I was cruising down a
stretch of country road that I've probably ridden a few hundred times. The farm
on this road has a pit-bull that's been chained up every time I've ridden past.
This dog never once got up or barked. It never showed any attention by my
passing 50 meters away from where it was. However, on this day, the dog was
running beside a young man on his dirt bike on this stretch of road. From a
distance, it looked like the dog was on a leash, but as I got closer, I
released the leash was a figment of my imagination. I decided to slow down a bit and move over to
the right as far as I could without going off the road into the gravel.
When we passed head on, the dog didn't even flinch or show any interest...or so
I thought. As I proceeded to pick the pace up to get the heck down the road, I saw the dog coming up along my right side in the
ditch. It then proceeded to force me to the other side of the road with
some serious angle pursuit that it must have learned from Urlacher during preseason tackling drills. The dog didn't flinch when I yelled, whistled and sprayed Gatorade at it.
It must not have liked the flavor? I did my best to keep the dog at bay, but it
eventually got me to hit the brakes and come to a stop. I wasn't ready to go flying over
the handlebars as it had its head and shoulders ahead of my front wheel. I've
had that happen before as a youngster...I don't need any more stitches and road rash sucks!
 |
| Don't be fooled...this "little guy" is fast and packs quite the punch! |
The owner
came running out of the garage yelling that the dog won't bite. Where have I
heard that before? Oh...a story from Professor Wynn several years back about
his German Sheppard encounter that found his gluteus maximus to be quite tasty.
The young man on the dirt bike zoomed up beside me and the dog. By this time, the
dog was licking the salt off my right leg, and I was petting it. As the kid
grabbed the dog by its collar everything was looking good, that is until I went
to click in the pedal. When I raised my right leg to do so, the dog had his top
two canines and incisors imbeded in the top of my thigh while the lower
canines raked across the back of my leg. It felt as if a juiced up Barry
Bonds took a swing at my leg. The owner and young man stood there in shock.
They couldn't believe I had been bitten...are you *******
kidding me! What was the most recent time frame for the dog's shots? As the
owner ran back into the house to get this information for me, I stood
there trying to get both the layer of skin and subcutaneous fat that had been
buried deep in the muscle tissue out. Not as easy as it sounds when blood is
flowing out. The owner’s daughter was kind enough to bring out a first aid
kit...not a lot you can do except to keep wiping up the blood and
applying pressure. When the lady returned with papers, I was incredibly
relieved to see that the dog was up to date with shots just a little over two
weeks ago. Looking back now, I can't blame the dog. Who really knows what previous
experiences it's had in life? However, I will blame the owner for not
having the dog chained up. Did the dog think I was going to kick it when I
raised my leg?
|
Yesterday
on my ride through America's Dairyland a van passed by with the
tags NT HAPPN. I guess
that pretty much sums up last weekend and the fiasco with the staging of the
Barstow 20K TT. Hopefully, the parties involved can get it ironed out and still
put this race on later this summer. There just might be a rider who found his lost "Watts" this season that would like to set a new course record. I'm also sure
that racers could handle a flyer that's listed a month or more in
advance...that would really be nice. How about no more TBA or two dates
possible? The promoters have to remember that racers need the MATTS Schedule to
be set in stone before the cycling season starts, so they can plan ahead. There
actually just might be more to life than cycling...marriage and family? It
would also be nice to preregister for all the MATTS Races (2nd race as well) at
once....preferably before the season starts. Some other "time trial
series" does this, and their race attendance has definitely improved over
the past two years.
Racers
really need to do their part as well to help
promoters continually secure these events year after year, so stop
littering, swearing, arguing with residents, parking where you shouldn't, pissing and changing out in
the open. These Equus asinus antics have cost the ABR some awesome
venues in the past. Therefore, you need to listen to some advice from
Bobke'..."don't be a ********!"
If any of
you are looking for a race this weekend, WISPORT will
be putting on the L’Alp
BI’ Huez Time Trial (10 mile) this Saturday, May 26th at Blue
Mounds State Park, WI. I did this race a few years back when I was on some
"psychotic journey" to complete a hundred races in a season and
weighed a bit less than I currently do. Those of you goats will appreciate the
ascent to the finish. It's definitely a race worth doing...all WISPORT Races are.
 |
| These three desperadoes are looking forward to the next TT. Robert Burns, Ben-Jamin Widoff and Mike Burns |
The next MATTS event is
the WBR Bong and a Half 30K Time Trial on
Sunday, June 3rd, in Kansasville, WI. Here's the link to register for
the Bong and a Half.
After that...MATTS will
take us to the WBR Harvard 33.3K Time Trial on Sunday,
June 10th, in Harvard, IL. Here's the link to register for the Harvard 33.3K.
If you are still looking
for a partner for the Scarlet Fire 2-Person 40K Time Trial, I'll have a signup
sheet at both the Bong and a Half and Harvard TT's. Hopefully, I can take this
information and help assist you in finding a partner for the event.
UPCOMING RACES in Illinois/Wisconsin Area:
June 2nd Rib Falls Time Trial (25 mile)
June 3rd WBR Bong and a Half 30K Time Trial
June 9th Fredric Lions Time Trial (26.4 mile)
June 24th Team Apache IL State Championship 40K TT
Don't forget to check out the Mid America Time Trial Series on facebook. and Mid America Time Trial Series website.
The Jaminator sent me this article today, and I thought some of you "TT Freaks" would enjoy reading it.
Talking with other racers while training and at events. The series doesn't seem the same when you look around and you don't see Charles Gerlach, Brian Harris, Debbie Dust and Mike Jones. I hope everything in life is going well for you guys.
BA
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