Witterings

So much common sense here and exactly the way it should be .... problem is it gets ruined by the small majority and so all dog owners that use a flexi lead become evil much the same as there are

A: Good and responsible cyclists
B: Some that are some complete A*&6**e's that believe they own the road / path and EVERYBODY should get out of their way and give the considerate riders a bad name.

Be a really interesting survey of the cyclists that are most critical and intolerant of dog walkers whether they fall into category A or B.

That said there are A and B dog walkers, people with children, skateboarders etc, etc... at the end of the day it's very low level intelligence to work out that shared areas will be busy at the weekends so if you can't be tolerant ... don't go there .... and to come into forums complaining about it says you don't have a lot of basic common sense.

I do appreciate though the OP's original question was about a dog that crossed a road and as someone pointed out ... it's highly unlikely it was a highway .... most of the comments in here though seem to refer to MUP's so that's what this post is addressing as it's become the dominant point of conversation within the thread.

Witterings

^^^^^^^^^ +1

livedarklions

You're twisting my words badly. Reread the op. This is an extremely weird situation. I have never seen anything like that, a leash across the road is not something I am looking for, and at 20+ mph, there's a really good chance I'm going to miss it. That's even more likely to occur in a car.

And I also suspect that I won't be aware of the situation long enough to make some noise AND avoid hitting the dog or leash.

I have to say, I've never had to announce my presence on a street for a pedestrian because they generally look both ways before crossing the street because it's expected that faster vehicles are going to be there. I almost always announce on a path, but it's just not comparable.I

and I am damn sure that the ROW doesn't give anyone the right to extend a leash all the way across a street. That's gross negligence at best.

Clyde1820

Depends on the roadway, of course.

With vehicles, certainly it's a narrow category of situations in which one has the possibility of notifying another slower occupant of the roadway that one is approaching. In a vehicle, obviously that's not on the highway or a higher-speed road through town. (Think: residential areas, anywhere in a parking area.)

On any other wheeled vehicle (be it a bicycle or skateboard or whatever), it's usual to be approaching pedestrians or dawdling cyclists/joggers at a higher speed from behind.

In nearly all such cases, particularly when it's apparent the folks being approached have no idea they're being overtaken and a pass attempt is brewing, it's worth notifying ... via horn or bell or voice, or whatever, in addition to adjusting the speed differential for safety, etc.

That's all I meant.

Didn't intend vehicle-specific situations of higher speeds to be taken out of the context of the OP's basic scenario.

livedarklions

Got to tell you, I find people who honk at me every time they pass me when I'm on a bike to be completely obnoxious. It's not necessary, and horns are often damn loud. It's more like going to startle me than do anything good.

Clyde1820

Certainly unnecessary every time.

Obviously, useful when overtaking situations justify it.

On a roadway or parking lot with a motor vehicle, or on a MUP with a bike or skateboard.

IF the situation calls for judicious passing, accommodation of the other person's oblivion, the overtaking speed and/or narrowness of the road/path requires a close pass ... obviously, in those types of situations it's reasonable to notify the person about to be overtaken there's a potential safety issue.

Hardly meant to imply ALL overtaking justifies a thing. (But then, that should have been assumed.)

livedarklions

As you should not have assumed I meant to say that I never slow down if I see a hazardous situation in front of me. Nothing I said even remotely implied that.

tkamd73 

Yes, just a fact of life when riding on the local MUP, no two encounters ever alike, just have be flexible, and keep your sense of humor. Always entertaining when the human on the leash, is on one side of the path, and the dog on the other. Hard to tell who is walking who.
Tim

Clyde1820

Didn't assume a thing.

Just pointed out the suggestion of honking (in a car) as notification with every passage of a slower cyclist is not what I had said, and only that my earlier remark about warning of approach has its place. Nothing more.

Anything else?

livedarklions

My apologies. I got you mixed up with someone else in this thread. You're right, you didn't assume any such thing, and I screwed up.

Witterings

So what difference would it have made whoever posted it, surely it's only about the factual content ... sounds like you're carrying a vendetta against someone and just out to have a go at anything they say ????

That's the dumbest responses I've heard for an awful long time but at least we know what we're dealing with here in terms of intelligence levels and maybe highlights the errors of some of your other responses as there's obviously a bias here.

Wanna share who you might have got them mixed up with

Myosmith

A while back, I had a little dust mop of a mutt bolt off of the sidewalk and into my path, teeth bared and dragging its leash behind. I was able to swerve enough so that Fluffy was barely brushed as he tried to bite the trailing edge of my rear tire. I went about a block ahead and turned around coming down the opposite side of the street to make sure the dog was OK (I'm a dog lover and have had several in my lifetime). By this time the owner had gotten ahold of the leash and was walking back to the curb. When she saw me she was irate about my "reckless speeding" and "trying to run over my little dog". I asked if her dog was OK and reminded her that there is an ordinance requiring dogs to be "under actual physical control" within city limits and that the leash didn't do much good if she wasn't on the other end. She threatened to report me to the police and launched a barrage of insults.

