Jh...I was thinking about you this afternoon. Right after a dog took three flying leaps and slammed into my right calf and the downtube of the Wilier.
I have no idea how I kept the bike up, but I did. It wasn't skill...just luck of the draw.
The impact from the little (25-30 pounds?) mutt knocked me about a bike width to the left and then the ***** decided to chase me. It took two swings, but the second time my fist went around I cold cocked her (Abbigale was her name IIRC) right on her snarling schnoz. That sent her running back into her yard.
Her owner, a good looking gal about 25-30 years old was immediately apologetic. There were three young kids in the front yard, so no hammering the gal with how I really felt. I explained a few things to her and went on my way.
1/2-mile later I ran into a neighbor in her stalled 1956 Dodge V-8. It wouldn't re-start...sounded like no gas. She called her grandson up and he brought a can of gas and the old restored Dodge fired right up after a squirt down the 1-barrel carb. She just had the gas tank repaired and I'm guessing crud in the line plugged it. We also found a small gas leak near the fuel pump. Doubt if it was vapor locked, so I'm going with a combination of plugged gas line (had $20 worth of gas in the tank) and low fuel pump pressure. She got it home...saw it in the driveway after I got back to the truck and headed home.
Only 18 miles with 475' of light rolling climbs. Still at a good pace considering I was trying to do an easy tempo and recover...with the high heart rate probably the spike when fido T-boned me.
An eventful ride, to say the least.