Originally Posted by
ronnylee61
4) Kick them in the chops. Make sure you are accurate or you may get a punctured calf muscle.
5) Last resort (only if a single dog): get off bike and keep it between you and dog and use the bike as a shield and/or a weapon.
#4: Good, but hard to do.
#5: I once had a pack of 5 dogs around me. They were out in the road as I arrived, I had little choice but to stop. It took about 15 minutes, but I successfully defended myself. Only two of the dogs were real aggressive, the others were just a distraction. I was like a whirling dervish slinging my bike around for a while as the dogs were circling looking for an opening.
These were the dogs and road I was avoiding when I had the wreck mentioned upthread.
One additional option that usually works for rural dogs is to pick a rock and make a throwing motion. They usually understand this. I encountered the most aggressive dog of the pack above (alone this time) on a later ride and he beat a hasty retreat when I picked up an imaginary rock, though I would have preferred a real and large one.