Most people seem to dislike the dog days of summer, biding their time until cooler fall days arrive. I like the ol' dog days. That's because I do well in the heat and definitely prefer it to the cold. Also, I know that I've got only a short time left to be warm. I stay in a rather perpetual state of coldness from about October 1 to May 1.
Today was a doggone good dog day of summer. It started with the Spot on Time Trial (TT), hosted by Reality Bikes and Ridley Masters Team. Last year Reality Bikes hosted the Tundra TT in February when Surge Sports couldn't do so as they usually do. When Surge Sports took the reins of Tundra again this year, Reality Bikes decided to move their TT event to August. I was happy to get another TT on this year's racing calendar. Even better, Reality Bikes and Ridley teamed up with the Rescue Racing cycling team to make it the Spot on TT, a benefit for the Smithgall Humane Society, a no-kill animal shelter in Cleveland, GA.
A portion of the race fees went to Smithgall Humane Society, and racers also were encouraged to bring dog and cat food for the shelter. By the way, Friday was National Dog Day, another reason that the Spot on TT was so timely.
The course, located near Cumming, is a good one. It features a number of turns on a rolling route that turns back on itself several times. That might sound a little confusing, but the Forsyth County sheriff's deputies and other volunteers did an excellent job of directing the racers at every turn. All I had to do was put my head down and ride as hard as I could. In addition, they offered a masters 3/4 category for women - yee haw!
Admittedly, I'm a little tired here at the end of racing season and have been looking forward to my mellow time of year in September and October. However, I was determined to put forth one last effort to end on a strong note. It worked; I won not only the masters women 3/4 category, but I was the first place overall female! The race organizers had some beautiful, copper tooled awards made for the overall male and female racers in both the regular TT and Merckx categories.
Believe it or not, this was not even the most exciting part of my day. I went straight from the race to Southeastern Greyhound Adoption's (SEGA's) kennel in Acworth to pick up Robert's and my new foster greyhound, Oh Henry (or just Henry for simplicity). A few days ago, we were asked to foster him. It's not exactly easy for me to get from Monticello to Acworth, but the race happened to take me to the north side of Atlanta, relatively close to the kennel.
For many years I've volunteered with SEGA and enjoyed being a member of its umbrella organization, the Southeastern Greyhound Club. SEGA finds homes for greyhounds after they finish their racing careers. Most of SEGA's greyhounds come from Florida. We try to place as many greyhounds in foster homes as possible to get them used to home life. Although many greyhounds do well coming straight from the kennel, others particularly benefit from fostering as they transition from racer to pet. Henry seems like he would do best with canine companionship.
When I asked Robert if he would be willing to foster another greyhound, he hesitated. That's because we wound up adopting our last two fosters, and we really don't need another dog. However, I reminded him that we've fostered five times before, giving us only a 40% foster failure rate. I promised him that Henry would reduce our foster failure rate to 33 1/3%. In the end, I couldn't say no, and Robert couldn't say no to me.
After I brought Henry home, I started looking through his paperwork. I noticed that his sire is Flying Hydrogen. Hmm...that name sounded familiar. I happened to have handy the paperwork from Allie, our greyhound we adopted about a year ago. Sure enough, her sire is also Flying Hydrogen! Allie and Henry are half-siblings. I could tell that Henry is good people. The dog stars certainly seem to be aligned today.
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