Nose Hill Park: A Biking Experience

Uphills, suicidal gophers, deer poop, and my crazy dog who thinks he’s a cheetah: that’s our regular Nose Hill Park experience. This is Stryder’s bike ride — and it’s a bonus that I happen to get some hill training out of the deal.

We’re a real pair. Me struggling to get up hills and Stryder barking at me the whole way. He’s my personal trainer. I’m not sure how this relationship evolved — and people certainly comment on it.

Stryder sprints ahead and does a bark bark bark bark bark — until I catch up. Then he sprints ahead and does the same thing until we reach the top. That’s when he turns into cheetah dog.

Cheetah dog runs beside me in the grass as I try to avoid the suicide gophers and maintain a pace that keeps him from impatiently barking at me. It’s like one of those commercials where a cheetah runs next to a car in the Savannah. Except Stryder always has a goofy grin and a head covered in slobber.

As far as rides go, this one is pretty vanilla — but I’ve become a roadie so these hills are my reality check (both up and down). In fact, I’ve become so used to point forward and go fast on my Cervelo that crunching my way down these hills on a completely different bike scares the crap out of me (Stryder knows to maintain his cheetah running distance on the downhills).

However, a little technical skill building isn’t a bad thing and life is golden as long as I can keep myself upright and not bite it.