Past simple and past continuous tenses - anecdote - the Donkey-Dog

This about ten years ago. I (ride) my bike in England in the countryside. It was a beautiful morning. The sun (shine) and the birds (sing). I rode through a pretty little village and I (daydream) happily when I (hear) a noise behind me. It was a click - click - click noise and at first I (think) something was caught in the wheel of my bike. So I (look) down but the wheel was fine. The noise started to get louder and I looked behind me. To my alarm, I saw that an (adjective: very big) dog (chase) me. It was the (adjective: superlative) dog I had ever seen. It looked more like a donkey than a dog!

Dogs usually bark when they (chase) bikes. But this one (not / bark) and this (worry) me even more. I pedalled as hard as I could and the bike began to go faster but still the dog was chasing me. I looked round again. I (can / see) him clearly. He had a big red tongue which (hang) out of one side of his mouth and a row of gleaming white teeth! Then there (be) a loud bang, the bike jumped up and down and I nearly (fall) off as I went over a cattle-grid* at high speed. But fortunately, the grid seemed to stop the dog because the next time I looked round he was gone. A little further up the road I stopped my bike and had a drink of water. My heart (still / beat) like a steam engine.



*cattle grid (Wikipedia)