my house with a couple)...just irresponsible owners.
thought y'all might enjoy the story...as you were.
about 25mi into it, everything is sunshine an puppy dogs...legs feel good, bike feels good, sun feels good...nice. then at ~35mi i turn directly into the wind. did i say 'breezy'? local weather website says 15 sustained, gusts to 25. i'm by myself and pushing a 77in gear, terrain is rolling hills. next turn is over 10mi away...yuck.
i finally get there. it's a crosswind now, but a sustained climb. sun now just feels hot, puppies long gone. i plod along in the drops but out of the saddle, trying to use my body weight but hide from the wind at the same time. as i limp over the top, the puppy dogs return...
i see him coming ahead left, out from under the trailer like a bullet. i'm wearing jimcav's john deere jersey, but this NC redneck isn't impressed. it does not appear to be a friendly flyby/escort...hackles up, ears back, teeth bared. i can hear him snarling over my earbuds. i find myself thinking of the squirrel in the spokes photo and wondering how the equation would work out with bladed spokes and a 50lb dog...not that i'm going more than 12mph. slo-mo kicks in about now...
ever try to kick a fast-moving dog while completely exhausted and riding one-legged clipless on a fixed-gear? it ain't as simple as it sounds. i make one flailing left-footed attempt as the dog skids past on my left snapping his jaws. he is for damn sure not playing, and i decide it might be better to stay upright.
i glance over my right shoulder as i'm trying to get back in the pedal and see the dog sliding one way and frantically scrabbling at the pavement cartoon-style. i make a feeble attempt at a sprint, but my legs are too cooked. he gets hooked up all too quickly, is even with my rear wheel in an instant, and lunges at my ankle. this is serious now.
as i let up to reach for my mini-pump he lunges again and connects, gouging my shoe and ripping my sock...thankfully not my skin. but the karma is instant and i then connect, bending my pump on his face. he yelps, his front legs buckle, and he skids on his chest.
my HRM says 185. it occurs to me that if i missed him, i would probably have put the pump in my rear wheel, breaking away style. glad that didn't happen. i look back and see him trotting back to the trailer as the front door is opening. a fast-moving van is oncoming, and i kind of hope it flattens him in front of his owner. it does not.
after that, the return trip was a piece o' cake. i end up at 60.0mi @ 19.0mph, which i am quite pleased with given the conditions. saw 39mph a couple times (~170rpm!), but not smoothly and not for long...
for the record, i typically resort to less drastic methods (water bottle?), but at the time this felt like a genuinely threatening situation. and i do not hate dogs (share my house with a couple)...just irresponsible owners.
thought y'all might enjoy the story...as you were.