{"id":36008,"date":"2011-09-27T05:49:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-27T11:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wend.ca\/?p=36008"},"modified":"2015-12-31T22:24:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-01T05:24:00","slug":"nose-hill-park-a-user-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wend.ca\/?p=36008","title":{"rendered":"Nose Hill Park: A Biking Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

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. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Stryder sprints ahead and does a bark bark bark bark bark<\/em> — 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. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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<\/em> 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). <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n