One overly friendly lab ran along side me for a short distance on a rural road before spotting something in the opposite ditch and bolting directly into my front wheel. I endoed and Friendly couldn't figure out why I didn't want to play anymore.

Witterings

I've been a bit busy at work but with the bank holiday coming up found some time to look up what you were referring to and I guess it must have been when I responded to this comment you made



You've gotta laugh at that, text book wording straight out of a cheap and failed film ... honestly .... I guess it shows the level of intelligence we're dealing with and hence the attitude.

The rest of your post is pretty laughable as well and if that's a true reflection of your personality I'm not surprised dogs chase you ...... surprising how good a judge of character they are


" Listen Bozo" ... seriously **********?

I mean absolute classic ... When's Arnie coming round to play

I'm sorry but how embarrassing is that.

McMitchell

Wow this post exploded, I apologize to all the responders for not having checked it sooner.

The speed limit on the roads I ride on is 20mph. I should have mentioned that there are many tight turns in dense forests that make it hard to see, particularly around areas like the 90 degree turn I was making on the day of the incident. I often go for miles, 10-15 miles, entire rides, without encountering any walkers, much less walkers with dogs.

I have used Flexi-Leads, which I should have mentioned. I have used them to teach dogs to track on leash against pressure. I do not suggest them for people walking dog's. I am currently working on a Keynote presentation with videos. One of the areas I cover is "Walking On Leash Without Pulling". Pulling on leash, may be the worst problem for the majority of my clients. Even medium sized dogs can pull their owners off their feet, steps are particularly dangerous. The point of a fixed length leash is to give the dog a fixed distance that they can learn. Without a fixed distance leash, I have no idea how to train a dog not to pull against it's leash. I am not suggesting Flexi-Leads are not applicable in some situations. My problem with this leash relates specifically to pulling on leash. I should have been more specific in my critique of that specific leash.

rumrunn6

hmmm ... sometimes ...



but I'm pretty tolerant. it's always fun & interesting to be out with ppl, away from my lonely desk job

Lemond1985

Still waiting for evidence of that, I have yet to see it.

livedarklions

He and I patched it up somewhat since, and I took him off ignore. But I never saw the above posts because he did them while I had him on ignore and would never have seen it if this thread hadn't risen from the dead. He was definitely being a bozo when I posted that quote, and I'm not embarrassed by it in the slightest. I do find his postings on other topics interesting, but that's a matter of taste, I guess.

I find it ironic that whenever the topic turns to dogs, so many posters just go feral. I had no idea he had continued to troll me on this thread after I had /ignored him.

livedarklions

That part of the Minuteman is pretty stop-start for a few miles. At least the leash is only cutting off half of the path.

rumrunn6

yeah. I remember following the bike w/ kid for a while, waiting for a chance to pass, but kept getting coincidental other obstacles to wait for. the kid was having a blast tho

eshew

As a rider I believe it's our responsibility to watch out for others. I've been buzzed by speeding cyclists more often than I've been inconvenienced by dogs.

It's not like we're in a car with enough road noise to alert anyone.

We're fast and quiet. That means we should be able to slow down to avoid any collisions.

My daughter loves to ride her push bike on the local trails, the riders that ride the fastest are the ones that don't ding a bell or identify that they are passing on the left. That's rude and dangerous. But I don't say anything, it's just the way some bikers are. Never had an issue with a dog owner

livedarklions

That part of the trail between Arlington and Lexington is most enjoyable if you relax about time because there's two town centers within a relatively short distance of each other. You can pound the pedals about 2 miles north of there between Lexington and Bedford, there's just a couple of bottlenecks at road crossings for the last 2.5 miles or so, and the foot traffic gets really thin because it's basically passing through swampland. I can get it to 25 mph for a good portion of that distance without doing anything crazy or inconsiderate.

livedarklions

I ride very fast between encounters with other people in the lane and am very careful to announce my passes. I will occasionally get passed by one of those Strava junkies just because they're willing to fast pass through a small gap between people, which is an incredibly dangerous maneuver. I make a point of passing such people later on in the fast part of the path just so I can scream "On your left" at them.

unterhausen

I agree, the rural folks that use our Main St. as a "shortcut" because they don't think they are going to get a speeding ticket would probably speed up if they saw a dog on a leash across the street. It's just good sport.

Thankfully, I have not seen to many retractable leashes in use around here, and none on the MUP. I did see a couple trying to get their dog back from across a stream from the MUP, I assume it was running free. So I'm glad it was having fun in the marsh across the way instead of bothering me. I think dogs running free are a more common problem. The MUP I ride on most often is a nice little park on its own, so the idea of hanging out with your unchained dogs has occurred to some people, even though their are signs everywhere saying it is illegal.

rumrunn6

must be a stronger rider than me. it takes a bit of effort from me on that western downgrade to get over 26mph

livedarklions

Just a warning--I've found the hard way that path can get slippery really fast when wet.

That last stretch before Bedford is Cat 6 raceway central. Plus you can take your bike into the men's room at the station and don't need to lock it up. Great pit stop for me before the last 24 miles back to Nashua.