July 20th ride

Evening ride around the Adams loop

Trip distance: 15.32 miles
Average speed: 15.96 MPH


Dogs
I am often asked how do I handle the sometimes ferocious evil dogs that I may meet on my many bike adventures. I have been bitten only once while on a bike. This incident happened back when I was in high school and rode my bike the one and a half mile distance to the retired farmer that I worked for (I'll have to tell some stories about my first work experiences later).

Our closest neighbors had some dogs that barked a lot but I never really considered them a threat. I was happily biking past their house on my way to work one morning when I felt the dogs teeth barely bite my rear end. It was quite a shock and I always made sure to watch him on future rides. The creature did break the skin. I have never been bitten by a dog since (cross my fingers).

It is easier for a dog to bite my rear when I used to ride a road bike (more tempting real estate hanging over the seat). On my Recumbent my rear is secured in the larger seat with none of it exposed. My thighs are fairly protected by my handlebars and arms. The rest of my legs are moving too fast to be a tempting target. I'd like to see a dog try to bite my rotating feet! The only real target would be my hands and arms. If a dog was to get too close I would only have to raise my hand and then bring my closed hand down on its snout (seems simple enough).

Usually I am more concerned about hitting a dog that causes me to wreck. This is especially a concern for dogs that insist on racing me by running down the road barely ahead of the bike with its head turned back looking at me. Or by dogs that dart across the road in front of me. This happens quite often (I'm not smart enough to slow down).

I remember once back in high school while riding to work there was a particular dog that would wait at the end of a fence row and wait till I rode by to pounce at me and then race me down the street and when it became bored of that it would actually jump at my legs as if trying to bite them. It was only a short dog but it seemed ferocious and was the most dreaded part of the trip to work.

At one time the old man I worked for needed me to bring a shovel from home. I carried the shovel on my bike handlebars. As a bonus, this seemed like the perfect protection from the ferocious dog, I could hold the shovel between me and the dog. This worked great on my way to work that morning.

Later when I was returning home I tried the same trick. It worked great, the dog kept its distance. I held the shovel with my left hand while steering the bike with the right. The dog was finally giving up and starting to fall back. Great! I thought, I may have to carry this shovel to work every day! As I was bringing the shovel back to the handlebars the shovel handle ended up through the spokes of the front wheel.

A micro instant later the bikes rear tire magically lifted itself off the road as it began pivoting around the front wheel that now refused to go forward. In that same micro instant I was suddenly laying on my back with the bike on top of me. It happened so quick that I wasn't sure exactly what happened.

It caused a loud enough crash that the dog owners actually came out to see what the commotion was. They only saw me standing next to my bike examining the broken spokes. Why don't they ever come out and call their dog off me? I started thinking that maybe I was their daily entertainment. Luckily I didn't land on my head since this was before I started wearing protective gear. I was still able to slowly ride the bike home, this time with the shovel safely planted on top the handlebars.

What about the dog? He didn't know what to think, I was probably the first bike he had actually caught. Not knowing what to do he simply put his tail between its legs and ran off to his owners home. Which was great for me since I didn't feel much like fighting him off. He never bothered me again after that.