on a scale of England to "what a great day for a bike ride" today is definitely very English. It's another "scattered showers" which means we're oscillating between sunshine and torrential downpours. Nothing for more than half an hour, so I can guarantee that when I ride home I will get very wet.
I'm starting to think that one of those shoe drying things would be a good idea. Might have to buy a couple of cheap 12V computer fans on the way home (they're $4 each and I have enough spare 12V power supplies to do that). Hmm.
If I was a true geeky-gadget man I'd 3D print some ducts for them, but instead I think I'll just use plastic bottles out of the recycling bin in the kitchen to make funnel+tube thingies. Because duct tape > 3D printer when it comes to speed.
@Mσᶎ Going home was never a problem, but I used to hate getting wet on the way in. Purely because you'd end up having to put wet clothes on at the end of the day. I went to a camping shop to get some silica-gel balls (similar size to juggling balls, you stuff them in whatever you want to dry) but I'd say success was limited...
In the end I got into wearing booties just to try and keep the shoes dry
@andy256 looks very pleasant. Although really, Cooks River psychopath is very nice even after torrential rain. And in happy news, I didn't get rained on :)
@andy256 exactly. I suspect in some cases the dog is actually the source of control and the other end of the leash is there to provide random stimuli that stop the dog from getting bored.
The leash is often emotional rather than physical, which is also an issue.
@PeteH maybe youtube is not the best place to go for information? And frankly, based on his questions, maybe wheelbuilding is not really his thing. He's another "search? What is 'search'" user.
@Mσᶎ I recently had a rare experience of a dog owner actually learning. 10 days ago on a path I encountered a woman with a handbag on legs that was all over the place and ignoring her pathetic attempts at control. I said in my kindest and most cheerful voice "It will die". On the return I encountered the same woman. When she heard the bell she immediately scooped the dog up. She looked like she had had an epiphany :-)
@andy256 :) I admit I am not the kindest person in the world when it comes to dog owners. I have once cut one of those extending-string leads after it got tangled up in my bike. Those things can be lethal, basically invisible to a cyclist until all of a sudden you're stopping and the dog is flying.
Although the worst is one moron who saw me coming and told the dog to sit. Which it did. Her on one side of the path, dog on the other. Fine. Then when I was a couple of metres away she called the dog to her. Blam! Luckily I was on my recumbent trike... a good-size dog went under the crossbar that's about 15cm off the pavement. I was on two wheels heading towards one of those anti-vehicle poles in the middle of the shared path.
I survived, so did the dog. The owner probably came closest to dying because she came after me screaming that I'd hit her dog and I was going to pay for it.
I also had the great pleasure to encounter a guy with real dog control. I was in the lead of a group (I hesitate to say bunch :-) when we came upon him and his dog. He was was 10m ahead and to the side of the trail, with his dog another 10m away on the trail. He said one word to the dog and it sprinted to his side. Impressive.
@andy256 I pass a few of those every day. After a while I get an idea of which dogs are reliable and which ones are just big fluffy toys. There's a rottweiler I see most mornings that likes to play "hunt and destroy the stick" while the owner plays "find a new stick". But it sees me and stands very still trying to look non-threatening, which I find amusing.
It's the alsatian cross I see in the afternoons chasing tennis balls that scares the sh!t out of me. The owner has to grab it and hold it because it really, really wants to play "fetch the bicycle".
@nhinkle yeah. The rotty owner is this indian guy that actually stopped me once and said "he's very friendly, but if you're worried I'm happy to call him back when I see you - just ring your bell".
Biking on a wide, even gravel path home from work the other day. Small dog + owner, walking the opposite direction. They're on the right side of the path (from their direction), dog's on her left, walking straight. I'm about to pass them by when the dog bolts in front of me. I slam on the brakes and swerve, barely missing the dog. It was on a leash, but the leash wasn't taught.
Lady glares at me. I shout back at her "I don't want to hurt your dog but if you aren't more careful he's going to get run over!"
She ignores me and continues obliviously on her walk; I think the rest of the day about how stupid people are.
@andy256 well it was a bell in the famous pavlov experiment, wasn't it? But I think it's more useful as a means to alert the owner to hopefully take some control over the animal while you pass. Although that's pretty optimistic of me.
When walking they like to casually walk up to you as if you just happened to be on their pre-planned route, and then brush up all over your legs and hope for hugs.
@andy256 I dream of having an alpaca or a donkey, so I can let it off the leash in local parks and watch it kick stray dogs. Then I can say "oh, the sign only says dogs must be on leash".
Or one of those cross-bred-with-cougar "cats" that like to hunt smaller cats. "she likes to go out at night and kill things"... because that's what all the cat owners say.
@andy256 I stayed the heck away from that question. There are ways to deal with them, but it's difficult from a legal perspective where I live (technically any cat not "controlled by the owner" is a stray and is therefore subject to the state-wide "active management program for pest species" but in practice people have been prosecuted for poisoning or trapping them.
