Quote Originally Posted by north woods gal View Post
Still nervous about doing any trail riding at this point, though. Will have to push myself into trying it, again. Mentally keep re-living the day I had my accident. Not sure if I can handle it. If all my riding from now on is road or rail-to-trail kind of riding, so be it.
I feel sure you'll eventually be back on trails as you become more comfortable again on the bike. After I had my crash in '05, I got into mountain biking and gravel road riding for awhile and would not ride on paved roads, as I was really nervous being out there in any situation where dogs might come into the road (which caused that crash). It took awhile, but once I started riding on the road again, I was fine. I always had my guard up for dogs -- but I had that guard up before, always, riding in the rural south, so I was only a bit more hyperalert than before. I have found, though, that this nervousness about loose dogs has made rural rides anywhere in the southeast much less fun for me. As a result, I tend to avoid them. I much prefer trails now (paved or unpaved) or riding in parts of the US where loose dogs are unlikely. The south is the worst for people letting their dogs run free, and that still freaks me out. We never run into that problem riding here in central Florida. With the traffic here, loose dogs wouldn't last a week.