While Riding in Arkansas…
Wawee Zawiee, did I do some amazing off roading today, on my road bike. Now I can’t say I wanted to go down some gravel road into a field at mock speeds all while yelling at these charging barking dogs who looked like they were going to tackle me and then crew on me. I, along with my fellow teammates Catherine, Sarah, and Laura, were just minding our own business when all of a sudden we came upon a dog sitting in the road. One bark later and his buddies were out with him in the street waiting to scare the sheeze out of me…
I seemed to be the only one who didn’t make it through the gang of charging barking dogs and didn’t really see the road as an opition so headed for someones gravel driveway (I only mention the gravel because it was pretty slippery stuff) and then when that ended bounced down a grass field (which had grass up to my shins for sure) until I hit a ditch…
Thank goodness by the time I hit the grass I quite yelling “bad dog, no, no… aahhhh, aahhh, Guys help me”, because this meant the dogs lost interest in me and went back to their house… Now the only reason I stopped yelling was because I was concentrating on not bouncing off or over my bike crashing to the ground and being gobbled up, but I am lucky I stopped…
Now up the road watching me hike through the ditch, (there was no way I was going back up the way I came, thats for sure… ) to the gravel road, to the main road where my teammates… who got a good laugh at the whole thing.
Wawiee… we were back on our way.
Then… well after my extreme off roading my rear wheel went flat… So the first tube change was almost complete when all of sudden the valve broke. No problem we have three more tubes… oh yes the next two had flats and the last and final tube didn’t have a long enough stem So we called Thad…
While I stayed the girls road home… so sun tanning in my bike uniform I waited and waited.
Thad brought me a new wheel, then handed me a tube and on my way home I went… a few U-turns later I got a front flat… Only problem… I didn’t have levers, pump, or a cell phone which meant I was sure I was in for a long walk home…
Lucky for me a couple was leaving there gigantic house in a truck and I thought “hum, maybe they can give me a ride into town since I don’t know anyones number or have anything else I may actually need in case I get a flat except the tube”…
Lucky for me not only were they super super nice they let me come back to their house to use their pump. Now as I was riding to their house (it was a long driveway) I was a bit worried because I didn’t have levers to take the tire off, but lucky for me they were bikers so they had tire levers. Few… about 20 minutes later I left with an extra tube, CO2, and levers… I have to say that made my day… so nice!!! And I didn’t have to walk home!!!
So four hours after I started my ride I rolled into the house a little muddy and glad to have all my body parts without any dog bights…
Now I really like dogs, I just don’t like it when they look hungry while chasing me…
So that was the adventure of today, what tomorrow will bring I am not sure…
You should look at Catherine’s blog (http://www.cathanddayle.blogspot.com) for cool pictures of our adventure the last week while rounding corners…
I am off to practice squirting my water bottle so I can scare the dogs off next time so I won’t have to off road ride…
:)Chrissy