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From Mountain to Road

05.01.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

I got up too late to make the Sunday morning club ride today (Which was pretty eventful – details farther down), so I decided to stick close to home and do a neighborhood route that wound me up at the Veloway.

And who should I see there but Mike Watts, a regular commenter on this blog under the nom de guerre “Sine Botchen.” I’ve enjoyed his input, because it comes from the point of view of a long-time mountain biker, who seemed to feel at home on a blog that caters primarily to roadies. We’ve met on the Veloway before, and he was able to easily outpace me on his 29-inch MTB.

So I was pleasantly surprised  to see a Tweet from Mike that he’d bought a road bike. He’s had it for a few weeks now. We decided to ride a few laps together.

Mike Watts with his new road rig.

The bike is a Fuji SL-1 Pro with a Shimano Ultegra drivetrain. It’s a carbon fiber frame, and he says he’s amazed at the quality of the ride. But it does take some getting used to, after 20 years on a mountain bike. He’s bothered about battling the wind we’ve had to put up with around here for the last two-plus months.

The lightness of the bike and the different riding position (hands out over the front wheel, a more vertical fork) makes the bike “twitchy,” says Mike. Going into a corner and getting buffeted by a crosswind is a feeling he’s not used to yet. He’s confined his riding to the Veloway, because he’s a little uneasy about riding in traffic on highways with a stiff wind.

“Why did you decide to get a road bike?” I asked.

“The guys I used to mountain bike with have all moved on in their lives,” he replied. He found himself riding almost solely on the Veloway, which is a smooth, paved track. “I realized the mountain bike was not the right tool for the job,” he said.

“So what’s the biggest difference between riding a mountain bike and a road bike?” I wanted to know.

“You know, I thought it would be the lack of suspension,” he said. “But that turned out to be the least different thing.” The big difference, he said, is how subtle the road bike is when responding to the pavement.

He had a few questions for me. “How do you loosen the brakes?” he asked, “if I want to get a wheel off?”

I showed him the quick release for the brakes.

“I got an owner’s manual with the bike,” he said, “but it was full of basic stuff like ‘Always wear a helmet’ — lawyer protection stuff. Nothing about operating and maintaining the bike.”

I’ve got some time off coming up, and we agreed we’d get together again and this time take his bike out on the roads. I’ve got some area routes in mind that will really show him what his road bike can do. In the meantime, though, he said he’d keep riding four days a week — and finish making the transition from mountain biker to roadie.

————

Like most bike blogs, Bike Noob has dealt with the issue of dogs before. But today really put that issue into perspective.

The Sunday morning club ride headed out to Creedmoor, a crossroads southeast of Austin. I had planned to ride with them for the first time in months, but couldn’t get my act together in time to make the start.

About 12 miles into the ride, a small terrier of some kind got loose and rushed at the group, targeting the two lead riders. It hit one bike broadside, knocking him over, and careened into the second bike, taking it down as well. The other riders missed the pileup, but at least one ran over the dog, who limped away, badly hurt.

An ambulance came for the two downed riders. Both were in considerable pain. It turned out both had fractured pelvises and are spending the night in the hospital (one of them happens to be an emergency room physician at that same hospital).

Police ticketed the dog’s owner for an unrestrained dog. Neighbors said the dog is always running loose. Mrs. Noob says I should confine my riding to the Veloway from here on out.

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Categories // Bikes, crash, People Tags // Bikes, dogs

Bike-Chasing Dogs…And Dog-Chasing Bikes

07.31.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

hemmelsride3By Jeff Hemmel — Let me say first, I love dogs. Truth be told I’m not so big on cats, but dogs are my kind of pet. Just not when they’re chasing me on my bike.

Most of the time, that’s not an issue. Leash laws and traffic combine to make things pretty quiet animal-wise on my typical ride. Every summer, however, I get the chance to escape to the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate NY. And while I absolutely love the climbs, the scenery, and the lack of traffic, I don’t like the increase in furry friends I encounter during the course of my ride.

About two weeks ago, I was just beginning the steep, lengthy climb back home when a particularly ferocious dog seemingly came out of nowhere. The dog’s timing couldn’t have been better. Given the abrupt steepness of the hill, I couldn’t outrun him. The road was also narrow and I was approaching a blind curve, meaning I didn’t want to chance making a turn and speeding back downhill. I had no time to grab my water bottle and give him a squirt, and was sure if I attempted to slow and unclip I’d either let him take a chomp or fall. With every turn of the pedals my calf inched closer to dog chow.

So I let instinct take over. I yelled. Then, unable to speed away, I hit the brakes, causing the dog to briefly shoot past. I can’t call what happened next any masterful plan – it was more like pure rage. But I planted my front wheel right on the dog’s tail, like Lance pouncing on Bradley Wiggins. Muttley veered left and I followed. He veered right and I followed again. The look on the dog’s face was sweet revenge, as he clearly didn’t like the idea that my spinning tire was not threatening to take a bite out of his miserable behind. Yes, it would have been a disastrous fall had I actually hit him, but all I could think of at the time was how delighted I was to be turning the tables. Instead of a dog chasing a bike, this was now a bike chasing a dog. Take that, canine.

It worked, albeit briefly. The dog finally broke away, and I rode past, stringing together a combination of curse words that I don’t think even a linguistics professor could decipher. As the dog sat down, I turned my attention back up the road. And that’s when I heard the unsettling sound of nails against pavement.

Yup, the angry pup was answering the bell for Round Two, and I hadn’t even had the chance to rest up in my corner. This time around I lunged for the water bottle, almost wiping out in the process. Problem was he was now attacking from behind, so every twist to see where he was caused me to wobble dangerously in the road. Eventually he made a lunge, and I got him with a decent squirt. One more and he ended the chase.

In the moments that followed, the reality of what had happened began to set in. Fortunately no cars had come along at the same time. I’d hate to think what could have happened had I been worried about both the dog and traffic. I also began to think about how close I came to falling while frantically twisting from side to side to track the dog once he attacked again from behind. I was furious…and scared.

And wondering what to do the next time around. I’m sure fellow Noob readers have had similar close calls. Any suggestions? I’m wondering about keeping a small air horn in my jersey pocket. Think a deafening blast at close range would scare him off?

Does anyone bottle the scent of a vet’s office?

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Categories // guest post Tags // dogs, guest post, Hemmel

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