Ride Day 8 - Photo #6 - "A pack of really bad dogs"

The final hills of the ride involve climbing up from the Mississippi River in Hickman. With only a few miles remaining on the ride, this attack of four really nasty dogs took me by surprise. I cannot recall ever having come closer to being bitten by a dog while bicycling than here. Notice that my left foot is unclipped from my pedal in this photo, allowing me to kick at the dog to my left in this photo. Of the four, this dog seemed most intent upon sinking his teeth into my leg! Note that this photo catches this dog in mid-air, jumping at my leg! To make matters worse, this attack occurred as I was pedaling up a hill, and so, as I kicked at the dog with my left foot, I pedaled up the hill with only my right foot/leg. Pedaling a bicycle with only one foot is possible only when the bicycle is equipped with pedals designed to lock into the cleats of bicycling shoes, allowing the one leg to both pull the pedal up as well as push the pedal down. This is not easy to do even on a flat road, and was almost impossible while going uphill and defending myself from four really nasty dogs. Even now, I am not sure how I managed to escape.