Hey guys,
I guess this has turned more into an ongoing apology for not blogging than an actual weekly column. I want to say it will change, but don't get your hopes up. Anyway, I went on a bike ride today. I have not been able to get out much with school. And, it gets dark here pretty early so by the time I get home from school and get changed and ready to go, I usually have about 30 minutes to ride, which is quite a bit less than what I'd like. But today I got out.
I wanted to head out of town and go northwest and make a loop back to our house. I was venturing into some unknown territory, which wasn't terrible until I turned onto 203rd Dr! I was cruising along minding my own business when I saw a dog come running from behind a house. I wasn't startled because I had noticed the house had a
chain link fence around it; then I noticed the gate was wide open! My heart rate immediately jumped about 40 beats and I stood up and started sprinting. I'm pretty sure I heard a Sonic Boom (just like in
Street Fighter) as he came flying out of that gate and started chasing me. I could hear his grunting/panting coming from behind me. I turned my head to look, still sprinting, and this dog was within a foot of me! I clicked down a gear and started pedaling harder and harder, I could taste that little bit of blood you get when you breath really hard. Which made sense since my heart would have to go through my throat on it's way to my head where I could now feel it thumping so hard it was pressing against the sides of my helmet. After pedaling so hard I was certain I would puke, I coasted down the road a little ways, tyring to calm down and next thing I know, the road stopped or turned into a dirt road rather. So, I stopped, turned around and the dog was waiting for me in the middle of the street (cue intimidating music). Fortunately, there was another road a little before the four-legged demon.
I started down this new road, heart still racing, but at least it had moved back to my chest now. As I passed the first house, I noticed two more dogs, my
hypervigilence kicked into gear! Where's the gate? I saw it. It was closed! I felt so relieved, then I looked back at the dogs and noticed something running from out of the bushes! My heart went back to thumping in my head immediately! I let out a little scream and got ready to sprint again, then I noticed it was an 8 month old puppy. Irregardless, he was fired up and he was coming after me. I pedaled a little harder and got rid of that guy pretty quickly. Well, as I tried to find my way through
WhiteTrashTown, AZ, I got chased by 4 or 5 more dogs (things started getting hazy there at the end, I think I actually got chased by cat too, by this point everything freaked me out, even the cat, I'm pretty sure it was a cat...). It was until I was riding home that I discovered the reason for my plight, I was right next to the Phoenix Speedway. Of course, I was going to be surrounded by people who had trucks that cost 4 times more than their motor home, had at least two motorcycles per person in their house, and have killer, blood-thirsty pets!
Needless to say, this seriously cramped my style for the rest of my bike ride. I decided to return the way I came and instead of going all the way home, I had Julie pick me up in Sun City Grand, a 55 and over community. Most of the motorized vehicles I saw were tricked out golf carts and any K-9 I saw was most often a poodle. I had never been so happy to see so many old people!
Moral of the story: Stay away from the Phoenix Speedway!
Love,
Nate
