Have Dog, Will Travel....

What can be a better way to enjoy cycling, that to take along your dog!

Wise words indeed. Our dog ‘Herbie’ can usually be found at pretty much every MTB race in Victoria, wandering around finding people (anyone) who will throw a ball for him.

“Herbie” also likes to explore singletrack while I groom it, swim in dams, be held under my arm while riding to the shops and also likes to run along around 3 meters off the back of my wheel anywhere I go (including singletrack).

The next phase of this was to see how he would travel on some overnight adventures, with the hope of him coming on some cycling tours.

I luckily have a BOB trailer in the shed, so the easiest solution would be that I carry him along on the trailer. It took a couple of trial rides with him in the trailer to see how he would go, with the greatest fear being him getting spooked by cars that would past buy, or seeing a rabbit on the side of the road and jump out (or any other combination of him jumping out).

Initially we had a very short lead (around 8”) so he was restricted in his movements, but the big issue with this was be if he did jump out he could get strangled, so after a few shorter rides once I knew he was fine we no longer put a leash on him.

The system however was that Marnie had to ride behind the trailer, as if I rode behind Marnie he was at the end and would stand on the side of the trailer trying to look after to see what he was missing out on. However if she rode behind, he was content to sit down and relax.

The day had come for a overnight adventure, a mixture of fireroads, sealed roads and singletrack all adding up to around 65kms in length each way. I packed our clothes in the large waterproof BOB bag, and then placed one of his dog beds (inside a garbage bag as rain was looming) up the front of the trailer.

With a small water bowl and dog food, aside from him the additional weight isn’t an issue (even with him weight isn’t a issue). 

Apart from the first couple of minutes, he was happy to just lay down and watch the world go by slowly. Climbing hills needed to be done sitting down, and bumpy fireroads was to be ridden slower than normal. When we got to singletrack, a click of the fingers meant he could get out of the trailer and run behind.

The journey was a huge success, we rode close to 120 kms, with Herbie sitting in the trailer for around 110kms of that.  Although it felt like we were the only ones travelling with a dog by bike, I just read an article about a couple in the USA who are riding around the states with their 40 kilogram dog, so we are not the only ones who are doing this (and I am very thankful Herbie is only 4 kilo)......

Over and Out,

Ryan Hawson