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"My advice to anyone who is planning to do the TransAm is: don’t." I'm saddened to see this advice. I rode the Transam in 2015 (https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/buddy/); I was lucky and only had a few dog chases in eastern KY, but I know of others that year who had much worse problems with dogs. I did have a very serious dog problem riding near my home in Tulsa, OK and am every concerned with dogs now (https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/warriordeath1/i-never-saw-that-coming/). Although I haven't tried it, I have been told that bear spray is the way to go to protect yourself from charging dogs - I know from many experiences that the "Halt" type of pepper spray is difficult to use because you can't hardly hit a dog with it until he is right on you. Of course, it's not the dogs that are the problem; it's the owners who let them roam free to chase cyclists - perhaps a blast of bear spray would train the animals.
5 months ago
I agree that the problem is the owners of the dogs not the dogs themselves.
5 months agoI was surprised at the advice to use wasp spray. It's probably cheaper than bear spray. It also shoots a long way.
The big drawback to either spray is the chance of getting it on yourself. Ugh!
In the last couple of days I checked online journals of people passing through eastern Kentucky. One rider was lucky and had to deal with only a dog or two. Others not so much. One rider was attacked by a pack of dogs. One rider had his front pannier torn off his bike. Another rider had his read pannier pulled off. A third rider was bit (looks more like a skin scrape than a full on bite) in the calf. She didn't seem to be interested in a rabies shot.
It's amazing to me how many people ride through that area with every intention of doing battle.
I'm sorry to hear about your experience near Tulsa. I once had a neighbor who had two out of control dogs. It was a nightmare. Both my wife and I were attacked in our front yard. All day and all night barking were the norm. (I finally started calling the police. Not long after that, they moved. Halleluyah!) Thankfully, my county, which was quite rural 60 years ago, passed laws that put much of this nonsense to an end.
As for bike tours, I think I'll get back to it once the memory of this year's fiasco fades.