Kentucky rotts know how to eat

Rottweilers in Kentucky eat well. These random dog chases have me on high alert and the hills are bringing me to my knees. In terms of my list of worries, the skirmishes with the dogs are the at the top, the hills are a distant second.

I knew it would be like this in Kentucky, and at the start of the trip I ridiculously hoped that after the first few dog encounters maybe I’d relax a little about it. That’s not what happened, instead i’m constantly revved up waiting for an attack. And you never know when it is going to happen. So, in the absence of a crystal ball, I’m forever listening for the slight jingle their collars make when they lift their ears at the sound of us coming.

From the moment I hear the jingle of the collar, the scene escalates into rapid fire round of ferocious barks and then it’s all a blur. Usually, Brooke is ahead of me. She’s tipped them off, but it’s me they see as the sitting duck. I pedal, my heart explodes, I scream at them. Someone recommended yelling, “get off the couch” at them, like that would throw them into a tailspin and they would slink away. These dogs probably growl their owners off the couch.

These dogs do whatever they want to. In my absolute panic, I haven’t been able to get that particular command out, I just scream “No”, and I curse and I plead “don’t make me mace you.” They come at you full throttle, and they are big. I view them as fast linebackers that could knock you and your bike over in one tackle, and then tear your leg off. I just brace myself and accept the inevitable. Thankfully, they do loose steam. They peter out, after about 200 feet. So far, we’ve outrun them.

On another note, the road we were riding crumbled a few days ago, and a colossal chunk of it fell off down the side of a cliff. Jagged parts of the double yellow line were suspended above the other half of the road lying twenty feet below. We pedaled up to the washout, and pushed our bikes carefully between the edge of the cliff and the various backhoes.

This road was on a enormous hill, so once we got off the bikes, we couldn’t really get the momentum to get back on, so we pushed up the rest of the way, which likely took 15 minutes. After a bike push up a hill that steep, your thirst is unquenchable. Thank god for camelbaks and electrolyte pills!

Melissa