Ride Report, Nov. 4, 2022: (Chain) Breaking News and the Death Wish Cat
And dogs. Including a German Shepherd!
One of the first things I said to the group of riders at the beginning of this glorious Saturday adventure: “Beware: I’m a dog magnet.”
Sad to say that it once again proved to be true.
First things first. It was a 33-mile mixed gravel/pavement ride near York, PA. It felt like about half gravel and half pavement. I was on my Lynskey titanium gravel bike (GR 300 – review coming whenever I get around to it), which I don’t get to ride nearly enough. That’s one reason I was looking forward to this.
The other reason was that it was my first foray with the Adams County, PA Cycling Facebook group. I mostly ride alone, and riding with other people is a treat for me. I didn’t know how many people would show up. In all, five of us gathered in Glen Rock, PA to ride. (I live about 40 minutes away, in Maryland).
The ride was a roller-coaster: up and down, rinse, repeat. There was more than 100 feet of climbing per mile, which is a lot of work. But I like climbing, so that didn’t bother me. Having knobby-ish gravel tires on my bike made the climbing that much harder, but I look at it as an even better workout.
The views were breathtaking. One of the areas was “Seven Valleys,” and they lived up to their name. It seemed like we were in and out of valleys the entire time.
German Shepherds! (And Other Wildlife)
One German Shepherd encounter happened fairly early in the ride. The owner was walking the dog (she had a leash, but OF COURSE wasn’t using it), and the canine went after two or three of the riders ahead of me. It didn’t bite anyone, but got far too close for comfort. (BTW, I just love it when owners call to their dogs that are attacking cyclists, as if that’s going to stop them. Note to owners: it doesn’t. Keep ‘em on a leash.)
Being behind them, I was able to slow a lot before the dog sensed that I was there, dampening its “Kill Keith at all costs!” instinct. The owner had calmed it a bit by then, and it sauntered over to me (yes, “sauntered” is the right word there), but had lost most of its aggression by then.
The other fun encounter was with a death wish cat on a big descent. I was again behind the unfortunate rider (Dave), so I got to see it unfold. The cat looked like it was going to cross the road in plenty of time to miss Dave. But instead it saw him and went into “cat in the headlights” mode, stopping and started a few times.
Dave was giving it plenty of room, but that cat really wanted to get run over. Dave swerved to his left to avoid it, and the cat moved at that precise movement. It almost looked choreographed. Dave immediately swerved right again (showing really nice bike control) and missed the cat by millimeters. I would’ve undoubtedly hit it and crashed, so I’m glad the cat decided to taunt Dave instead.
Breaking News
About two-thirds of the way in, one of the Joes (there were two on this ride) had a chain break. It was bad for him but good for me, as I got to watch him fix it. I’ve never broken a chain, and have wondered if I could actually fix one if it happened to me.
Joe had forgotten to bring his chain-breaker tool, so I offered mine up (I bought a new Topeak multitool that included a chainbreaker a month or so ago.) I got to see him at work. He said he’d never broken a chain before, but fixed it like a pro. I doubt I’ll do as good a job when my first break comes.
So Joe ended up with oily hands, but finished the ride without further incident. I learned a lot from watching him, and was glad to offer up my tools, which I’ll have some sort of idea how to use in the future.
The weather was mid-70s, crazy warm for November. Perfect weather, spectacular riding. New friends. Life is good.
There's something about rotating wheels that act like a trigger for some dogs, combined with their better understood instinct to protect their turf and their people and cyclists are instantly a target. I've found a loud, sharp "NO!" is often enough. When it proves not sufficient, the next escalation is a squirt from my bottle right to his face. Anything safe to drink won't injure the dog, but will startle him enough to get him to back down.
If that doesn't work, it's time to test your power threshold.