The Horror

Hazel is generally a pretty low maintenance dog, which is nice.

However, today, on a pretty warm day, I take he run in the woods. I'm jogging along, trying to figure out if I'm going to walk or plodrun up the next rise and I smell something. Something awful. I pick up the pace and the smell goes away, for a minute.

The smell comes back again and again, like a bad burrito dinner. Finally, Hazel runs past me - she'd been hanging out behind me for half a mile. As she runs by I notice that she's got several dark, greasy streaks along her neck and shoulders.

I think she found a dead skunk with bowel control problems that had sat in the sun for a few days. I had trouble jogging near her and wasn't looking forward to driving back home with her in the car.

Now it's time for a doggie bath.

Mental Note

Ensure you have the right spare tube when you go riding.

I went on a mountain bike ride with Mary tonight, and got my first flat in a couple of years. No problem, I whip out my spare tube and my pump... the tube has a stem that's too short.

Huh? Well, if you recall, I got a fancy rear wheel to replace the other fancy rear wheel that I got because I've had problems with rear wheels in general. Anyway, the rim has a deep-V cross section, so you need a stem that's long enough to poke out. Turns out, my spare wasn't long enough. I had actually thought of this situation and bought a valve extender, only it was at home in my toolkit.

I could have taken the tube off my front wheel and used it, but at this point I decided I was only 3 miles out and I could just jog back. So I did.

I'm still trying to figure out how I got a pinch flat with my fancy full suspension. Unfortunately, I can't blame it on big air...