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 Please remove *splinters* to reply by email