After spending a good amount of times trying to get Sierra comfortable with our bikepacking trailer, I decided to finally do the first longer tour to figure out the bugs on this trial run. I sat down with Komoot before and created a nice route that had some nice trails, good bike trails and also a few good break spots. Making sure the route was not too long because Sierra still needs some time to learn and get her endurance up.
We started by an easy push up the hill where she had a chance to do her business before I jumped on the bike, and we took off on a gentle jog out of town. She did really good but still needs to slow down a bit on the downhill, she really does not understand gravity yet and her paws just move a bit faster. When we got to the next town, we found a nice little spot for a break, at least that's what I thought. Before I was able to touch the brakes, we were barked off by a tiny little dog in a doorway. By definition a break is a time in our life where we are not disturbed, annoyed or want to kick a white fluff ball to the moon. So I decided to move on and find a better spot in the sun where we were able to enjoy a few snacks and some deserves quiet rest.
A few minutes later, I saw a big cloud heading towards us. From the weather report I checked before, I knew that this meant rain. Little spoiler later when we got home it turned into a massive hail storm, but we only had two rain clouds during our ride who wanted a piece of the cake.
The golden rule is, you act when a rain cloud chases you. Either you find cover, move the other direction, or ride through it quickly. I choose option c and packed up and moved quickly through the cloud. We rode past fields, another angry dog on his property, a paperboy that surprised us and got a little hello nose from Sierra and through a few forest sections before we reached my favorite part of the day.
We found a nice little forest with an empty parking lot. As I live quite remotely, an empty parking lot normally means nobody is around. Because nobody in their right mind walks this far just to go for a small hike. That is our thing. It was absolutely beautiful, and I was ready to see how Sierra does when she has more space to run and explore. I took our 10 m leash, attached the end to the trailer to be safe in case a rabbit or deer would cross our path, and we took off. When Sierra gets her free running time she gets assigned one side, where she is allowed to run, sniff, pee, explorer and run ahead stay behind a bit or move around more. The only thing she cannot do is cross sides and get into the way of the wheels. She did so good that we even managed to practice some emergency drills, such as stop, slowly or wait for me.
After the second rain cloud, we were on our final stretch back home. As I had a feeling Sierra that Sierra was tired, I put her in the trailer and stated pushing us home. She is still a bit stressed when I start riding the bike. But here is the strange thing. I can ride the bike with her in the back, and she is fine UNLESS I use the pedals. That's when she gets a bit stressed. Of course, you see the problem here, unless I start moving objects with my mind, I need to pedal to get from A to B. So there is still something we need to work on but really optimistic. Today was great. It was a really good start, and it can only get better from here.
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