OK. So I'm riding out to meet the group this morning, going maybe 10 mph down my tree-shaded street in the semi-darkness. I see this woman walking toward me in the street headed diagionally off to my left. Just another early morning walker. As I get within 20 feet of her, something catches my eye. I see her left arm make a sudden movement.
Then I see it.
The leash! One of those 25-foot black retractable leashes; and it's stretched all the way across the road. I never even saw the dog, which was all the way on the other side of the street behind a car. To make matters worse, the woman lifts the leash up over her head trying to get it over me, but it's way too late. I never even had a chance to hit the brakes. Went down like a sack of cement on my left hip and heard the "whack" as my helmet hit the asphalt. No major damage thanks to the low speed I was going and the extra layer of clothes I had on. I ground a few millimeters off of the back of my cell phone. Coincidentally, the damage was limited to the used battery I got yesterday after I walked down to the Alltel store to get a replacement and was told, not unexpectedly, "oh that model's been discontinued." What a racket. The salesperson went in the back and found an old battery and gave it to me to try. I had a bit of a headache for the next 10 minutes and a bruised hip and scraped up ankle, but at least no raw hamburger road rash. I'm sure my neck will be sore tomorrow - it always is after I whack my head on the pavement, which I seem to do every year or two. I hope the dog has a sore neck too, but if I had a choice about who to have put down, it'd be the woman.
But damn. I hate those stupid 25-foot leashes. The dog may as well be running loose, since the owner has no control whatsoever with a leash that long. I got back up and took off pretty quickly because I knew if I started talking with the dimwit I'd end up giving her a piece of my mind, which would have served only to make me more angry.
2 comments:
Ouch. Glad it wasn't a bad fall. I hate those megalong leashes too especially when they are obstructing others from walking/cycling/driving/whatever across their path.
You would think that common sense would tell you it might be a bad idea to be on one side of the street while connected by a leash to a dog on the other side of the street, but hey, common sense isn't really all that common, is it?
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