Wednesday, January 21, 2009

I Felt Right At Home

I went out for a bike ride yesterday morning.  The hills are still amazing, but I'm getting the hang of them again.  I rode out to the shore and then back out.  A climb of 300+ feet in about a kilometer.  So I am beginning to feel a bit more at home.

What made me feel like I was home were a couple other incidents.  Twice I had trucks pass uncomfortably close.  In both cases, I looked up to see they were from Waste Management.  I felt like I was right back climbing the hill on Wood Rd!  They are a plague upon the earth.

The other event happened on a lovely quiet road that is exceptionally hilly.  I had just finished climbing a quite steep hill (lowest gear at about 7 mph) and was enjoying a short coast down the other side.  Ahead of me was another rather picturesque climb that was quite steep with several curves back and forth.  About halfway up the hill (1/4 mile away) I saw two exceedingly large creatures walk into the roadway.   I didn’t recognize what they were until I got much closer.  Rottweilers!  

As I approached one moved off the road as if to let me pass.  Instead, he was waiting in a rather
 un-obscure ambush.  The dog’s head had to be close to a foot across, he was enormous!  I pulled along side and he jumped out into the road barking in a very unfriendly way.  It is impossible, at my level of cycling, to outrun a Rottweiler uphill.  So, I talked to him.  “Have you had breakfast?”  He seemed entertained enough by this to not take a chunk out of my leg, so I continued to talk, he continued to bark and we, together, made our way up the hill.  The other dog must have been an apprentice Rottweiler, because it just watched and took notes, thankfully, because I really can only engage one oversized canine at a time.  I heard a brief whistle and both animals turned for home as I sprinted away - at 6 mph.

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