Daily Miles: 89
Total Miles: 2421
Avg: 13.1
Max: 28.1
Time on the bike: 06:45:17
I got up before sunrise and was on the road by first light. The wind was supposed to be in my favor and I wanted to take advantage of it, after a disappointing and frustrating day yesterday. The farther I go everyday the sooner this will all be over.
The morning was pretty great. I was cruising and making great miles. I got 50 miles in before 11:00 AM and was finally feeling like I was making progress and dare I say, even enjoying myself. I was knocked out of my reverie by two barking dogs that came roaring out of the yard of a house to the left. With no regard to on comming traffic they bolted across the left lane straight towards me. One of the dogs gnarled and lunged at me, missing my leg. He tried again and bit my left pannier and gave it a good shake before letting go. I thought the dog was going to pull the bike and make me fall off, as I was still clipped in and a bit shocked that he was being so aggressive. Usually dogs will chase you for a little while but never would they bite. This was a first. The dog eventually stopped and I pedaled away trying to put distance between us. I eventually stopped to see what the damage was. It had bitten directly through my thick waterproof pannier. There were now two small teeth sized holes near the bottom. I was livid. I took out the contents and luckily it was the pannier with only my clothes and food. It clear poked a hole through my clothes bag as well, and I couldn’t believe it. I was just glad it wasn’t my other bag which had my sleeping bag and air mattress. And I guess I was happy I didn’t have a bunch of bite marks in me as well.
I just don’t get it. Why leave your dog out free? Put it in a fucking fence. Or tie a god damn chain to it. Dogs are so unpredictable and even if you think your precious would never harm anybody your delusional.
The rest of the afternoon was spent climbing up into the mountains. These are the same mountains I hiked through in 2013 on the continental divide trail. The road climbs to Emory pass and drops back down to Silver City on the other side. I’m camped about 8 miles from the pass and did about 2/3rds of the climbing today. Emory pass is over 8,000 ft and I am camped at about 6,200. There is snow on the mountains here but not much. I foresee it getting pretty cold tonight which I’m not looking forward to.
Hopefully I can stay warm enough. It will for sure be below freezing.
