the black rose said:The last time I rode on the local rail-trail, I almost got creamed by
some little kid coming head-on on a BMX, weaving in and out of the wrong
side of the trail, not looking where he was going. His mother was
screaming at him to get out of my way, and he was totally not paying any
attention to her, either.
Their dog was behaving, though.
This taught me that it's probably a better idea not to ride down the
rail-trail at all. I haven't been back.
-km
I get this kind of thing every day. One kid was riding down the trail with
his eyes closed. His mom was looking behind her trying to tell her other
kid where to throw some trash, weaving all over the trail.
Today a kid jumps out into the middle of the trail and puts his arms out as
though to make me run into him. I brandish a fist and he runs off into the
woods laughing and shouting 'gonna hit me?, gonna hit me?'.
Yesterday I had to fend off some dog by interposing my bike, four times,
after finishing my ride. The dog was probably being friendly, but I had on
my bike shorts and did not want my legs scraped by his claws jumping on me.
The owner, to her credit runs up and says 'oh, sorry he's just being
friendly'. I said 'well if you can't keep him from charging people, you
need to keep him on the leash, and it -is- leash day'. She replies 'oh,
it's not my dog, I'm just sitting him'. Well, lady, then you don't know his
behavior so how can you trust him off the leash?
Last week I'm riding down a long, gentle downhill, and about 100 yds ahead
of me two old ladies are walking with a dog off the leash. One of the women
starts _screaming_ like she's being murdered! Somehow, I apparently
startled her from 100yds away. That really ruined my day. I kept waiting
for the cops to show up and accuse me of giving her some kind of a stroke -
all just by riding my bike.
It's always something. I try to ignore and blow it off as much as possible.
I guess it beats risking being clobbered by a one-ton metal box - but not
by much. ;-)
-B
