tzuoworldtour07

Mom: What are dangers on a tour?
Me: Cars, bears, drunk people, trucks, dogs.
Dad: Bears would be a cool way to go.
Mom: No, seriously... (visibly concerned and a little pissed at dad)
Dad/Me: ??? (wtf anyway)

So, help me (my mum) out, what are the top 10 horror stories of touring?
Which means we need at least 10 stories, and pictures... (maybe not)

Cyclesafe

Being stalked by a wolf. Adventure Cyclist (magazine) February 2007. Also:

https://newsminer.com/2006/07/27/1194/ (the part about the bicyclist is down the page)

fvalenti

cyclesafe:

My wife and I read your story in AC when it first appeared. We are heading to Alaska this summer to do the Anchorage-Denali route. All this time I was afraid of bears! Glad that you were ok.

I did enjoy your fleeting moment of glory when your friends came back and you were "victorious" over the wolf.

Seriously - though - it sure seemed like quite an experience.

fvalenti

Our experiences are quite lame compared to cyclesafe's story. Our biggest problem to date has been a lost wallet.

It doesn’t seem all that terrible - but trust me - living without ID or a credit card (not for the money - but to prove that you are "credit worthy") is march harder then you think - especially if your destination is a commercial area or anywhere near a port (Bar Harbor, in our case).

Tom Stormcrowe

Well, there was that time in New Guinea where I was invited to dinner by cannibals..........(Kidding)

Actually, the worst touring story I have is having my tent blown down in a bad thunderstorm and getting tangled up in it!

Cyclesafe

OOPS! I didn't mean to imply that it was I stalked by the wolf. It was this guy Jacob Thompson. Not me. But when I was cycling in Alaska we met either this guy or one of his friends and he told us the story first hand. We also saw the write-up in the Fairbanks paper.

Well, I guess the worst thing to happen to me personally was getting a tick lodged in my crotch in Texas.

Speedo

Ladies and gentlemen we have a winner!

NoReg

See truckers are our friends! There was a story here, in nearly urban Toronto, about a trucker who dropped off a load, and while they were unloading he went for an exercise spin on a bike he carried for that purpose. He got seriously chased by three wolves, or wolf-otes. Having seen some large ones on that eaxact road, I'm not surprised (Brock Rd.).

There is mention in the adventure cycling book, of a guy who was chased by dogs, the largest of which grabbed a rear pannier of his fleeing MTB, and stopped both bike and rider.

cooker

Pretty unlikely there were wolves in Pickering, but you never know. Coyotes perhaps?

cooker

I will try to dig up the story of a guy who was chased down and dragged off his bike by a grizzly bear. A trucker saved that guy too.

RalphP

I cannot remember anything horrible, or even mildly terrible, happening to me while bicycling. But the creepiest thing is/are the R/V's that drive by on narrow two lane roads with the steps extended. These things have come re-e-a-l-l-y close to doing something unspeakable horrible to my leg. I have to believe that someone, somewhere has had their trip, their bicycle, their life, majorly screwed up in this way.

tzuoworldtour07

dragged by a bear?
ouch

bears can run that fast? can't a bike easily outrun a bear, dog, or wolf for that matter? not when you are uphill with a fully loaded bike i guess.

in any case, what are strategies in dealing with dogs? wolfs? bears? elephants? tigers? chimeras and dragons? (just dogs would do actually)

tzuo

NoReg

Fully loaded is the problem. I can outrun dogs or at least the ones one sees coming at a diagonal from a distance. The first time I tried it loaded I'm surprised he didn't shoot past me, and I, run him over!

Cooker, you are probably right, up to a point. It's tough to tell, one is always hearing stories of people going up to Algonquin for wolf howls, so Pickering seems a little far south. On the other hand the one I saw was way too big for a Cayote, and didn't really look like one. Interestingly the newspaper account refered to them as wolves, which leads me to believe that like me what was seen was BIG. So I think the Wolf-Coyote hybrid is the most likely.

Dealing with dogs? It depends a lot on the local dogs. Some regions, even chasing seems rare. Other regions you get chased. Other regions you get really chased. It also comes down to the individual dog. If they aren't serious, you can usually talk them out of it. The adventure cycle book mentions solutions up to bludgeoning them, and fighting tooth and fang for you life. It really comes down to how much fight there is in the dog. There are some locales where touring is about equal measures riding and dog fighting.

One suggestion is to get off the bike and put the bike between you and the dog. This works great if he was never serious in the first place, in which case why even stop. There are various sprays, unfortunately in bad regions you could go through a dozen bottles a morning, better to work on your alpha dog presence. It pays off to have something about the size of a pump, but a little nastier. Remember though, the Alpha dog can back it up, and you need a plan B also.

