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My neighbor in Denver swore I needed a bell, and a goose proved her right
My neighbor Deb kept nagging me to get a bell for my commuter bike, and I blew her off for like 3 months because I thought yelling "on your left" was enough. Then on the Platte River Trail last Tuesday a Canada goose stepped right into my path and I panicked and yelled instead of braking, and I went over the bars into the grass while the goose just stood there. Deb saw the whole thing from the bridge and didn't even laugh, she just said "bell" like it was a magic word. Picked up a $12 bell at the shop on 15th the next day and I've rung it at probably 40 geese since. Do geese actually respond to bells for anyone else or am I just scaring myself?
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river3511mo ago
Lived off the Platte trail near Evans for six years and the geese there are totally unpredictable, bell or no bell. I've watched them scatter from a bell one day and then stand their ground against a full school bus the next, so I'm not sold on the bell being what moves them. What I do know is a bell frees up your hands and your brain compared to yelling, since shouting "on your left" at a goose just makes you panic brake or swerve at the worst time. The Denver Parks crew I used to talk to said the real fix on those stretches is just slowing down around the water, the honking is more for the people than the birds.
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