Discover more from 150 words about a ride

Thoughts on cycling and the moments from rides worth saving before they’re lost in the swirl. And it's short: a few hundred words, more or less. Because really, who wants to read more than that about someone else's ride?

2 dogs and a Milan-San Remo-style drift

Rick Swagler

Mar 20, 2016

We all recognized what was about to happen at the same time. I saw the two dogs, they saw me, and the two guys outside the trailer looked from me to the dogs just as they began to chase.

One of the guys lunged for the brown dog’s collar but missed. I was going about 21 mph, just about to begin the climb toward Camp Winnataska Road.

The black dog with short legs gave up quickly. The brown dog’s knowledge of geometry was impressive and he calculated a perfect intercept course. I sprinted; he crossed behind me and came up on my left side. I shouted; he barked.

And then he crossed and shouldered my front wheel. I grabbed the brakes and my rear wheel drifted to the left, sort of the way Fabian Cancellara avoided Fernando Gaviria’s crash in the Milan-San Remo. Similar only in that I stayed up somehow, too.

Cancellara (white helmet) skids to avoid Gaviria.

But it’s another example of why I’m actually more concerned about intently focused dogs than inattentive drivers.

The ride: https://www.strava.com/activities/522376651