I had another encounter this summer as well that involved a pitbull. I was touring around one of the small towns nearby and I turned on to a street and noticed a pitbull standing in the middle of the street a little ways down. So of course I just slowly turned around and started going the other way --this was enough to start the chase for him as he started running towards me. The funny part though was that as I turned the corner I saw him do a bee-line into a yard like he knew a shortcut to cut me off like he was in a movie or something! Thankfully I didn’t see him pop out the other side of the yards as I rode away though. 
Way back in the '60’s I was riding back from going to the library. I was on a Schwinn balloon tire 1 speed. Dog came in from the left and actually chomped on my left thigh. After the bite, he stopped and backed off. Still have scars.
Not quite life threatening or a huge beast but last year a massive butterfly flew directly into my spokes and exploded into a millions pieces like confetti. Would have looked like a cool effect if I got it on camera, although not sure the butterfly would agree…
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15% grade. Actually two dogs. The second around the corner. The owner was yelling in her best oh well I don’t really care but I should pretend voice to her dogs to stop chasing me.
I got them to stop by yelling at them. My manly bass voice did it. Not my one minute sprint or my climbing road race TR plan.
PO’d. Still am as I climb this hill today.
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I’ve run across 6 foot long bull snakes sunning on the tarmac a couple of times on the path by the Platte River. I bunny hopped one as I came around the traffic circle. It was hidden by bushes as I was making my way to the parking lot.
I yanked the phone out to capture the “scenery” and accidentally captured this:
Guess I am relieved it didn’t get confetti’d! 
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Incredible pic!
Biggest scare and hardest ride on a bike I’ve ever had was just blocks from my house, on a flat pedal hardtail in tennis shoes and street clothes to pick up a couple things from the supermarket. As I passed a food truck where his owner was waiting for food, a pit bull jumped out the open passenger window of the car and started after me, the owner shouting in vain for him to stop.
No problem, I thought/hoped, he’s clearly all fast-twitch, and will have no stamina. Even this old man can drop him by the end of the block. Of course the race talk in my case is all fake, and he’d gotten the jump on me, not vice-versa, and I was just the newbie leading him out. Three blocks later he was still even with the bottom bracket and we were coming up on an arterial with moderate two-way traffic, a stop sign, and obstructed view. Slowing or stopping seemed certain to net him at least a leg, so I took a right onto the arterial at full speed and sprint-merged into the traffic, sure that the cars would spook him (or maybe hit him – mixed feelings there). I wasn’t looking back, just pedaling as fast as I could and trying not to get hit by cars myself. I could still hear the voice a long distance back calling the dog, so the owner must have gotten in his car and given chase too.
It must have been pretty comical to bored drivers seeing this white-bearded geezer flying down the arterial on a mountain bike with a white-jowled pit bull on his wheel. Not comical for me. Heart rate by now was maxed out and the traffic added danger. At the next clear spot I turned left onto another residential street, sure that the pit would have to be winded by then.
The only good news was that he was now a bike length back instead of dead even. The bad news was that at this rate my legs would just stop after another block or so, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stand, hide behind the bike, or do anything defensive at all when that happened. What had been just a ridiculous annoyance had become pretty serious in a few minutes. Luckily we do have a species advantage and he gave out one block before I did.
I limped to the supermarket and spent a long time recovering there. I finally mustered enough courage in the safety of the aisles to venture back home on the bike (couldn’t reach my wife on phone or would have begged a rescue ride) – but by a very cautious and lengthy detour, lest my nemesis be still out there, also recovered, and contemplating his post-workout nutrition with a vengeance.
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I chase bikes all the time while on foot.
I can’t share power data on this one - 1988. Whilst touring through Turkey on heavily laden bikes we frequently had aggressive sheep dogs chasing us. Most times one or two but occasionally several. We found the most effective response was to switch to a super high cadence (so they couldn’t nip your heels), ride side by side and to talk in a calm voice about something totally inane like the weather. That gave the impression of lack of fear.
Dogs normally have a clearly defined territory so will stop abruptly.
One one occasion in undulating terrain - climbs of 2-400 metres length at maybe 5% we could see 2/3 of way up the next hill a couple of large dogs (rotweiler sized) attacking a lorry (truck). So we were left with decision - turn back or keep going. There was only one road. After a bit of debate we decided to go for it. Heart in mouth. We got up as much speed as possible on the down hill. Powered up the hill with everything we had, cycling side by side to make ourselves appear bigger than we were. Starting to lose pace by the time we were half way up… fortunately they ignored us. Although we were immensely relieved there was a part of us that felt slightly insulted!
