Off lead play???

Booker has always been 100% reliable off leash - when she was younger we had a dog walker who would take her for 3 hour hikes in the mountains, and we would also go for extended hikes with her and she was completely fine - never had an issue with her at all. Sometimes she would go running into the woods after a squirrel, but would never be gone more than 5 minutes or so or let us get out of her sight (and it was always obvious where she was by the noise)! Popcorn is also fine off leash because she is too terrified to go too far away from us.

Moose is a totally different story but even he has gotten better over time so we now can take all of them on extended off leash walks without problems. And last spring we rented a cabin in the woods in Washington state where they all could run free and they would be gone for up to 1-2 hours but came back every time. So it can be done!

Rule of thumb:
If you can't outrun & catch your beagle, don't let them off lead.

It is true, beagles are ruled by their noses. Once on a scent, they basically go deaf. Its what makes them such great hunting dogs, but troublesome as family members.

My Summer & Murphy are ON-LEAD beagles. They have escaped before and we had to search for them. Lucky for us, Murphy will head straight for trash cans and Summer will keep him in sight.

As it was said, all beagles are different. Most can not be trusted off leash. June may be different, but if you are riding and she is with you and you turn left and she turns right, what will you do?

Is it a false sense of hope you ask? Only time will tell. I hope she is the rare one.

Now off-leash in a completely fenced in area is a different story.

My Bagel never "runs" off but he does sniff off. He also will come when called UNLESS he has got a fresh scent when he expects me to come to him. My fears are two-fold if he is off-lead. One, he will encounter a hare (Hares, unlike real rabbits, don't run to their warren, they just run) and two, he will encounter something that is not "prey" and without his tracking harness and lead I can't pull him back. Out-of-site in the desert (If he was in pursuit of a hare) might turn my Bagel into some Coyote's lunch. He has cornered several "non-prey" critters and I have pulled him back from getting too close to the Gila Monster, further disturbing a couple of rattlesnakes, going to play with the badger and sniffing down a 200 foot vertical mine shaft. In town, I worry about the Bagel sniffing into the street as I'm not sure he fully understands cars and trucks! Most of our time in the desert is with a 35" lead and his tracking harness. At off-road races or Multi-tourist areas of National Parks, he is on a shorter leash! I suspect your June stays with the pack (you) like my Bagel but I don't think you have the potential hazards where your biking. Much of my Bagel's sniff adventures occur 30 miles from the nearest human. If he got lost, he would not have a chance of being found!