next time REIN IN YOUR %@*#$^ DOG when you see it lunging at a cyclist (me!) or it's going to get hurt!

On my way back home from my ride this morning, said lady with aforementioned golden lab is walking on the sidewalk on my right. Behind me and to my left is an SUV, which is about to pass me while lunging at me is the dog, getting closer and closer. I knew I couldn't swerve to my left and risk getting creamed by the truck, so I held steady while the dog got closer and closer. I was 1 second away from unclipping and kicking it in the face (which I would hate to do since I love dogs) or running over it, which undoubtedly would have meant crashing hard. At the last second, its owner finally decided to pull it away. I hear her say "sorry" as I ride off, both pissed off and recovering from a near heart attack.

well it had a better ending then i expected glad to hear you didn't get hurt... still people are sometimes clueless as to what's going on... keep on the lookout

This does seem to happen too often, I really believe that sometimes people like to show that they have aggressive dogs.. You can usually tell by the owners reactions, ones that are aware of there surroundings, will pull back on that leash.. Others just let there dogs do whatever they want..

Was she texting or on her cell phone, too ???

next time, put your rant on craig's list. thanks.

Or under Missed Connections

The same thing happened to me a few nights ago. Cruising down a hill about 35 mph coming up on a house that I know has 2 dogs. When I get almost to the house I see the dogs in the middle of the road waiting for me. How I missed them is beyond me. The owners just sat there and watched. People make me mad sometimes.

a quick blast of water from your bottle works wonders with dogs. give it a try.

Thats why I always carried a full size pump when I trained.
I gave those dogs a really good clobber on the head, and the squealed away in pain. Broke a few pumps in my day, but those dogs never went after cyclists again.
I did my part in ridding my city of cyclist lunging dogs.

EDIT: blast of water does work wonders, but water is too precious in Africa.

She said sorry.

Aim for the owner, not the dog. Labs and golden retrievers are too sweet-natured to deserve being smacked cos the owner was a muppet.

V (has one each)

Why waste energy getting angry about something that almost happened, but didn't?

True.... You can get sued though.

Because people need to vent.

And without posts like this, it would be all Pcad talking to himself.

/thread closed

Mainly because of the near miss with the SUV. Had it been just the dog, it would have been just fine. I don't know about you, but seeing you life flash before your eyes does tend to get my knickers in a twist.

Nah, I'll keep doing whatever everyone else does and post them here. Feel free to ignore them.

Yellow lab.

Dog owners are worse than people with children. They are blind to the harm they cause.
Dogs are sharper on more ends then kids, but both have caused me great concern.

Dogs and kids themselves are often pretty darn cool. It's parents and dog owners who need a good wacking.

A lot of us live for that feeling. We jump out of perfectly good airplanes. We surf big waves. We ride down crazy hills on skateboards at 50+mph. We race cars/motorcycles. We ride through new orleans like joey bike (ha!). Whatever it takes to get that adrenaline rush of being close to death and then that amazing sense of relief when we get our feet safely back on solid ground and catch our breath.

yeah but those are things people choose to do... not much of a choice on his part in this situation

On Tuesday nights ride I start cranking up a hill, already dead tired, granny geared out, and out of nowhere a German Shepherd comes running up to the side of the road. I was pedaling as hard as I could and still going nowhere fast. Luckily it seems this dog was on an electronic collar, but it still about made me die.

Tonight though on my ride, as I am finishing up after 32 miles, I had 2 incidences that left me super irritated. The first, some stupid kids with fireworks run off at the mouth and toss an entire brick of black cats at me. They were all nailed right in the face with pepper spray, that I started carrying because of that damn dog. They were teenagers so I didn't feel bad. The second incident some kid jumps in front of me trying to play chicken and my first reaction was to yell as loud as I could, "GET THE F#@K OUT OF MY WAY IDIOT!" His dad didn't like it and starting running off at the mouth, so I pulled a quick u-turn just a few houses away from mine, dismounted and went to confront said father. He ran into the house. What kind of man is scared of some dude dressed in tights (those bright yellow I can see you 200 miles away ones) looking like a tennis ball wearing cycling shoes? Jeesh the stupid people in the Chicagoland area.

Other than that, the ride was great, and everyone else was friendly

My favorite is a pack of Jack Russell Terriers, not far from where I live. I will circle the block just to energize them. They crack me up when they realize my ankle is too large for their tiny little mouths. There is also a Great Dane a couple of blocks away, in a fenced yard. I ride by it just to hear it.

i already did.