I quickly changed into my riding clothes and was out the front door of my school promptly at our officially quitting time. I wanted to do some hill climbing before I make my way to Chattanooga for the 3-State, 3-Mountain this weekend. Really, I wanted to make sure the adjustments my LBS made worked so off I went. As I rode out to the big hill I wanted to climb I was chased by a Boston Terrier. He came flying out of yard on my right. He darted in front of me into the other lane and realized a car was bearing down on him. He quickly changed course and darted in between my wheels. I ran over his front paw. Thank goodness he did not take me down but I was concerned about his foot. I stopped and went back to the house he ran to. I finally found the owner and I think he thought I was going to yell at him. When I explained what had happened and I was worried about his dog's paw a look of relief spread across his face. He did not seem too concerned about the dog's paw but did say they would keep an eye on it. It looked like I took some skin off of it but he was bearing full weight on it so I'm going to assume I did not crush it. I returned to the road and continued to work my way to the Hatton Hill. I started my climb and came upon two young kids walking their bikes up the hill. I asked them if they wanted to race to the top, they quickly replied "no way" and added "you're not going to make it." I keep climbing and I heard the young girl call out "you need a really good bike to make it to the top." I continued my climb and when I reached the top I knew I had "one good bike and one good set of legs." The return ride was uneventful. In the end I logged 23.5 miles with an average speed of 15.99 mph. A good ride in my book. Time to let my legs rest for I'm sure the ride in Chattanooga this weekend will proved to be very challenging. I am now keeping my fingers crossed that the rain holds off and those riding have dry roads to climb and descend.