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I've Got Something to Say
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| Ride Stats |
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Time: 08:38:18
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Distance:
130.30 miles
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Max Speed:
39.50 mph
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Avg Speed:
15.00 mph
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Route:
PAC Tour Central Transcontinental
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Weight:
0
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Category: training: general -
solo
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: Fuji Newest Road
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| Club: Commuter Cycling Century |
| Weather Conditions: |
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As we started rolling out of Parsons, KS, most of us were relieved at what the weather forecast was showing for Springfield, MO. Previously, it looked like we could be running into the outskirts/remnants of Rita, but what the forecasters were calling for, and all that we experienced, as mostly cloudy skies and cooler weather. The clouds provided shade for us most of the day – a good portion of the time today we were in the shadow of the clouds, which kept us cooler in our efforts to get to Springfield. The wind itself, although not a complete hindrance was from the North/Northeast – I believe as a result of Rita’s proximity and counter-clockwise rotation.
Another thing today brought us was dogs – bike chasing dogs. I know there have seen a couple menacing dogs over the previous 14 days of the tour, but today there was a rash of them. First off, in the first thirty miles, as I was riding with Simone & Annie, we spotted a couple dogs as they retreated to their trees after chasing some cyclist just ahead of us – they must have been worn out from that chase, because they didn’t even flinch at us. A little while later, it was just Simone and I, and a little white ‘yip-yap’ dog came charging from a yard on the left side of the road taking after Simone – I was about 10-15 feet behind her at the time. As the dog got to the middle of the road, I yelled for it to go home. I think it was so focused on Simone that it didn’t realize that I was even there until I yelled – it seemed startled, stopped its pursuit and returned home.
With about 18 miles left in my day, I was riding by myself and had just passed through Bois D’Arc, rolling down County EE. As the road bent to the left, I passed a house with a young boy playing in the front yard and his dog (part retriever) following along. Then, the dog spotted me. He turned and starting making his way across the yard in pursuit. He stumbled as he made his way over the ditch that separates the yard from the road, and I thought he would call off the chase at that point, but noooo! I shifted down a couple gears and started pedaling (sprinting) a little faster and yelled "GO HOME! GO HOME!" at the top of my lungs – but Buddy (as the boy kept calling him back) kept up the chase, and by now had caught up with me so that his head was almost even with the axel of my front wheel – and I was going down the middle of the westbound lane. I thought for sure he was going to do something that would either catch my right pedal as it was coming down or try and snap at my leg or my front wheel – then I would be toast! Well, Buddy finally stopped and I kept rolling down the road.
There are several suggestions to defend against a chasing dog. First, one is stop. In doing so, one may need to keep the bike between them and the dog, incase the dog just has it in for strangers, and not necessarily cyclist. Part of the rational behind this defense is at least you won’t end up with road rash. Second, if there is enough warning, grab one of the water bottles and have it ready to squirt the dog if it gets to close. Doing so has two effects. Hopefully the squirt in the face startles the dog enough to give you a couple more seconds to keep ahead of it. And secondly, if the bottle contains a sport drink, then its dog’s hair will be sticky and attract flies – and that’s something the dog’s owner would have to deal with, too. Another defense – that is part of the bottle squirt approach – is like I did, drop the gears down a couple notches, and pedal like your life depends on it and hope you can out gun the dog.
A third bad story about dog chasing today comes at the expense of another rider, named Mike Arnold. I’m not sure of the exact details and such, but within the Springfield city limits, Mike was harassed by a dog and the dog in one way shape or form caused him to crash – look at the photo album to see how the bike ended up. All I could see on Mike was some road rash on his left knee, but the bike cost a couple thousand dollars – he will be borrowing one of Susan’s bikes for now.
Well, we’re not in Kansas any more! Hopefully my attitude that I had shared with the past few days has stayed in KS, and I can enjoy my riding across Missouri – even though rolling hills may be tough and require some persistence & endurance. And, hopefully, Toto and his friends will let us ride safely the rest of our trip!
Got on the bike starting at 7:35 A.M. CDT
Got off the bike at the hotel in Parsons at 5:20 P.M. CDT
Total travel time: 9 hours 50 minutes
Distance traveled: 130.3 miles
Amount of climbing: 6,000 feet
Actual time on the bike 8 hours 38 minutes and 18 seconds
Average speed (on bike): 15.0
Max speed attained: 39.5 mph
Total Time on the bike: 102 hours 18 minutes 54 seconds
Total distance traveled on the bike: 1555.44 miles
Total overall average speed: 15.20 mph
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