Dog tools

I'm all for gun owner rights, but if I felt the need to carry a piece on a bicycle route I just have no business being there. The liability, the cascading escalation of the situation, the mental anxiety, heck even the added weight. I just don't need it. Now a stick, zapper, spray, etc. that's a different story; I've used all three.

 

the idea is, its better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it, i dont care where your at the world is not a safe place, do some research you'll find cyclist attacked for no reason other than the idiots involved were bored, or drug addicts looking to sell a 1000 dollar bike for a 20 dollar hit of crack or meth, now days you got crazies on bath salts thinking their zombies or werewolves or other crazy crap attacking people for no reason, the first time i ever pulled on a human was at my usual camping spot, in 20 years never had no problems there ever, then one night some nut case sneaks into camp threatened to kill me right off the bat, at which point he had my 357 aimed right at his center of mass, wife was frantic trying to get cell signal to call 911, he kept claiming his friends was in the darkness watching and he needed to take my kids to safety because of the chupacabras, my kids did as they were taught, found saftey inside vehicle once my wife was inside the truck, then i hit him so effin hard he went down, we dove out of there happen to see 2 deputies on a traffic stop, informed them what happened, they done the usual got our story contact info all that stuff, we went home, a few weeks later we get a subpoena, went to court as a victim/witness, turns out when the deputies found the guy he had a senior citizen couple with grandkids holding them hostage, thank all thats holy the deputies found them safe, my years of military, and security, i have no qualms about carrying, im at the range weekly with my 9mm, i practice from every conceivable position i may find myself in, standing sitting laying down, sitting in my recumbent, right hand left hand, and humans isnt the only threat, dogs but only ever had 2 attacks and only ever shot one, but we have mountain lions, bob cats coyotes coydogs, hogs, javelinas, any of which is usually no problem, but this area for some reason rabies is fairly common at times, and being desert sometimes during sever droughts animals get desperate for food water
take an animal add rabies = bad situation, animal starving= bad situation not long ago a guy working on his truck was attacked by rabid skunk! depending how far into the desert im riding and how long i plan on being out there im may carry my m4 carbine. i seen pepper sprays, expandable batons and tasers all fail to stop attacking human and animal, run into a person on the right drug none of the sprays sticks and zappers will stop him, ask cops how many times their non lethal weapons have failed them...

 

i might add i usually dont ride bicycle routes or multiuse trails, im in the desert far enough out, that if i want to stop get a drink of water and do a little plinking with my gun no ones gonna hear me

 

On my Terra Trike Cruiser I've been chased \ attacked by everything from a small lapdog to a pit bull so big that you could put a saddle on it - size doesn't seem to matter regarding a dog's aggressiveness - loose dogs are always a problem, but an aggressive dog on a long leash that the owner doesn't control can be just as dangerous - and when the owner says "Don't worry, he won't bite", that's when I reach for my pepper spray.

My head is on a swivel all the time when I'm riding - to enjoy the surrounding area, but also to be aware of threats - cars, two-legged threats, and four-legged threats.

I carry pepper spray (stream or fog) on a belt clip that's easy to grab quickly, that I'll use first, but I also carry a snub nose, "airweight", 22 revolver for more persistent threats - so far, I've never had to use the revolver.

I have absolutely no problems using either deterrent - with the pepper spray, anticipate also needing some for an irate dog owner that gets mad because you defended yourself against their unrestrained dog.

 

There used to a German Shepard that sat upon its owner porch about 100 yds back from the country road my team mates and I used to ride down heading out for training rides from our coaches bike shop in a small town.
Once day our coaches daughter who was the reigning National Champion is the Womens 25 mile time trial set out to get in some miles solo without us headed down that same road.
There was a row of hedges all the way from the dogs front porch to the end of the drive way at the road.
Coaches daughter had never noticed the dog before and was cruising down the road going freehanded sitting upright just enjoying the warm spring like day of sunshine when out of no where the German Shepherd appeared out of no where and dove right into the front triangle of her bike in an attempt to bite her right leg. They both tumbled over a few times before the whole pile of dog, human and bike came to a rest.
The dog limped off completely confused. She was left with all kind of lacerations and rocks in her skin.

The folks that owned the dog eventually came out to see if she was OK and seeing she was not and her bike was not ridable they gave her a ride back to her dads shop.

Our coach explained to us later that the couple that owned the dog tried to blame the attach on his daughter - our team mate!

Do another team mate and I plotted to put an end to that dogs bike chasing days....

He got a length of broom handle and stuck it down the back of his jersey. I filled a water bottle with undiluted ammonia with ice.

We set out for the dog trap...

I led out and spotted the dog launch from the porch and tracked an intercept speed as I could follow his outline through the hedges.

I slightly accelerated as he cleared the end of the hedges to mess up his intercept and made him chase.

As he gained speed and I backed off just enough to make him think he was going to have a cyclist for dinner. I pulled the loaded water bottle and leaned - reached back to within a foot of the dogs snout snapping and barking at my heels and gave him a blast of ammonia right down the nostrils and in the mouth.

His front legs literally folded up under him like a broken folding card table and he was sliding on his chest as he was so overwhelmed with what the heck had happened!

Then I saw him rolling on his side and spinning around in circles gasping for air and probable got some in his eyes.

Lets just say we made if habit of riding by his place on every single ride from then on and he would either not leave that porch or he'd run around the house and hide!

We never pick fights and we never allow ourselves to be bullied by anyone.

I have a few stories like this with run ins with rude an malicious car and truck drivers that backfired on them painfully.

I'll save those for another time.