adventures in bike riding

So, since Cody & I got new bikes this weekend, we have been riding them every evening. Yesterday we tried to go to a trail called Centennial trail in Ogden. Apparently this "Centennial Trail" will at some point in the future connect to all the trails in Ogden. As of now it doesn't. Tonight, we tried a different part of the centennial trail that actually connects. But what an adventure. Basically we rode all the way across Ogden from West to East.

So, first of all, the trail is under construction in parts so it just kind of ends. And you have the choice to turn around or to go along the streets of Ogden to find where it picks back up again. Seeing as I had my husband with me, we decided to see if we could pick it back up again. I would not do this on my own. At one point it detoured but as we were spit off the trail, there were no visible signs of where the detour went, so we followed the street for a while, and as we decided to turn around and look in a different spot some dog started running at us from down the street. He kept picking up speed so we decided to high tail it outta there. He chased us for about a block and a half. That was fun. Then we figured out that the detour takes you through some gravel pit to reconnect to the trail on the other side. Ok.

So we pick the trail back up (again) and when we got as far as we wanted to go East, we decided to cross a little bridge to rest a moment. Well at that same time some gangsta ride pulls up and a Mexican guy with 2 chicks with him get out and pull out 2 giant pit bulls. It was ridiculous to have these dogs at a public trail because they could barely control them and they looked MEAN. My first thought was that they took them here to have some kind of dog fight in the parking lot.

So, I had just gotten off my bike when they pulled up and my damn brand-new bike fell right over. Then we saw the pit bulls so I told Cody let's get the hell out of here. So he took off over the bridge (pulling the trailer with kids) and I go to follow him and my bike starts making a bad sound. I thought maybe my chain had come off so I call out for Cody, meanwhile the barely leashed pit bulls are barreling past me. I realize it is just my kick stand that is hitting my spokes so I bend it back out and ride out past them. The damn dogs are pulling the stupid owners all over the track and I am simply astounded A) that they didn't just pull loose because they were Big and they were Strong and B) how moronic these people were to actually have them there. So I am finally past them when I get to Cody who is trying to come back to help me and I'm trying to tell him to just keep going, so he is trying to turn around and go right as the dogs catch up to us again. Finally we got ahead of them. What a crazy, ridiculous situation.

Then we get back to the detour through the gravel pit (which had much better signs going the other way) and we pass two guys walking, one of whom has a crowbar. And remember to picture us, following the trail which on one side has the beautiful river, the other travels behind the back of industrial Ogden and we are in a deserted gravel pit. So we speed up, and as we get out of the pit, I look back and these guys are running (luckily the opposite direction from us down the street where the first dog chased us) yelling "Hey!" in a very angry sounding voice brandishing his tire iron above his head. Lovely.

So aside from all that adventure, it was a lovely ride. Ogden has beautiful trails that run right along the river. But I will tell you that I don't think I'll be going on those trails at sunset without my husband with me!