My Exciting Story

It was a dark and stormy day. Premonition hung heavily in the air. Something terrible was about to happen. I crept through my day cautiously, always aware of the impending peril about to befall me. Against my better judgement, I approached the…

Just kidding. That’s my attempt at making this an exciting post like I promised yesterday. It was actually a beautiful, sunny day. There was no heavy premonition; instead my joyful spirit, rejoicing in the first warm day of spring.

Because it was such a beautiful day, I decided that I would treat Lennox to an extra long walk. Instead of walking out of town and turning back in, I biked a square of roads. By biking, it would take the same amount of time as walking the normal route, but would give Lennox some new grass to sniff and extra room to run.

It was a great bike ride. The sun was warm, the wind wasn’t too strong. The gravel wasn’t too loose. I was having such a great time. And then it happened…


As I was biking the last leg of the ride through town, I went by a certain house and heard a dog barking. Lennox usually ignores other dogs/people when he’s being biked and if he does seem interested, all I need to do is tell him to “leave it” and “come on” and he is good. But when a dog is chasing him, he reacts differently.

Lennox is actually a pretty wusy (how do you spell that?!) dog, when it comes right down to it. From inside the house, where nothing can get him, he lets out a pretty intimidating growl/bark when he sees people “invading” our yard. But when something is invading his personal space and he’s not sure about who/what it is, he’s pretty skittish.

So this dog comes running out from it’s yard. Lennox is 60lbs. This dog is probably no more than 15lbs. Lennox could kick this dog’s little barking butt. But no, he gets skittish and tries to get away. Good dog that he is, he just tried to go faster, but then curved in front of me. I have no problem giving Lennox a little tap with the front tire to reinforce his respect of the bike, but when there’s so much tension on the leash (which I was trying desperately to slip off of my *handlebars) the action of pulling forward and across on the handlebars can only cause one reaction. CRASH!


I landed on my two hands and my knee. And, because the leash still wasn’t off the handlebars, my bike was dragging through the street behind an extremely terrified Lennox. Not only was that annoying dog barking and chasing him, but now a crazy piece of twisted metal was right on his tail too! I called him and he came skittering (is that even a word?) over to me and I detached him from my bike, which was now not ride-able.

I attempted to walk my bike home with my hands screaming in pain and the handlebars/front wheel refusing to turn right or even go straight. I think the thing that changes the gears is broken too. I refused to look at my hands or think about the pain while I walked because I still had a 5-10 minute walk ahead of me. Lennox walked very nicely, heeling, beside me all the way home while I pushed my bike. His respect for my bike was effectively renewed.


When I got home, Nathan noticed that my seat has a nice hole in it. I guess that’s what happens when it drags along the pavement behind a terrified dog. He managed to fix the front end so that I have the freeing option of turning BOTH ways when I ride and thinks that the gear-shifting thing might be broken. But that’s ok, because I stay in my one trusty gear all the time anyway. Why take a chance that I’ll never be able to find the perfect gear again???


So two days later, I am no longer wearing any band-aids, I have a hole in my hand that’s trying to heal, and I have a bruise on my knee. And, my shoulder hurts. I guess I’m getting older…I don’t remember my muscles hurting after taking a spill as an 8 year old.

Great story, eh?

*Sidenote: Lennox had dragged his leash through some gross sludge water when I let him get a drink, so, because he’s so good on the bike, I slipped the leash onto my handlebars instead of holding it separately. Understand this…I NEVER do that! But I did this one time, and I paid for it!