'Psycho' and dog terrorise cyclist

A cyclist has told how a bull mastiff flew at him from a moving truck, before the dog's owner chased him in a 10-minute ordeal.

The cyclist, who did not want to be named, was riding on Birdwood Rd in Ranui, Waitakere City, when a charcoal-coloured vehicle passed him.

"I'm minding my own business when the truck goes past me. It wasn't travelling all that fast, but there was an enormous dog - a bull mastiff. Out of nowhere, he jumps out of the window."

But the dog misjudged the leap, missed the cyclist and hit the asphalt with a yelp.

"He landed a couple of metres in front of me and the guy stopped his truck," the cyclist said, adding that the dog had injured itself but was able to get back into the vehicle.

"I didn't want to go past them so turned around to go the other way. But before that, I unfortunately said something like, 'Good job'."

That jibe turned into what would be about 10 minutes of hell, the cyclist said.

The vehicle's engine roared loudly, and it began screeching towards him.

"I realised he was reversing towards me. I just thought, 'Oh no'."

The man drove his truck in reverse at high speed for about 100 metres, then stopped in front of the cyclist and got out.

"He's screaming abuse at me [saying that] he's going to get me, he's going to put the dog on me, calling me a chicken. That was his intention - to make me crash.

"I'm just going as fast as I can up the footpath on the street and again, he's back in the car headed towards me."

The cyclist then found himself on a dead-end road, at the top of a hill, and the driver waiting at the bottom.

"He's just furious, screaming at me - the language was incredible - I've never seen anyone so mad."

After several minutes, the vehicle left with a screech of tyres.

The cyclist said the incident was the first time a driver had ever "gone psycho" at him while cycling.

"If he had caught me, I would have been done over for sure. [I] just want people to remember that the road is ours too."

The incident, just before 4.30pm on Monday, has been reported to police.