An ounce of prevention

Ah, so there you see I have installed a can of pepper spray onto the bike. I have taken the last few rides to practice reaching it. It turns out that carrying around some raw steaks was not as practical as I thought, because in fact, it was attracting more dogs than it was deterring. Plus, the mini fridge was throwing my balance way off.

I haven't had to use the spray yet, thankfully. And, as they say, "An ounce of prevention..." um, well I forget the rest of that adage. Either way, I've decided is better to simply avoid the house of the bad dog, which has actually been nice, as it adds about a mile to my usual loop. The loop has recently been expanded anyway, and is now just about perfect. Around my house, it is difficult to go farther without climbing a mountain or crossing a highway. I have achieved my goal distance, and it has felt awesome! I'm very happy to be going further now than I ever have and the season it just starting! "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of...something." It'll come to me.
Instead of a dog, I have actually recently encountered a loose goat. It didn't chase me though. I just threw a cardboard box at it and watched as the goat moseyed over and started eating it. I've also started carrying a flake of hay in case a horse or cow starts chasing me. Bit itchy though.

The spray certainly doesn't lull me into a false sense of security. I am still afraid of dogs, and people, and bears for that matter. But, I do feel it's my best defense. I love to have a contingency plan, and that's worth a pound of cure. Yeah, that's it, a pound of cure.