Do you know
why dogs like to stick their heads out of car windows? Because they can’t ride bicycles. I loved the feel of the breeze on my face as
I rode my century yesterday on behalf of the American Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).
This was the
first century I’ve done this year that I didn’t have to get up early for. I didn’t have an organized ride to get to,
and I didn’t even have to go to Macon for a group ride. I simply rode from my own house according to
my own agenda. Also, I had originally
anticipated that I would be riding a solo century this month, but my husband Robert
decided to join me – yea! Dogs and
husbands make the best companions.
Even though
I didn’t have to set my alarm clock for the ride, my dogs – appropriately –
helped me get started for the day. They
are used to getting fed at about 6:30 A.M., according to our weekday work
schedule, but of course they don’t know the difference between weekdays and
weekends. They still want breakfast at
that time even when Robert and I can sleep a little later on the weekends.
I was ready
to get up around 7:00 A.M. anyway.
Robert and I had a healthy, leisurely breakfast and headed out on our
bicycles around 8:30. We went uptown to
stop by our terrific local coffee shop, The Vanilla Bean. Robert frequents the Vanilla Bean, but I don’t
get to go there as often as I’d like because they’re only open on weekdays
while I’m at work in Macon and on Saturday mornings when I’m frequently at
cycling events. So, it was a treat yesterday
to get a cup of Earl Grey tea and a muffin, which gave me a little extra fuel
for the long ride ahead. Additionally,
we saw several Monticello friends and neighbors. Two of those were our state representative
Susan Holmes and her husband Paul. I
told Rep. Holmes that Robert and I would be covering a good bit of her district
on our ride: Jasper County, Jones County, Monroe County, and Butts County (plus
a little bit of Lamar County, which is not in her district).
After just a
few miles, Robert and I got to go through the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge, always
a great place to ride. There’s not much
traffic, the road is well paved, and the woods on either side are beautiful. Sometimes you can even spot some wildlife,
like the turkey that dashed into the trees as we passed by. The road leads to the small town of Juliette,
made famous by one of my favorite movies, Fried
Green Tomatoes. We had to stop there
for a train:
Actually, we
had to wait for quite a few minutes:
I hear the train a comin.’ It’s
rolling round the bend.
I wasn't on any timetable, though, and so I didn't mind waiting. And I love trains!
Soon we were back on our way. As we
pedaled out of Juliette, I saw this cute dog in his yard:
My initial
plan was to take a picture of all of the dogs I saw on my ride yesterday, but I
quickly decided that that would be impractical and not too smart, either. A few doors down, we saw this dog running
loose:
Although dogs
have chased us on our bicycles on a number of occasions, this was the first
time that one actually bit. Fortunately,
it only bit Robert’s shoe. That dog was
like a little piranha.
Dogs generally
fall into one of three categories: 1) They are terrified of cyclists and run
away. 2) They are only curious and may
or may not run alongside cyclists. 3)
They chase cyclists aggressively.
Fortunately, most of the dogs I’ve seen while riding are in one of the
first two categories. Some of my cycling
friends don’t differentiate, though.
They get a little carried away yelling at dogs and can even be too quick
on the trigger of their Mace cans.
Still, I don’t mean to downplay the hazard that dogs can pose to
cyclists. A good friend of mine has had
two serious crashes when dogs have run into him. If people simply kept their dogs inside or in
a fenced in yard, both the dogs and cyclists would be safe.
The rest of
our ride was quiet…and warm. OK, I’ll
concede that it was really pretty hot.
But what do you expect when you’re in the dog days of summer? However, I’ll take 90 degrees and 90%
humidity anytime over the cold. As we
pedaled along in the languid afternoon, I contemplated why we say that one
person is as lazy as a dog, but another person works like a dog. Cycling is perfect for pondering such
mysteries of life. Finally, I decided
that these sayings must come from greyhounds.
Greyhounds spend most of their hours lounging around, but when they are
on the run, they are all business!
Because Robert
and I didn’t have the luxury of rest stops that an organized ride would
provide, we had to take care of our own provisions. The food part was easy. I filled my jersey pockets with Clif Bars (carrot
cake flavor – yum!); a packet of fruit-filled, liquid energy substance made by
PowerBar (sounds weird, but it’s good and tasty bike food); and some rice
cakes. Now these weren’t the crisp,
tasteless rice cakes that you buy in a package.
These were homemade rice cakes made from Dr. Allen Lim’s recipe. Dr. Lim is a nutrition specialist who works
with pro cyclists. His rice cakes
include sushi rice (stickier than other rice, which helps hold the cakes
together), bacon, eggs, soy sauce, brown sugar, and Parmesan cheese. They are well proportioned between protein and
carbohydrates, which are both important on an endurance cycling event. And they taste good, too!
On most of
my rides I just drink water, but I have found that electrolyte drinks make a
big difference when I ride more than a couple of hours. Robert usually keeps us stocked with a large
container of powdered Heed or a similar product that provides protein as well
as carbohydrates. When we went to
prepare our bottles yesterday morning before the ride, wouldn’t you know that
we were out of powder? At least we had a
few sample packets from recent bicycle races.
One of them was a grapefruit flavored electrolyte tablet that you
dissolve in your bottle. I decided to
try it. When I started drinking it about
a half hour into my ride, I couldn’t decide whether it was disgusting or
intriguing. Regardless, I drank it
because I knew I needed to keep hydrated.
We also made several store stops along the way to buy Gatorade. I tried a new flavor, lime cucumber. It was kind of odd but refreshing. However, it definitely was better straight
from the cooler than after it got warm in the sun as I rode along.
The heat made
our century a little more challenging, but we finished strong. When I got home, I thought it would be nice
to take a picture with me and all of my dogs.
It was like herding cats.
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