Originally Posted by
cyccommute
A loud voice and some knowledge of dog psychology is the best weapon you have.
Think of it this way: Dogs have been hanging around people for 10,000+ years. They look at us as their pack. We humans also know how yummy we can be to predators and have taken steps to make sure that the predators we have in our homes don't eat us. In other words, a dog that will kill, or even injure, a human doesn't usually get much chance to pass on its traits to offspring. In other words, we kill them before they kill us. We've selected them so that they are cowardly.
Use that to your advantage. As a dog charges, stop your bike and yell 'NO!' or 'GET LOST' or 'F*** OFF' or just about anything...just make it loud. Most dogs will stop and think about it and give up. Plus you are stopped and no longer something worth chasing. For the few that might not stop and keep coming, whacking them with a wheel in the nose will send them packing
That's an effective technique for 95% of singleton dog encounters.
But, for encounters with multiple dogs, or highly agressive single dogs, pepper spray is your friend. I've used it on dogs about 6 times over the last 10 years, and it's worked perfectly every time.