Cyclist down 8 weeks ago.. the aftermath:

[steveindenmark]

Kurt, i have exactly the same scar and plate as you. In time you wont even notice it.

I see you do have a bell on you bike and you do use it. I have bells on all my bikes, even my road bike, it is surprising how many road bikes dont. I always use it when approaching dog walkers. It makes no difference if they are walking towards me or away from me. It gives them chance to get a firm grip of the dog.

Steve

 

[byegad]

This is a good advert for avoiding shared use paths. As I do.

 

[Cubist]

Rode Cannock the other day. At a junction of one bike trail section and a fire road I saw two women with four Border Collies. One of them started barking and rushed at me so I stopped and waited for the woman to call the dog over to her. Now I love dogs, but Collies can be a bit nippy, I suppose it's their herding instinct, so I didn't want to do anything that frightened the dog. She got it near her and I set off, but the dog shot back in front of me and did that half-backing-away thing whilst snarling. The dog was clearly in a dilemma. It didn't really know whether I was a threat and was clearly wanted to protect its pack, so I decided I would remain silent and calm and let the woman get the dog under control. I reckoned that if I set off again either the dog would go for me or get under the wheels, so for all of our sakes I simply sat on my bike and waited. The woman made a great show of putting the dog on a lead, and as soon as she had I set off again. At which the woman called out "Miserable Bast*rd!" I'm afraid I told her about my take on the shared responsibilities of controlling dogs in a shared environment in order to prevent injury to all parties. Just not in as many words.

 

[Hacienda71]

What you need is one of these.....