A Short Adrenaline-filled Race!

This morning started out pretty nice.  The temps were in the mid 30° F range, and there were ten of us out on the trail.  Dan showed off his new wheels and saddle.  It must have made him want to go fast … because he did.  Chip went with him, and the rest of us lingered behind enjoying the early morning.

I wasn’t sure how my morning would go.  I’m pretty fatigued, and thought that this would be a real effort of a morning ride.  When it started to get a little tough, I simply ducked behind another rider and drafted until I caught my breath.  That allowed me to keep the speed up and to keep pressing along.  The trip up Old County Road wasn’t anything to write home about, but I’m seeing some improvement.  My heart rate still hits the upper limit, but only if I go a little faster than the last time.

It was on our return leg where things got interesting.

First, we noticed activity on the trail as we paralleled it near Fishpaws.  Actually, I didn’t notice a thing since I was flying down the hill, but others noticed what seemed like an ambulance on the trail.  We were concerned that something might have happened to Mike B, so a rider or two turned back to see what all the fuss was about.  Two police vehicles and a maintenance vehicle were parked on the trail and the drivers were attending to another cyclist, who was up and walking around.  It seemed that everything was well in hand.

As four of us were strung out along the rollers of B&A Blvd north of Jones Station Road, we heard barking.  Shortly, it was accompanied by the sound of splintering wood and a large redish-blonde dog barreled through the new hole in the fence gate and quickly accelerated to top speed.  Two riders ahead of me were the initial target, but since the dog was slowed down by the destruction of the gate, I was next in line.  I accelerated and the race was on!  The dog was in it for a good sprint and I knew that I only had to be faster than Clint (on his fixie behind me).  The dog still chose me as a target, and ran with me until it was tired.  There seemed to be no attempt at aggression, but when there is a barking dog paralleling your route and staying with you at 20 mph, outlasting the dog rather than cuddly thoughts are foremost on my mind.  The dog had a nice sprint, then pulled up and let Clint go by with narry a “woof”.  (Later, Clint told me he slowed down when he saw that the dog had me in its sights.  He was waiting for the dog to tire.)

There was nothing else in the ride that even rose to “interesting” after that.

It was a good morning ride.

This Ride: 22.7 miles
Month: 125 miles
2012: 400.4 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 14,254.1 miles