To help accommodate the boss's schedule and needs this week I swapped my Friday for a Thursday which turned out to be perfect. The wet, cold rain has kept me and the pup off the trails and today ended up a pretty descent, though cold, dry day. Plus a new gizmo I'd purchased had shown up just before the messy weather and I'd been itching to try it out.
But first I'd need to chisel off the concrete mix that had hardened onto the Moots after Sunday's wet gravel grinder. Luckily when we were "renovating" the barn a concrete padded, hot water equipped bike wash was installed which made quick work of removing the quickcrete buildup.
Once cleaned up, I was able to install my new gadget, the WalkyDog Bicycle leash. I'd stumbled across this site a few weeks before Christmas but was skeptical and a bit hesitant. As I did more research, I became more and more confident in taking the leap and ordering the leash. Being as I am getting more and more road miles I figured it wasn't fair to leave the pup out. Plus it'll be nice to be safely able to ride to the trail head with him or just be able to get a run/ride in when visiting the parents or for a quick run at lunchtime when at work. If it works, it'll be handy dandy. If it doesn't well at least it'd be worth a laugh as H. was hellbent on videoing the inaugural ride. I'm sure thinking it could at least be a runner up for America's Funniest Videos.
The very first night I got the leash I installed it onto the Surly for a quick test. It worked pretty well but I had issues with the pole section spinning around the seat post allowing JD to move side to side of the bike. Rather disappointing as the reason I liked this design was due to keeping him on the non-traffic side of the bike and up next to me where I can keep an eye on him, not back behind me. It was dark and cold out so I didn't spend much time with it, preferring to wait for my day off to get involved deeper.
The plastic liner of the clamp is just too slick for my seatpost so when I mounted it to the Moots post I used a piece of inner tube to help grip. It worked perfectly. The leash didn't swivel at all. Another change I'll try next time is to order a spare clamp and use the 2 halves with the connector so I can swap sides easily to give equal time to each of JD's leads.
The pole easily snap connects to the mount in seconds, which is the second reason I liked this design. I can ride to the trail head, snap off the leash and stash it in a pocket or frame bag, then ride without any real hardware to have to remove with tools. Return to the trailhead and snap it back on and ride home. They also make a lower mount that hooks to the dropout for smaller dogs.
The Walky Dog and JD in action.
Another piece of gear acquired is the Gulpy Pet water bottle. JD is really good about drinking out of a typical water bottle so I normally carry a bottle for me and one for him. But much of it gets wasted and when he's really thirsty it's not easy for him to get a good drink. Plus Dish is scared of the water bottle (probably dating back to me chasing and squirting him but that's just one crazy, wacky, highly unlikely theory). The Gulpy Pet bottle has a flip down drink partition that fills when you squeeze water out of the bottle. Giving the pups a larger area of water from which to drink.
It folds up and easily fits into a standard bottle cage too, making it convenient for portage. Hopefully these items will add to JD's ride time and enjoyment. The next item that interests me is the cooling vest. That looks like a good thing to keep in the cooler at the car for cooling him down after a trail run when a pond/creek/lake isn't available. But we're far off from over heating temps at the moment.
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