Pedaling down the California coast just south of Carlsbad along the famed PCH, I rolled up on whom I christened without question as the biggest dumb duck bike rider I’ve ever seen.
At first glance he earned a dunce hat and a seat in the corner simply for riding along the beautiful bluffs sans helmet with a 6-foot surfboard tucked under his roadside arm, churning his pedals with flipflops.
My immediate thought was, doesn’t that idiot know enough to at the very least ride with the surfboard away from traffic?
Then he graduated to head of the class of morons.
No, Raz, he couldn’t tuck his surfboard on the other side because that hand, while at least maintaining something of a grip on his handlebar (the only safety point he would earn), also held onto — drummmmmm rolllllllllllll — the leash holding his scruffy mutt trotting alongside.
Scoobie-Doo!
Having grown up around modestly under-trained dogs who would bolt like a racetrack greyhound after anything that moves, I estimated this dude was one squirrel away from a trip to the ER strapped to a body board.
Seriously, can you be a bigger idiot?
I thought of that dude every time I would see someone riding a bike holding a dog on a leash. I mean really, they must have crashed on their heads a bit too often to know better.
Then, I got a dog.
Now I’ve never shied away from sharing with you that I lack any serious bike-handling skills, thus you won’t find me getting my Xtreme thrills over wooden ramps or skyscraper dirt berms.
But riding a bike with a dog on a leash? Damn, now that’s as adrenaline pumping as it gets. You’re a blink of an eye away from getting ripped in any direction with the force of an F/A-18F Super Hornet ejection seat.
Only in my head, of course. At least with my first two dogs.
Riding with a mellow Lab on a leash at 8 mph hardly qualifies as a gnarly scene. Then I added a Border Collie to the mix, and the ante is upped again to Top Gun Maverick status.
So imagine my pride when I recently paraded around the campground ON MY BIKE with BOTH the LAB and BORDER COLLIE leashed! Summer, my Lab, obviously taught Pepper, my Border Collie, the ropes. She caught on immediately.
From the campground we headed into the woods for a fun outing on dirt, with no incidents to report.
Anyways, today’s question, do you or would you ever ride with a dog on a leash?
Yes. Train your dog off the bike first to be good on a leash and it’s really no big deal. Be ready to drop the leash if the dog bolts in such a way that you would crash if you didn’t. Practice away from traffic and other people/dogs. Again, not a big deal.
Yes, once. Made it about 250 feet down a snowy road before my Siberian Husky pulled me off my bike and dragged me on my belly another 100. Apparently I didn’t learn from the time she dragged me and a sled under a spruce tree! She was a good dog though.