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[fast forward to a month later when the exact same scenario unfolds and you pepper-spray the owner in the face]
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In December I was out riding (solo… pandemic…) along a route I’ve done pretty regularly for the last several months. I don’t know if there was normally an electric fence that was on, or if I’ve just been lucky that this dog had never been out before, but I was going along, minding my own business, and then I saw this dog start running right towards me. I had a nice little sprint interval and apparently this dog wasn’t whole-heartedly into the chase because it seemed to give up pretty quickly. Fortunately. I was thinking about the water bottle just in case, but I couldn’t figure out how to put all-effort out and grab/squirt bottle simultaneously. I suppose necessity is the mother of invention and I would have figured it out if I really had needed to… fortunately I didn’t.
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I was out for a run summer 2019 and tried the, “hey buddy!” Nice guy approach to a dog that came to the end of his driveway to make sure I wasn’t going to attack his family. He thought about it for a second, then took a chunk out of my hamstring. Called the owners’ vet to learn that the dog’s rabies vaccination had expired a week prior 
Then I had the chance just prior to the pandemic to visit a friend in Cambodia and do some riding in and around Phnom Penh (an amazing cycling scene developing there, btw). There are wild-ish dogs everywhere. They make a loud “SHHHSHHHSHH” sound that alerts the dog that you’re coming and 97% of them will then leave you alone. A loud and angry, “No!” Plus a hard 30 second sprint usually worked to scare off the more aggressive ones. Glad they understood English 
We had Great Pyrenees growing up. They’re faster than they look!
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Dogs are annoying…but I find the Cat to be the most disruptive.
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Bizarrely that reminds me. I was going down the short but steep Standingstane Road in the pitch black 14 or so years ago. When two little eyes to my left reflected my lights. I think it was a cat but with no light pollution I couldn’t say for sure. It sprang straight at me and somehow got through the gap under my bottom bracket. I didn’t feel a bump but I heard a squeal. When I stopped at the bottom I retraced my steps to check on the animal but I couldn’t find them 
If I am able to, when I encounter a dog on rides I ride straight at it and bark like crazy. Obviously this only works if it is in front of you when it begins coming toward you, but it has always seemed to confuse/scare them enough to make them back off.
Other animals. . . Had a bear cub cross in front of us while we stopped for a break on a group ride. We had just been about to take off when it crossed the road, but thought we ought to wait a bit because we only saw the cub. Sure enough, that was a good plan because it was about 3-5 minutes later that the mama bear crossed the road too.
Another time, I was taking an early morning ride to work at my local ski resort (I would ride to snow level and get picked up by employee bus) and the sun hadn’t come up yet. I had a crazy bright Magic Shine to light the way and about a mile and a half outside city limits I see 2 huge eyes reflected in my headlight and a big, bushy tail sticking straight up. Since the sun wasn’t up, I only ever saw these two aspects of the creature with any clarity. We both peeled off, like we weren’t sure what to do with one another, the creature into the field and me heading back home while calling my husband to pick me up as I was convinced I just saw a cougar. The tail, the eyes, even the way it moved seemed like a cougar to me. I’ve had some friends tell me it was just a dog, but the dogs in that general area normally barked at me and tried to run after me, this one did no such thing. I figure it doesn’t really matter as I’m just glad I didn’t get chased down, whether dog or cougar, but I also didn’t ride up the mountain before sunrise anymore.
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I give it my shoe! That Eddy is a “real son of a…”…lol classic movie. We used to run into the dog(s) problem a lot riding in rural areas (especially GRAVEL!!!). There was one set that would chase me on a certain route every time, but I treated it like sprint practice and turned into a game, I’d sneak over the rollers stealthy and ramp up to about 30mph before they would see me. <–I wouldn’t recommend this I had one friend crash out and break his collarbone dog V bike (dog was alright). The best and most humane approach I’ve found is if they get too close spray them in the nose with your water bottle. Most of the time just pulling the bottle out and aiming it was enough, typically if you had to squirt them they were on the aggressive side. Also beware of deer!!! Have had a few friends crash out really bad on descents deer V bike.
awwwww!!! Seriously though those tiny cute dogs go totally aggro. Must be hilarious seeing cyclist screeching and sprinting from them, bet the owners have a webcam and have viewing parties everyweek bahaha
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I used to run in the morning for a bit of extra calorie burn and my freaking neighbor’s dog bit me while on a run. The dog was not even up to date on vaccinations or rabies. This completely changed how I view dogs on rides now (I quit running after this lol). I am now very aggressive towards dogs. I have two dogs and love them, but if your dog gets close to me while I’m on my bike, he’s getting hurt before I do (sorry).
If you ever encounter a dog chasing you on a run, just stop. That’s what I should have done.
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