I had only 54 miles to go of this year's MCL target and when I saw yesterday's favourable forecast for today I was toying with the idea of doing one last decent ride for the year - from Hebden Bridge to the summit of Waddington Fell and back. When I got up this morning, however, it was clear that the weather was not living up to expectations and I didn't fancy a 100 km slog in wind and rain. I decided to just do one of my local rides and chip away at the target.
So ... I went out to do my hilly 23 mile Cragg Vale/Steep Lane/Greenway loop.
I nearly had an accident on today's ride. Late in the ride, I was still up on the tops and riding along a narrow pavement-free lane into a headwind when I came up to a woman walking 5 or 6 dogs. I'd say that she was probably a professional dog walker. Either that, or she was the owner of a very varied collection of mutts!
The dogs included a couple of yappy Jack Russells which attempted to get at me as I rode past. The woman appeared to have them under control on their leads so I kept well over to the right and just rode on by.
The yapping receded into the background and I started to think about extending my ride to knock a few more miles off my target. Suddenly, the yapping re-emerged from the background to the foreground and I looked down to see a Jack Russell running after me, faster than I thought Jack Russells could run. Damn - it must have slipped its collar!
I thought I would easily be able to outpace it but the headwind was slowing me down and it was gaining on me. It drew alongside on my left, trying to nip my overshoe. I wasn't bothered about getting bitten - I don't think a dog that size would cause too much damage to a heavy-duty neoprene overshoe. I was more worried about colliding with it. Sure enough, the little rascal overtook me and suddenly ran to the right directly in front of my bike! I braked and swerved left, just missing it. Then it was running on my right trying to nip the other foot.
I tried shouting "
SIT!", "
STOP IT!", "
STAY!" but to no effect. Even a more direct "
PACK IT IN YOU F*****G RUNT OR YOU WILL GET MORE THAN YOU BARGAINED FOR!" failed to have any effect!
There was nothing for it, since I had already dismissed the idea of stopping and talking to the dog for half an hour while the dog walker caught up - I had to outpace it. I stuck the bike in a big gear and jumped. The initial acceleration put some distance between me and the dog, but I couldn't sustain the extra speed into the headwind. I slumped back into the saddle and maintained the same speed that the dog was doing. I thought it would soon get bored, but it chased me for about a mile before finally getting tired.
Fun over, I got back to calculating distances, evaluating the weather, and checking the time. It looked like heavy rain might be on its way, and daylight was fading fast. Forget adding extra - time to head for home, ColinJ!
Only 31 miles to go now. I should easily be able to squeeze that in, even allowing for Christmas obligations. Maybe I will do it as one ride or maybe as a couple of shorter ones. If the weather is really bad, I'll just have to ride up and down the A646 a few times!
) then I can wave goodbye to my daily stroll / crawl round the block*.
