Sunday, April 29, 2012

Chased by a...Chihuahua!

This was definitely one of the "Dog" days (sadly, not always good for the dog).

First when I was heading along Goddard Rd (off Tilley) a big dog decided to bark and give a bit of a chase. I yelled, "NO!" just as a guy across the street also yelled at the dog. I don't know why the guy ACROSS the street was yelling at that dog but, it worked.

Then, I was riding along on Hwy 12 after Oakville. I could see something big and black in the middle of the road ahead. From a distance (and my less than perfect vision), it looked like a big piece of tire rubber. As you have probably guessed, it wasn't. It was a big black dog. It looked like, maybe a Rottweiler mix. It had a collar on. Someone is missing their dog...

I had planned to ride to Elma where Hwy 12 joins Hwy 8. I realized I was going to possibly run out of time (I had a meeting at 5:00), so instead I turned onto Mox-Chehalis Rd. at Malone. Mox-Chehalis is a rough chip seal road. I alternated between the aero bars and the handlebar. Still, it was tiring. When I was still on M-C Rd., I could see ANOTHER black dog up the road (fortunately, this one was alive). This dog was standing facing the direction I was going and...howling. When I came up to it (he or she was a black standard poodle), I said, "Why so sad?". It just barked, but didn't chase (probably beneath poodles to chase people on bicycles).

With about 2 miles to go on Mox-Chehalis, I was vibrating along, when out of a driveway comes this itty bitty chihuahua barking and running as fast as it's little legs could carry it. Oh, he was trying his best to be as ferocious as possible! Of course, I slowed down. I didn't want to hit the little dude! About that time, a guy came out hollering, "Tony!". Tony ran alongside of me for a little bit, until he decided to listen to his owner. His owner apologized. I told him Tony would have, unfortunately, come out worse between the two of us.

After the chihuahua encounter, I didn't have any other dog meetings. I rode into McCleary for lunch at Subway, then returned to Hwy 8 for the final 25 miles to home. It rained off and on, but was otherwise uneventful.

Total miles for today: 80.8
Average speed: 14.7 (not the greatest--I think my hands are still numb from the vibration)

1 comment:

Marsha said...

I definitely think cycling blogs should always talk about funny dog encounters. We do have some really funny ones. My husband and I were once HERDED by a border collie! He had us at a complete stop before his owner rescued us.