Dog Attack
First one of the cycling season. I have not had the pleasure of fending off an attack from a farm dog in quite some time.
This one was rather easy. On this particular stretch of road, I was cruising at 28km/h due to some headwinds and my heart rate was about 138bpm. Cadence was around 94rpm. I was passing by a rural property where I noticed two dogs in the distance. They were fighting with each other. That’s usually a good sign. If dogs are preoccupied they don’t usually give chase.
Not this time. One of them decided to break off the fight and come after me.
My approach in this situation is to sprint if the terrain permits. Fortunately I was riding on flat terrain so I hit the pedals hard. I was able to crank above 120rpm and got the bike up to 45km/h against a fairly good headwind. I shouted at the dog several times and he came pretty close to the back wheel however I was able to outpace him. My S-works Specialized bike is one awesome machine.
Once the dog gave up his attack, I checked out my bike computer. Heart rate had jumped to 178bpm. Obviously got a little excited on the bike.
The video below describes the worst case scenario when a dog gives chase. If they jump at you in front of your bike, you can get into some major trouble. The dog owners in the video seemed to think that it was not their responsibility to contain their dog.
It is. Even when you live in the country.
I HIT a dog on my motorcycle last week in Arkansas… cat ran across the road… dog chasing it across the road… I honked… to no avail.
I was doing about 90kmh at the time… the dog hit the right side of my engine mount and went flying. I wobbled a bit but maintained control (a 700 lb Goldwing is a big bike…) Pretty sure I broke its back leg… it hobbled back to its driveway – I checked to see if someone was home but didn’t get off the motorcycle…
All in an exciting ride through the mountains of Arkansas!! 🙂
Absolutely. Once your dog leaves your property, they must be on a leash (unless your in one of those off the leash parks). Got a big laugh out of the “wiggled collar” bit.