Dogs?

[Tuckervill]

+1 to what Emily said. If we worried about everything, we wouldn't leave our houses!
But, I still dislike dogs on or off the bike. Sorry, animal lovers, but there is nothing that could make me like them. It's not so much fear (although there's a bit of that when a dog is chasing you on the bike), but rather, a feeling of grossness I get when near a dog. It's smell, touch, slobber, barking, etc. I know this is hard for most people to understand, but I've always had this reaction. I'm not a particularly prissy person, but I actually almost gag if I get near certain dogs.
I don't ever mention this to my animal loving friends, but come to think of it, I only have one close friend who has a pet.

I get it. There was a brief period of time in my life when I felt that way, too. It was during about the first year of life of all of my babies. I wasn't a clean freak by any means, but I just couldn't tolerate mixing up the baby-clean with dog stuff. ick.

Karen

[arielmoon]

Absolutely agreed. My father died in a car accident six months after my bike accident mentioned above, and that kept me off the road with serious fears of vulnerability much longer than my own accident did. Horrible, unexpected things can happen at any time. I was determined, ultimately, not to let fear rule my life. I'm really enjoying riding on the road again and am sorry if my posting about my accident scared anyone unduly! I just wanted to point out one of the possible consequences of trying to outrun a determined dog. That said, I still sprint like crazy if one chases me now -- I just make absolutely sure the road ahead is clear!

There are risks in everything we do, but in most cases, the rewards of doing something we love outweigh them.

Sorry about your father and I TOTALLY AGREE that the risks are worth it.

[Crankin]

Tulip, my very close cycling friend feels the same way. We met about 5 years ago, when my kids were grown!
Truthfully, (OK, this sounds suspiciously like those "bad mom" web sites I've heard about), I liked my kids more and more as they got older...