Had my first windy gravel ride
10-20-07, 10:39 PM
#1
Squirrel
Thread Starter
Had my first windy gravel ride
Had my first ride in KS today and the gravel is at least an inch thick and the wind was 20-30 mph. It was a whole* new experience. When going against the wind in the deep sand-like gravel up the only hill in KS, I went a grueling 5mph. Going the opposite direction, with the wind and on a paved road I was going 23 mph without hardly working at it.
Encountered my first country dogs today. A German Shepherd with two buddies who were big Border Collie/something mixes. They came at me like a pack so I stopped and went "Noooooooo." They stopped, I stared at them until they turned around. I started up again and they came at me.
It's self rewarding for a dog to chase someone off their property, so I stopped again and said "NO!" and 2 finally turned back to home. The third one was not happy and stuck around. So every time he came towards me I stepped towards him and RANG MY BELL. We had a stare down and then I rode right towards him. He peed on a bush (trying to salvage his male ego) and then slunk away. I was very proud of my dog-wrangling skills.
Found a cool cemetary with old graves. I'll go see how old tomorrow, maybe.
The people were nice, gave me lots of room on the road and waved. One guy toasted me with his beer can from his porch.
I was wearing a black skort which blew in the wind just like the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz.
Encountered my first country dogs today. A German Shepherd with two buddies who were big Border Collie/something mixes. They came at me like a pack so I stopped and went "Noooooooo." They stopped, I stared at them until they turned around. I started up again and they came at me.
It's self rewarding for a dog to chase someone off their property, so I stopped again and said "NO!" and 2 finally turned back to home. The third one was not happy and stuck around. So every time he came towards me I stepped towards him and RANG MY BELL. We had a stare down and then I rode right towards him. He peed on a bush (trying to salvage his male ego) and then slunk away. I was very proud of my dog-wrangling skills.
Found a cool cemetary with old graves. I'll go see how old tomorrow, maybe.
The people were nice, gave me lots of room on the road and waved. One guy toasted me with his beer can from his porch.
I was wearing a black skort which blew in the wind just like the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz.
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10-21-07, 02:07 AM
#2
Time for a change.
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That loose gravel is good training for the legs- especially if uphill so stay off the paved roads.
Funnily enough on the dog front- I do not have a problem with them normally- but yesterday I got passed by a Collie that decided to race me. All I could hear was the owner calling the dog back. As the owner had made no attempt to control the dog when I passed her- I just let the dog run with me for a mile or so. Then it got bored and sloped off into the bushes. Just hope the owner controls the dog next time a bike passes it.
Funnily enough on the dog front- I do not have a problem with them normally- but yesterday I got passed by a Collie that decided to race me. All I could hear was the owner calling the dog back. As the owner had made no attempt to control the dog when I passed her- I just let the dog run with me for a mile or so. Then it got bored and sloped off into the bushes. Just hope the owner controls the dog next time a bike passes it.
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10-21-07, 07:13 AM
#3
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Had my first ride in KS today and the gravel is at least an inch thick and the wind was 20-30 mph. It was a whole* new experience. When going against the wind in the deep sand-like gravel up the only hill in KS, I went a grueling 5mph. Going the opposite direction, with the wind and on a paved road I was going 23 mph without hardly working at it.
Encountered my first country dogs today. A German Shepherd with two buddies who were big Border Collie/something mixes. They came at me like a pack so I stopped and went "Noooooooo." They stopped, I stared at them until they turned around. I started up again and they came at me.
It's self rewarding for a dog to chase someone off their property, so I stopped again and said "NO!" and 2 finally turned back to home. The third one was not happy and stuck around. So every time he came towards me I stepped towards him and RANG MY BELL. We had a stare down and then I rode right towards him. He peed on a bush (trying to salvage his male ego) and then slunk away. I was very proud of my dog-wrangling skills.
Found a cool cemetary with old graves. I'll go see how old tomorrow, maybe.
The people were nice, gave me lots of room on the road and waved. One guy toasted me with his beer can from his porch.
I was wearing a black skort which blew in the wind just like the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz.
Encountered my first country dogs today. A German Shepherd with two buddies who were big Border Collie/something mixes. They came at me like a pack so I stopped and went "Noooooooo." They stopped, I stared at them until they turned around. I started up again and they came at me.
It's self rewarding for a dog to chase someone off their property, so I stopped again and said "NO!" and 2 finally turned back to home. The third one was not happy and stuck around. So every time he came towards me I stepped towards him and RANG MY BELL. We had a stare down and then I rode right towards him. He peed on a bush (trying to salvage his male ego) and then slunk away. I was very proud of my dog-wrangling skills.
Found a cool cemetary with old graves. I'll go see how old tomorrow, maybe.
The people were nice, gave me lots of room on the road and waved. One guy toasted me with his beer can from his porch.
I was wearing a black skort which blew in the wind just like the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz.
Hi. Solveg!
Wind is a b**** to be sure! Mrs. Road Fan and I biked down to the town she teaches in yesterday, going SW into a WSW wind of around 20 mph. 20 miles round trip, but MUCH harder than our 40 mile loops earlier in the season! I'm taking a recovery day.
Those dogs were somewhat socialized!
What did you ride?
Road Fan
10-21-07, 07:18 AM
#4
Squirrel
Thread Starter
I only had room to bring the Atlantis down here... and it's the perfect bike for this part of the country. I think I'll ditch the panniers, though, although when you're out in the middle of nowhere it's nice to have "stuff" with you. My house is on a gravel road, so it would have been a chore to for any other bikes even if I rode the pavement as much as I could. I found the nearest LBS and he told me to stay off of any roads that have numbers as names, and that pretty much leaves the gravel ones.
It was a great* workout.
It was a great* workout.
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