I was riding on a rarely used dirt road through heavy woods last weekend,
when I noticed something in the road up ahead. I thought it might be some
garbage someone dumped, or possibly a dog. As I approached I slowed down.
When I got about 30 feet away, two cougars jumped up. The first, which was
smaller, immediately dashed into the woods, and I only got a good look at
its tail.
Of course, I stopped immediately. I'm fairly new to clipless, and
fortunately did get out of the pedals and not fall in this rather unusual
emergency stop. The second cat stopped at the edge of the road (it was about
20 feet away at this point) and stopped, turned, gave me a rather nastly
look, twitched her tail, and loped off into the woods. I was close enough
that I could see every detail of her face and eyes.
Since cougars are solitary, it must have been a mother and cub, napping in a
sunny spot in the road as the day cooled. I can only imagine what might have
happpened if I had not slowed, or if I had not gotten out of the pedals and
fallen!
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Mark R
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