Dogs are a mixed bag with me. I inherently trust all dogs unless they prove that I should not trust them, however, I've been wronged by enough of them that I've learned a thing or two. I was once pulled off my old 10-speed and my right thigh turned into a chew toy by a Doberman, for example. That won't ever happen again.
This particular dog was clearly one of those "I AM MEAN!!!!!1!!! Ohh wanna race?!" dogs. All sorts of bark, gnashing of teeth. The whole nine yards. But, he wouldn't actually come near me. That right there means he's just a big teddy bear. As soon as I'd mount up, though, he'd bark at me and act like he was going to chase me. So I stopped, and hunched over my handlebars like a sprinter ready to launch. Ears went up, he got in a similar stance, ready to launch. Then I knew, this little pup just wanted something to chase. He ran alongside me for about a quarter mile at about 12 MPH. A nice leisurely pace for me. Wringing out the stubby legs of my new friend, though. He eventually gave up.
Let's see... Lunch today? I went to Taqueria Mexico down at Rainbow and SW Boulevard and had lunch with Eric while talking about mostly bikes and computer nerd stuff. It was a nice ride for lunch, not quite 8 and a half miles round trip.
It was in the low-50s all day, including lunch and the ride home. T-shirt and shorts were working fine, but this is pretty much the absolute low end of the temperature spectrum where I can get away with this kind of clothing. 30 Degrees tomorrow morning. No more mister tough guy. I'll wear cargo pants and a windbreaker.
Did the full ride home with a killer crosswind, gusting up to 25 MPH and the bright sun shining right in my eyes as usual. Of course, I also saw the Dog shown above. Nothing else about my ride really stands out. While my body was pedaling away and a very small corner of my mind was actively keeping tabs on my surroundings, the rest of my mind was occupied working through some points I must make for an article I'm in the middle of writing, so bike hypnosis was pretty much a way of life today.
Random Tunage:
Setharian - Patch This
Regina Spektor - Fidelity
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Dog?
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4 comments:
Yeah, that reminds me of the dog I ran into several months ago who thought he was Rin-Tin-Tin and started running smack-dab down the middle of the road with me on his right hand side! I wasn't so much worried that he might suddenly take a nip out of my foot (I didn't think he was THAT kind) but that some farm truck coming from the opposite direction was going to splatter him from there to kingdom come.
What's worse are the doggie tag teams. One time back in college I went out on a training ride. While I was coming around a turn on a peaceful country road I spotted a medium sized mogrel who was starting to bark and come in my direction.
What I didn't realize was he had a lil' buddy who was coming from the other side of the road who announced his presence by diving under my front wheel causing me to cartwheel over bike's center of gravity. When I came to rest the puppy yelped, nipped my right ankle and then ran to the other side of the road leaving me road rashed and woozy.
Dogs like broken collar bones are some of the inescapable inconveniences hard core cyclists often have to endure to pursue their two wheeled fun.
Seems we all have more than a few good dog stories. Some funny, and some not even funny. More proof that is is indeed a jungle out there.
Being a volunteer in the local animal shelter I can say that dogs are not always what they seem. For instance, we just took in a pit bull who we renamed "spanky". His whole body is nothing more than the mechanism to wiggle his bottom.
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