Doggone good.

I rode my bike again. At Vegas. Again.  This time around it was a mid-week flying visit whilst the kids were in preschool.  Luckily for me I had a new set of internals in my geared hub so I would have the luxury of gears to help me along.  But really, the most special thing was that Megan was coming along with her dog Bodhi.

I'd never ridden trails with a dog before and I have to say that I wish I could do it every time, all the time.  It is, to put it simply, so doggone good!

I met Megan in Cambridge as usual and loaded my gear into her car.  I'd normally take Andrew's work car on a trip like this, but a) he was using it for work, and b) it is off-limits to dogs.  That's Andrew's rule, not his work's, so it does pose a bit of a problem for me with my desire to one day add a dog to our family.  ANYway...

Bodhi was a bit confused about this other human in the car, but after some introductory face-licks (apparently moisturiser is tasty) he curled up on the backseat and snoozed while Megan and I caught up on the goings on in our respective worlds.  I gave him some pats and cuddles and scratched his ears when he stuck his head between the front seats to check out what was going on.

We started our ride from Hill Road and took the familiar route along Yellow Brick Road, Sandy Skid Road and onto Pondy New.  After Bodhi's first trail outing with Megan the previous Saturday, he had worked out that it is best to follow the bike, rather than run in front and occasionally have a mountain bike tyre buzz his butt.  Well, this put him in position #2, and that's where he stayed.  If I was in front he was on my wheel and in front of Megan.  No amount of instructing or cajoling was going to get him to go to the back of the line.  He was #2 and that was that.

I found that I was excited to be riding my bike in the forest - there's nothing new in that - but I felt so strong up Yellow Brick Road and can only put it down to having a four-legged friend following closely behind and panting enthusiastically.  Okay, the gears certainly helped.  I didn't have to stand up to climb every hill and my cadence could be kept relatively constant.

I was having a great day.  My legs felt a bit tired from the outset, but for some reason I still felt strong and as though I could ride everything without a problem.  The bike was great too, after I had given it a tune up to ensure my brakes weren't dragging, the gears were adjusted correctly, fork air pressure was spot-on, and my tyre pressure was just above the 'too-soft' mark.  I had a few minor mis-shifts with the Alfine, which I can only blame on myself for not quite completing the double shift.  The shifter paddle moves a long way for my relatively small hand and I haven't yet found the optimum set-up with my brake lever and gear lever.  I think the secret lies in cutting off the gear indicator window, but I'm not quite that brave yet.

Bodhi was humming along quite well too. Even when the gap between me and Megan increased, Bodhi stuck with me and was happy to wait beside me for Megan to catch up.  Unfortunately, Megan was having one of those 'flat battery' days where there is no gas in the tank and no oomph in the legs.  Not surprising after a big week at work, a ride on Saturday and a serious lack of quality sleep (let alone quantity).

While we paused on Ring Road part way down Rollercoaster, another rider came by and hooked right at the road and continued on what I had assumed was the exit of another trail.  Curious, we followed and found a really nice bit of undulating trail that popped out just up the road from the entrance to Chop Suey.  We both enjoyed this piece of trail and will most likely ride it again instead of the official last section of Rollercoaster.

We stopped at the shuttle pickup for a bite to eat and a drink. Bodhi was successfully drinking out of a bottle I had put on my frame and seemed pretty pleased with himself.  Well, until he started gagging.  Something was  troubling him, but he couldn't get it out.  I theorised that we needed to fill him up on water to give him some volume to get it out... Megan wondered if drinking from the bottle had upset him.  Do dogs swallow air when they drink? Is it a problem?  Neither of us knew, so we stopped giving him water and headed into Sweet & Sour.

The gap between me and Bodhi was increasing... the rubber band that had been holding us together had broken.  I was surprised to reach the top so soon and without feeling as second-hand as I usually do when I've come through the entire Chinese menu.

We had another long break while I sat in the shade and scoffed a sandwich.  I was most impressed when Bodhi obeyed my command of "sit" until I realised that he'd done it because I was still holding a small corner of my sandwich.  Smart dog.

The best trail buddies ever.

The break did us all a world of good and we rolled through Dragon's Tail and the bottom end of Be Rude Not To at a relaxed pace.  At Mad If You Don't it was clear that Bodhi needed a proper rest.  At this point I decided I'd like to keep riding, so we made plans to meet up at Waipa Carpark in about half an hour.  Megan took the flagging Bodhi through MIYD, Ball and Chain, and that cool kids trail by the stream where Bodhi took a flying leap and dunked himself in the cool clear water.  He also had a big drink and got rid of whatever it was that was bothering him (apparently it may have been the small snack of horse poo he had before we started... although he found a second pile to snack on after clearing his stomach.  All class.).

I headed off up Lion Trail.  I was feeling quite slow by now and was lacking in power so parts of the trail became a grovel.  I went down Pig Track which was harder than I remembered - avoiding riding into the water ruts.  I went up Nursery Road to Radio Hutt Road and did the downhill part of Challenge.  Woohoo!  That is always a fun trail.  Then I shot straight down Pohaturoa Road to the carpark to meet Megan.  The plan was to ride a bit more together, but Bodhi was done for the day.  He was toast!

I carried on to tick off a few more trails and click over a few more kilometres.  Tahi, Creek and Dipper were the final trails crossed off my To Do list for the day.  My legs were tired, but my brain was more tired.  I wasn't reading or reacting to the trail very well and things were starting to get fuzzy.  It was time for the change, pack-up, food, drive, part of the day.

It was a fabulous day out with a great pair of riding buddies.  Megan was excellent company as usual, and Bodhi was a most excellent trail dog.  One day I hope to have one just like him.  I'm guessing I did about 30kms of riding which is pretty good for a part-time mountain biker.  It had been three and a half weeks since the last ride which was about 25kms of predominantly gravity-fed riding.

Now I figure it's time to start tapering for the Longest Day Ride in two and a half weeks time.  Well, it's too late to start training, isn't it?