I got to practice my panic braking on the way home yesterday. I approached a guy walking his dog from behind while a car approached from the front. Car passes him when I'm about 20 feet behind. He immediately releases his dog's retractable leash and the puppy heads across the road.

Thankfully, I was going slow enough to stop but it wasn't graceful. He apologized. I told the guy he should look behind him and not count on his hearing. He got defensive and I pointed out that I might have been a car and smooshed his little dog. That struck home with him.

I got home to find a little cut on my calf from pedalstrike in my ungraceful stop.