Lois Lane rides again. This time Kathleen played the part of the news reporter who hung around with Clark Kent. She was driving us from a yarn shop on SW Alder, and we were now on our way to NW Portland. Suddenly she shouted for me to look out the windshield. I was somewhere else; occupying my own little island inside the car.

Directly in front of us was a bicycle with a shirtless rider. OK, I thought, but that’s hardly newsworthy on a sunny afternoon. What was she so excited about, I wondered. Then she shouted again: “Look at the dog on his shoulders!”

“Oh, my god,” I replied. Sure enough, a medium sized dog balanced like an Olympic gymnast on a balance beam. Without moving, it held its position as it stretched across the rider’s shoulders. No wonder I didn’t see the dog at first, it was the same color as the rider’s sporting tan.

The closer we got, the dog looked like a young Pit Bull. Maybe the driver and his dog were Siamese twins. A loose red leash was the only other connection between the two of them. I wondered how fast this bike, rider and dog could go. Maybe 25 mph would be their top speed.

I then said to Kathleen: “Where’s your camera?” Now she was multi-tasking, and Without letting up on the accelerator put the window down and reached out with the camera. She kept one eye on the prey and one on the road while she took a shot or two. Meanwhile, I felt like a patient in a dentist chair, anxious to know how everything looked. She announced that the results were good.

Our pursuit continued until we stopped for a red light and they made it through. Now we lost sight of them; for good, I feared. Suddenly the rider and his pal reappeared from an intersecting street near Burnside, and Kathleen was now playing the role of an Indy race car driver. I played the role of her sponsor, when I said: “Don’t lose ‘em.”

She managed to stay a bumper away for three or four more blocks until the rider sensed that we were close behind, or his hitch-hiker was also a ‘people whisperer.’ The bike cut sharply to the left and sprinted against the oncoming traffic, if only for a moment. The dog and rider had won, or escaped. We looked like we lost, because We couldn’t follow them any longer. In fact, we won too!

Kathleen was still excited as she relived the event. I was left to wonder if someone could teach that dog another trick, like taking pictures of trailing motorists.

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