Lunging rottweiler
What a day for a ride!
It was just under 60° on the way to Presbytery, and around 65° on the way back. Negligible winds too. Oh, and relatively sunny as well.
I took the long way in both directions. Leaving here I head downtown, pick up the Riverway south to Genesee Valley Park, where I hop on the Canalway east to Winton Rd. Then I go north on Winton. It’s 10½ miles as compared to 4½ for the “medium” route, or just over three for the most direct route.
What I like most about this routing is flaunting it as I ride through downtown at lunchtime. All the corporate drones were outside wishing they didn’t have to go back inside, and looking at me with what I hoped was envy. Once I was on the paths, there were a lot of peds and other cyclists.
Just sort of cruising along, enjoying the day and the scenery while making no special effort, I dropped a full five minutes off my previous best time there. I attribute this partly to regaining some conditioning, but mostly to the clipless pedals and shoes. Being able to apply power through the full pedal rotation sure makes a difference.
On the way back, just as I rounded the corner under a bridge, I saw a guy coming towards me walking a dog not 100 feet ahead. The dog, a coal black rottweiler, was off sniffing around to the right of the path, on one of those extending/retracting leashes. I was cranking and didn’t think anything of it.
Then the dog heard me, thought, “Oh boy, playtime!” and ran across the path jumping up on my right leg. This knocked the bike out from under me and I went down on the pavement.
The guy was super apologetic. The dog just looked at me wondering why I wasn’t getting up to play some more.
The bike came to rest on its right side, I was lying on my right side beneath it. Interestingly, both feet came unclipped in the crash.
I’ve got some road rash on my right knee and elbow. The area between the base of my right thumb and wrist is bruising up nicely, and there’s some muscle strain in my upper right arm. Otherwise, I’m just fine.
My shirt sleeve got all ripped to hell. It can probably be sewn up, or worst cast, made into a short-sleeved shirt. But I dripped blood all over my new cycling shoes. I didn’t realize this until after I got home, showered and bandaged myself up. I hope the stains didn’t set.
As for Bike, well, its bars and front wheel went 360° around, which was very weird. Once I figured why the wheel was facing the right direction yet the cables were wrapped around the headtube, it was easy to spin them back around.
The left bar end rotated up a bit, the chain popped off (which is typical behavior whenever Bike encounters grass) and I had to re-adjust the rear dérailleur when I got home. I think there may be a few new scratches in the paint on the rack and the bar ends.
I’m going to have to buy a whole bunch of new first-aid stuff. Most of what I have is antique. For example, the tape has a price of $1.39 from a drugstore that’s been bought and sold twice since then. And the adhesive is shot.
Even so, I’m fixin’ to leave for the last Tuesday Night Urban Assault ride of the season. I’ll hang with them as long as I can, then come home.
I’ve found another weekly ride I might try out for the in-season. It’s a Monday night “small-ring” recovery ride. Road bikes only, so it’ll have to wait until I get Yellow Bike back from the shop.
March 27th, 2007 at 6:54 pm EDT
Shit! Glad you ain’t hurt too bad. I love rottweilers, grew up with them running around our neighbourhood when I was a kid. Poor old postman was scared to get out of his van though
It’s funny, all the stories I’ve heard about people coming off their bikes with dogs around – 99% of them are because of a friendly playful dog, not because of an attack. It’s strange that one!
Clipless rule!
March 27th, 2007 at 7:57 pm EDT
Yeah, I’m glad I knew about the playful dog thing too. It helped me keep everything in perspective. Hell, I was the one lying on the ground bleeding and I had to calm down the dog’s owner. He was like borderline freaking.
Me, I’d been expecting to fall today, but I figured it would be at a stop where I forgot to unclip, or was leaning to the unclipped side. Oh well…
March 27th, 2007 at 9:29 pm EDT
Hi Bruce,
Tough break with rotti encounter. I’m amazed at your casual reaction with the irresponsible behavior of the dogs owner! Do you think the clipless contributed any affect on your reaction ability to the lunging dog?
some less pertinent observations: It looks like you have 60 more road miles than me so far this year! I could pass you next week though! I am hoping to double my daily commuting miles starting this week. My Cruzbike is supposed to arrive this week too.
March 28th, 2007 at 10:05 am EDT
Hey John!
It’s easy enough to see the dog’s and the owner’s responsibilities here. Had he had the dog on a shorter leash or had he been watching the dog rather than gazing across the park on a sunny spring afternoon, none of this would have happened.
On the other hand, had I been going slower coming out from around that corner, had I shouted or rung my bell to get the guy’s attention, had I not casually assumed the dog was more interested in sniffing interesting scents rather than excited by the prospect of a new playmate, then too none of this would have happened.
I figure that as long as we both learned something, it came out all right.
As for miles, 46 of my miles came yesterday—31 of them after the rotti and 26 of those in the TNUA. With your longer commutes, I don’t stand a chance.
For those following along at home, John is adding a Cruzbike Sofrider front-wheel drive recumbent to his stable. He’s also becoming a rep of some sort, so if you find them interesting, contact me and I’ll put you in touch with John.