If you ride bikes on the Halifax County roads, you might encounter nasty dogs. I have a few dogs of my own that wouldn’t mind scaring the daylights out of cyclists for fun, but they are too far from the road.
Most dogs are harmless, but what do you do when a ferocious, chasing mutt looks like it wants to put bite marks on your pants? Personally, I use a spray called “Halt” if they get too close. (As long as I don’t spray myself.) I kept it in my pocket until a boxer on Old Cluster Springs Road took a chunk out of my right leg about 10 years ago. He was quarantined for a few days and then was out on the road yapping at bikers like before. I avoided that road for years.
I asked other bike riders what they do about dogs. Walter Hampton, who has since moved to Front Royal, uses an electronic gadget that harmlessly jolts threatening dogs as they approach. Ray Weiss of Halifax takes his water bottle and squirts or dumps it on the dog, and I have seen it work. Bob Plapp of South Boston simply boasts, “I outrun them!”
Otherwise, I find the county a great place to ride, but I do it only in good light and on roads with little traffic. There are so few riders, you can set records. According to the ride tracking app Strava, I am a “local legend” for having made the “Stokes Creek Climb to Old Cluster” more than anyone in the last 90 days. Wow. I don’t even know where that is, but it sure isn’t steep.
I guess one group that thinks it is steep is the Hampton Roads Bicycle Club, which came to our B&B to experience the lightly traveled roads about 20 years ago. Mostly they sat around the fireplace. While it was raining lightly, many of them complained that it was too hilly here. What? Well, maybe compared to Hampton Roads! Those who actually rode ended at Breezy Oaks Farm Bed & Breakfast, where everyone stopped for a massage and decided to quit for the day.
I started riding here at age 57, when one of our guests invited me to go with him on our dirt trails. Who, me? Well, why not? I had already been riding an exercise bicycle, which uses the same muscles. I couldn’t keep up with him, but I was sold! Afterward, I commuted to work by bike for years in Washington, turning the worst two hours of the day into the two best. It wasn’t all perfect. I collided with another bicyclist in front of the Treasury building and was hospitalized briefly with a concussion. I was rescued by the Secret Service! I must be important!
In the Cluster Springs area, I like riding on Link-Puryear Road, Old Cluster Springs Road, German Creek Road and Cherry Hill Church Road. I used to go on some great rides into North Carolina, particularly on Bethel Hill Road.
The biggest advance for biking around here has been the Tobacco Heritage Trail, which was expanded from 2 ½ miles to 4 miles a couple of years ago. That round trip is usually enough for me. It is well maintained and popular among our guests as well. It’s encouraging to see children on bikes, a good sign for the future.
And , with leashes required, you (probably) don’t have to worry about getting bitten by a dog.
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