Hi there!
Today was rather windy, but we wanted to get out and do
something, so I aired up the tires on my fat bike and Fly and I headed into the
woods. Rabbit Slough is a great place to
practice fat tire bike riding skills because it is flat (no hills) and just
rough enough to need a bit more balance than on a paved road.
By this time of year, the slough is frozen and there is
enough snow to cover the slippery ice and provide grip for the tires. Trees line the banks of the slough, so there
is protection from the wind, but not too thick as to block views of the hay
flats and mountains. It was snowing on
the mountains, but their lower half was visible.
Fly had on her harness so she could begin practice pulling
light loads. Her harness is a
hand-me-down from my first Karelian, who inherited it from a dog before
him. Good thing my dogs are all about
the same size: harnesses aren’t exactly inexpensive. Anyway, since Fly still has baby bones, we
used only about three pounds of weight to pull today. I filled a milk jug with some water (not
full, that’s 8 pounds) and set it outside to freeze. Then I used a long lead and connected it with
a carabiner to her harness. She is pretty good about trotting alongside the
bike, so she was mostly practicing pulling skills: go forward or side to side,
never backward, don’t turn in circles and get all tangled, etc.
I got too hot about a minute and a half into our journey, so
we stopped while I adjusted layers. Back
on the bike, the riding was going well until I hit a patch of exposed ice and
nearly wiped out completely. Twice. Lesson learned: stay on the snow.
At our turnaround point, I set Fly free to run in the Hay
Field for a bit. It was rather windy, so
we didn’t linger out there very long, though I’m sure she loved the wind and I
was the wimpy one. Look at this happy
face.
We covered about 6 miles round trip today and I’m already
planning a return trip, so we can go even further and make a whole day of it!
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