Bears? That's easy:

https://www.wildwestguns.com/CoPilot_...de_rifles.html

hockey

If you plan to hike or bike in bear country be prepared. Be sure to make lots of noise so that you don't surprise a bear and never come between a female and her cubs. Absolutely no food or food products in your tent or on your clothing.. If you follow these simple precautions no worries!!! Well almost!
Hockey

cooker

I swear this is true, and it happened in the 80s, I think, but I can't find it reported online. A cyclist was riding a remote northern route like the Dempster or Alaskan Highway, and was chased down and knocked off his bike by a Grizzly. A trucker saw the bike in the road, pulled over, saw the bear dragging the guy into the bush, shot the bear, and either radioed for help or took the cyclist to town, from where he was airlifted to a trauma centre (maybe Edmonton) and required extensive surgery.

Speedo

Bears are surprisingly fast. Bears, dogs and wolves can also accerate pretty fast. If you are already moving very fast you might be able to outrun them, but if you are not sure you might be better off off the bike.

With dogs I ping-pong around between three strategies:

1) A loud (very loud) shout of "Go Home!"
2) A squirt of water from a water bottle
3) Slow down, stop completely if neccessary, and say in a high voice "Good dogie, nice dogie." Keep the bike between you and the dog if you stop.

(edit) I often combine 1 and 2.(end edit)

I wouldn't try 3 unless I was near a home of some sort, that the dog might belong to. 3 is probably the most consistenly successful and safest. It can be annoying because you are likely to have to come to a stop. On the other hand it's kind of nice when the growling hound turns friendly and just wants to play. I'd still keep the bike between you and the dog though.

For bears I'd follow the advice for the particular kind of bear.

Tigers you won't see coming.

Elephants liked to be scratched on the nose.

For chimeras and dragons you'd better have an elvin sabre.

Speedo

supcom

I don't see what good it does to compile a list of the worst things that can happen. Unless you plan of going to some unusually dangerous places, riding your bike "there" is likely no more dangerous than riding your bike "here". In fact, much of bike touring is in Rural America where things are really pretty safe.

Giving your mother a list of worst case scenarios isn't going to go far to ease her mind.

Shiznaz

Lets do it for me because I have a morbid sense of humour and like to imagine myself in terrible life threatening situations. Come on, aren't you the same? Don't lie!

jibi

the ranger told me to put bells on my bike to scare away the bears, the noise lets them know you are coming.
but just in case have some pepper spray when in bear country.

So I asked how do I know I am in bear country? he said look out for bear poo.

How do I know its bear poo.

he said





it tastes of pepper and has bells in it



for dogs I carry some stones but I too get off the bike and let them see I am a human and not some strange hybrid man bike. Stopping pedalling calms them down I have heard.

when I was chased by 6 or 7 dogs in Chile I got off and when the kept on growling I chose the one I though was the"leader" and threw stones at him. Seemed to have worked.

george

wahoonc

No horror stories here, but I have a fun solution for dogs that I used to use especially when riding my MTB on the road. Dog would light out after the group, I would do a U turn and start chasing the dog and barking and hollering at him...worked everytime and scared the crap out of more than one new rider in the group...and you wonder where the "wahoo" in my name came from

Aaron

Blue Order

Grizzlies clocked at 30 or more miles per hour...

howsteepisit

Caught in a all-night rain storm, flooded tent, soaked gear. Then, when a mercy ride apeared (the only time I called for a rescue, flooded roads routed us some 50 miles out of our way, and then a Tornatdo passed over the car. But we lived to tell about the day!

stokell

Well I've been scared by a bear (who was more scared of me), chased by a pack of wild dogs (well 4 actually), but the scariest time was when my bike alarm went off while I was stealth camping in North Wales. Either that or the time I was crossing Dartmoor and I was sure I'd be blown right off the road by the winds. That same day I also made the mistake of taking off my riding jacket and gloves, to put on mopre fleece and having them blown into the next county. Never let go of your clothes. Don't ride your bike backwards in the wind.

NoReg

"I swear this is true, "

That doesn't even sound implosible, sounds right out of the operating manual. Sure bad experiences are rare but they can happen. Even Treadwell only had a few bad minutes out of years in the bush with Grizzlies.

Has anyone ever heard a story of people getting chased by African Lions. Seems as though it should be fun for them.

The worst I have ever eperience with wind, was wind that stopped me dead. Backwards! Now that's one-upping!

tzuoworldtour07

A summary so far,

Chased by Wolves
Lost Wallet
Thunderstorm bringing down tent
Tick in Crotch
Dragged by a bear
RV brushing by leg
Tornardo
Dead Stop Wind

I vote for tick in crotch as the leader so far.

More stories!
Everyone likes to hear about everyone else get a little hurt sometimes.