Another way to cope with dogs

[litespeed]

I've said this a few times on this blog but I'll repeat it: My favorite method of dealing with chasing dogs is to swerve back and forth, traffic and roadway permitting. This really confuses the dogs. I have had them run into mail box posts, telephone poles, etc, get all tangled up with each other and go down in a cloud of dust or even just trip all over themselves. Sometimes they get so rattled they simply give up and stop.

A friend of mine was grinding up a hill when two rottweilers came after him. Not knowing what else to do he yelled "Sit!". They plunked down right there in the road. When He topped the hill he looked back. They were still sitting there.

[etsisk]

Have y'all thought about the Eastern Express route? Misses the dogs and steepest hills in Appalachia

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[BikeFreak]

Over time I have done the following routes:

Northern Tier
Pacific Coast
Continental Divide Trail
Atlantic Coast from Bar Harbor to Richmond, VA
Grand Canyon Connector
Transam from Rockfish Gap, VA to Pueblo, CO
Western Express from Pueblo, CO to Cedar City, UT

Besides 1 dog encounter on the Northern Tier somewhere in Ohio I only had serious dog issues on the Transam. I would estimate 10-20 encounters over the entire stretch. And not only in Kentucky. It started in western VA and ended in western MO - I remember MO being a serious dog state too. When you hit western KY the countryside turns into rather flat farmland. This continues into southern IL and a bit into MO. On this stretch the dog issues was very limited. But when you hit the Ozarks in MO, then you will have dogs again.

I see a strong correlation between dogs and this map: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_Belt

Lucas

[BikeFreak]

Kentucky County Overdose Death Rate - National Rate in 2010 - 12 per 100,000
Thus, parts of Eastern Kentucky have an overdose death rate 5 times the national average.
(Southern West Virginia is worse.)

Your overdose map fits very fine with my experience: I really never felt welcome in the red areas of the map. In one of the red areas a car with 2 men threw a cigarette butt at me while I climbed a hill. I also met a single dutch lady cyclist who had a glass bottle thrown at her from a car while cycling in the red areas. Here we are talking about areas where 50% of all houses have a confederate flag on the porch.

[jwrushman]

I don't think this is helpful to a discussion of aggressive dog along parts of the trans-America routes.   Perhaps someone with a background in statistics can give their input.  Linking bad-dog behavior to "bible belt"  and confederate flag display is inflammatory and not likely helpful to anyone using this forum.  Was I just "trolled"?   If so, please let this thread die. 

[etsisk]

Seriously, though, check out the Eastern Express route. It starts in DC, takes the C&O and Gap trails to Pittsburgh, then other trails. Six hundred of the 2,000+ miles of it are on trails of some sort. It misses the flat Kansas farmland and goes through the plains. It misses Pueblo and goes through Fort Collins. Seems pretty great. KY etc are why I wasn't much interested in the TA route. I found out about it from an Adventure Cycling email.

EDIT:Corrected link below...

www.easternexpressroute.com

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[Motomarcus]

I would be interested in this as well, but can't get the link to work (com or org).  Is this an ACA route?  Also, does this merge with the transam?  Will be heading east on the TA and wondering if I can easily jump off to this route.

Thanks for any help.

Mark

[etsisk]

I would be interested in this as well, but can't get the link to work (com or org).  Is this an ACA route?  Also, does this merge with the transam?  Will be heading east on the TA and wondering if I can easily jump off to this route.

Thanks for any help.

Mark

It does merge with the TA in Colorado, I think. West of Fort Collins. It isn't an ACA route, but they included a blurb about it in the bike bits email. Check out the link - it should answer all your questions.

EDIT: I screwed up the link - see below-

www.easternexpressroute.com

[YogaO]

... The difficulty in doing that is that we can't guarantee a cyclist won't run into dogs if we move the route

While this is a great point, our experience this summer leads me to the conclusion that Eastern Kentucky is a unique problem for the number of dogs encountered vs. the rest of the TransAm. You can dismiss this as an n=1 survey, but for virtually every TransAm rider we encountered, whether EB or WB, this area stood out. So, if we were to ride the TransAm again, I think we would strongly consider routing around this area. However, I think there is a solution that doesn't require sprays, sticks, stones, etc.

Our solution was pretty foolproof and has two parts. We were fortunate to have traveled EB, so we could perfect our technique before reaching Eastern Kentucky. Step 1 is to yell at the dog(s) in a commanding voice, "GO HOME!!" If you can point in the direction of "HOME", that is a significant help. Frequently, that is the only step needed. A huge key is you have to be commanding and not fearful. For those instances when your "GO HOME" command is ignored, move on to step 2. Step 2 requires an AirZound horn. Dogs will stop and turn around when assaulted by a short burst of painful sound. The key here is you have to wait until the dog is close, maybe so close that you are not comfortable.

[doughalonen]

I got chased twice by dogs while traversing Virginia last year, and they meant business! Two of the dogs, who were together, I outraced. The second, some kind of pit bull, miraculously stopped in its tracks after I yelled at it menacingly. Those experiences were enough to convince me I didn't want to try Kentucky solo. I ended up riding north to Bar Harbor instead and got barked at a few times. But the dogs up north didn't seem to be all that serious about the pursuit. So my takeaway was that I should stick to the northern routes unless traveling in a group. PS: I do carry a canister of Halt on my handlebar bag. But both times I got chased, the dogs were on me so quickly I didn't really have time to get the spray out. My other gripe about the TransAm route through Virginia was that there was a lot of traffic on some of the roads, and on several occasions, locals in their big diesel trucks seemed to try to see how close they could get to me on the shoulder before blasting me with their diesel fumes. I believe they call it "rolling coal." That seems to me to be far more dangerous than the dogs. Thanks.

[Bclayden]

Just completed an Eastern Kentucky, Southern West Virginia crossing (not on any of the Trans Am route) and I had quite a few dog encounters but nothing gnarly. The trick is to see them before they see you. Learned to scan the front yard for any dog that might be near the road, turn off the headlight, never freewheeling as the clicky-clack would be a dead giveaway, picked up speed and always beat the dog to the end of his property. In a dozen or so dog races I did get caught on a steep uphill once. In my experience the KY dogs are just another element like weather and traffic and wind....Not ideal but part of the adventure.

[BikeFreak]

turn off the headlight,

Do you ride at night?

[Bclayden]

turn off the headlight,

Do you ride at night?

Umm, no.  That would be unsafe. Let me you ask this...when you're driving your car, day or night, who do you notice coming toward you first..the cyclists with or without the bright headlight?

[Pat Lamb]

Let me you ask this...when you're driving your car, day or night, who do you notice coming toward you first..the cyclists with or without the bright headlight?

Usually I notice the cyclist wearing the brightest colors -- orange, yellow, light green, or light red.

[canalligators]

Let me you ask this...when you're driving your car, day or night, who do you notice coming toward you first..the cyclists with or without the bright headlight?

Usually I notice the cyclist wearing the brightest colors -- orange, yellow, light green, or light red.

Amen. Rarely see the light first.  So unless it's an exceptionally bright light, don't bother.  Even then, it won't help much.