Sunday 6 April 2014

Walking my dog and cyclists

So my latest thing is walking my dog along the infamous "Spruit". Cyclists and dog walkers each believe it's theirs. Reality is that they have to share it!!!! 

So here is my honest perception from both sides...

Mojopup, aka cyclist me....
Cruising along this awesome trail but it's seriously muddy out there in dry weather and this mud stinks cause it's dog poo. Seriously?!? And then you wonder why I curse you as I pass you cause I saw you're dog poop and you walked on. Worse is that I rode through it and have splatter in my face!!! Yucky. Then I meet your fellow dog walker and ring my bell until my ears ring but you don't get your dog under control!! Um, I am happy for your dog to be off lead illegally as long as you can control it. I crash into Fifi and you blame me yet your dog was off lead, I rang my bell and you did nothing. (Hypothetical but I would hate for a dog to get hurt.) 

KD's mom, aka dog walking me...
Minding my own business with dog on lead and oh my poo!!!! You start swearing at me despite my not hearing you approach. Where the #%{**#*#*}* is your bell or manners???  But I keep silent and when my boy makes his mess I pick it up, wishing I could throw it at you. But I don't... Not today. But I swear, you hurt my dog and.......... Then, I hear a bike and I tell my boy "bike" and he comes to my side and we move to the side. Some of you thank us (it's taken time to train him to automatically move and get to safety when I give this command), the majority don't and I feel that if you could aim and hit us, you would get brownie points on some strava-like ranking board.

The point of this? Well, walkers: pick up poop. And keep your dog on its lead as per the law. If you don't want to keep your dog on a lead, then train them to move for bikes. Cyclists: a bell is cheap! And manners cost less. Announce your approach or accept disrespect. Better yet, if you don't have manners, stay away from public areas and stick to cycling only areas. I am actually starting to have a deep dislike for my fellow cyclists as a result of my experiences and am embarrassed to call myself a cyclist thanks to you all.

Am I qualified to say these things? Yes I am! I am a passionate cyclist and a dog walker. So play nice at the Spruit.