That feeling you’re pretty convinced you won’t have when you’re not having it then you have it and all’s good in the world

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Look. Itโ€™s not shuttling if you have your dog.

This is what I told myself, while sitting in an unexpected bumper to bumper gridlock on Empire grade this past Sunday.

You see, usually I wouldโ€™ve ridden from my house to the trailhead, and avoided this whole debacle entirely. But there I was. My big 90 lb baby of a Doberman whinging in the backseat like someone took his popsicle AND his favorite stuffed animal. Radio stations cutting out because middle of no-where (according to radio station rules and all). Cell phone coverage: nope.

Nothing but myself, a squeaky (ginormous dog), and my bike. Mounted like a tragic deer-type victim on top of my car โ€“ no front wheel, no insinuation of movement forwardโ€ฆ

Just us three. Stuck. On pavement.

It was all supposed to be so SIMPLE.

Put cycling kit on.

Load the bike onto the car. ย 

Squish Vincent (the huge doberman) into the back seat of a Mini Cooper.

Drive to the trailhead.

AND RIDE!

Hit the trail! Feel a little ashamed for having driven to the trailhead, but stillโ€ฆ

Be a good dog parent! Get the wiggles out! ย 

But here we were. Stuck. They said 5 – 10 minutes. 45 minutes later, nothing.

Well, technically, it was something all right. Iโ€™ve never been in gridlock on Empire Grade.

It didnโ€™t appear as there was any hope in sight of the line of cars moving forward, so it was time for Plan B.

I was determined to take my dog AND myself on a damned ride, thankyouverymuch.

And so, 35 minutes later and a reroute up the back roads, Vincent and I were finally at the trailhead.

A dogโ€™s reaction to the realization that it is time to run on the singletrack makes it nearly impossible to be upset atโ€ฆ well, at much of anything. The happy wiggles are infectious. ย 

Throwing my leg over my bike I ย pedalled off with an ecstatic, loping dog behind me. ย 

It wasnโ€™t by any means the ride I had in mind for the day.

But it was great. ย 

Iโ€™m going to try to take a few more pages from the Book of Vincent, but this one was a great first lesson: donโ€™t stress about the exact ways youโ€™re going, to get where you need to beโ€ฆ ย 

Just be in the moment and enjoy the happy wiggles, when you get there.


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โ€‹Fat Tire Tuesday columnist Sarah Hansingย has been slinging wrenches as a pro bike mechanic for 15 years (with the exception of a one year stint working for Trek Bicycles in Wisconsin.)ย Epicenter Cycling scooped her up as their lead mechanic and the shop’s crewย plans to โ€‹keep her forever. Sarah loves riding singletโ€‹rack, wrenchingย on bikes, and hanging out with her jerk-face but adorable cat Harlan. (Who is a jerk.)