Who let the dogs out?

I had too much of a ball last night at the ball. Add to that the residual effects of working 4 – 72+ hour work weeks in a row, and I didn’t expect much out of my bike ride today. But the weather was nice and I wanted to do something. I set out with low expectations of making a quick 12-15 mile ride and calling it a day. When I got to my short course turn around, I turned towards River Road instead. I figure I can turn around at the 10 mile mark and make it a 20 mile ride. That plan worked for a while until…..

I was about 1/2 a mile from River Road, which was to be my turn around point and I heard a dog barking. I looked over at the Doberman who was behind a chain link fence. Whew! No worries. So I continued on as he ran down the fence line with me. And then I saw something that caused my heart to stop. THE GATE WAS OPEN!!! When I pulled even with the gate, he was bolting through it! I shifted and hammered the pedals with everything I had. Luckily, a Tahoe was coming the other way causing the Doberman to pull up. Timbeaux escaped again!

Now I had a dilemma. He was between me and my house. I turned on to River Road, and rode a couple of miles pondering my options. Do I turn around and risk the Doberman while my legs still had some gas left? Or do I take the alternate route home which is longer and has a couple of unknown dogs on it? I figured for the Doberman’s sake, I would let him rest and take the alternate route. When I approached unknown dog alley, I shifted and started hammering early and blew by their house before they knew it. Now I am safely back home and my 12-15 mile ride ended up being 25.6 miles. It was a good day!