close calls w/animals

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Ed Roy
On one of my last training rides before my first century, I ran over
a cat, accidentally, cat ran away unharmed, but my bike got bent
pretty good, I fixed it fine, but, thought about the potential for
real disasters . Any good stories about close calls w/wildlife.

I ran over a suicidal squirrel once. Actually he failed in his attempt. Came close to going down by stayed up. I also almost got run over by a deer that suddenly dashed out of a cornfield, crossed right in front of me and then disappeared into the cornfield across the street. Scared the bejesus out of me.

I was riding the other day when a squirell ran out in front of me, I kept going, trying to maximumize my speed on a slight downhill. The squirell ran a little to the left, I stayed the course. He ran a little to the right, me: full steam dead ahead.

Squirell then goes left, right, left, I still go straight, before I have a chance to do anything we have merged. I watch, as if in slow motion, the squirell runs between the front and rear tire. No contact.

I'm glad I didn't have to go home bruised and battered, with a damaged bike, and tell my wife I was taken out by a rouge rodent.

Killed a chipmunk and was hit by a deer.

Sometimes coyotes run along side us on the MTB trail because we scare up the squirrels - then they grab one and carry it up hill to munch.

Came around a corner on my roadbike, down hill about 40mph and there was a COW in the middle of the road. Good thing she didn't move when I changed my line.

Wallabies mainly, particularly on mountain descents when they come charging out of dense rainforest and I don't have a lot of time to see them. I've also had some close calls with brush turkeys in the past, and almost hit an ibis this morning.

Of course, here in Australia at this time of year, the magpies tend to get a little close, too.

When I lived in weastern Colorado we (our pack of mtbers) had a running "lizard count." Each Fall whoever had the highest body count had to pay for a night out on the town for the one with the lowest. Always a good time. Here in Oregon I have gotten close to a squirrel or two. The only good story here has been seeing a bear off in the distance riding down an old logging road that connects two singletrack sections and because I had an eye on Yogi I just about t-boned a racoon. I am not sure which one had the better expression on it's face. My riding partner ditched it trying to not be aquainted with my rectum. That would NOT have been good times.

K.

we get chased by dogs all the time, i always worry more about most of them getting under my wheels more than biting. i guess my buddy got bit last week by a german shepherd that surprised him. he's okay, i emailed and asked him more but havent heard back yet.

the closest call i had was a chipmunk who dove through my front wheel and somehow made it! i'll be darned if i can figure out how he managed to get between the spokes but he did.

sometimes the hardest ones to avoid are the dead ones. nothing like being in a good draft line and the fella in front doesnt point as he swerves around a swollen possum-yuk! i missed it, but not by much. that would have been nasty...

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by ireman_1
When I lived in weastern Colorado we (our pack of mtbers) had a running "lizard count." Each Fall whoever had the highest body count had to pay for a night out on the town for the one with the lowest. Always a good time. Here in Oregon I have gotten close to a squirrel or two. The only good story here has been seeing a bear off in the distance riding down an old logging road that connects two singletrack sections and because I had an eye on Yogi I just about t-boned a racoon. I am not sure which one had the better expression on it's face. My riding partner ditched it trying to not be aquainted with my rectum. That would NOT have been good times.

K.

I would like to have seen that bear riding down an old logging road. I saw a bear on a unicycle once, but that was at the circus.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by DiabloScott
Sometimes coyotes run along side us on the MTB trail because we scare up the squirrels - then they grab one and carry it up hill to munch.

Came around a corner on my roadbike, down hill about 40mph and there was a COW in the middle of the road. Good thing she didn't move when I changed my line.

nice pic

Well besides the occasional squirel there was a deer just about two weeks ago. Was riding home at night and passed a swampy area in a residential neighborhood. I guess I wasn't really as attentive as I could of been. Looked up and there was this deer just about 15 feet in front of me. The deer didn't move I guess because of my light. I stopped a few feet from hitting it and it ran off. Scared me though I've seen damage done to cars that hit them. Do tourist count as animals I hit one of them once but thats another story.

As you can see, both Ireman and I have had collisions with dogs! Looking at our pictures you can see the end result.

So glad I did not collide with a squirrel, and now all the girls pet me.

Pedaling fairly slowly uphill on a little gravel road I was once attacked by a dachshund! It bit into the heel of my shoe and promptly stopped running. Must have looked fun: Here's a bloke pedaling like mad trying to shake off a little dog attached to his foot while the dog's behind is dragging on the road in a cloud of dust, flapping about as the pedals go up and down!

It finally let go after it got too painful for it's tender bits 🙂

Another time on a little forest road a small deer crossed in front of me. No problem as there was still 20m between us, then I discovered the cat that was tailing the deer a couple of metres behind. I almost fell off the bike laughing! (50kg deer vs 3kg cat) 🙂

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by DiabloScott
Sometimes coyotes run along side us on the MTB trail because we scare up the squirrels - then they grab one and carry it up hill to munch.

Came around a corner on my roadbike, down hill about 40mph and there was a COW in the middle of the road. Good thing she didn't move when I changed my line.

Hi is that your pic, if so, you are gorgeous, liked your stories about animals.

One morning last month I was riding to work along the river dike like normal when I came across a big black bear right in the middle of the path. Got about 50 m away but he wasn't going to move, didn't even acknowledge that I was there. You've all heard the saying 'let sleeping dogs lie', well I figured that applies to bears as well so I turned round and made a 10 minute detour.

My avatar (the pic of that gorgeous woman underneath my name) is Claudia Schiffer, supermodel. I'm an ugly dude. When I signed up for this forum there was a list of available avatars and I just picked it because I like it, not because I thought anyone would think it's me... and you're not the first to ask.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by eric_the_red
One morning last month I was riding to work along the river dike like normal when I came across a big black bear right in the middle of the path. Got about 50 m away but he wasn't going to move, didn't even acknowledge that I was there. You've all heard the saying 'let sleeping dogs lie', well I figured that applies to bears as well so I turned round and made a 10 minute detour.

It's a good thing you did because there is not a rider on the planet that can beat an adult bear in a hundred meters. As big as they are, they can run almost 70 km per hour. The first 40 meters are particularly explosive.

I ran in to a quokka when I was little. Stupid things they are.

I was coming around a blind corner on the coastal bike trail in Anchorage a few years ago, and I discovered that I was almost upon an adult female moose who was munching on vegetation on the opposite side of the trail, with her rear end in the middle of the trail. My immediate reaction was relief becauee I figured she would bolt away from me in the direction she faced. Instead, she somehow managed to turn around and bolt the opposite way, toward me. I was terrified. Here was a 500 kg enormous creature coming right at me. I veared to the 20 cm wide path on the side of the paved path and went into almost a fetal position expecting the moose to clobber me. I road underneath its mouth as it was charging. I heard it snort, food still in its mouth, but amazingly, the back of my bicycle managed to get past its huge bulk before it hit me. I couldn't believe I was actually able to maintain my balance as I crashed through the brush and got back on the trail unscathed.

Moose have been known to attack and kill people. More people get killed by moose in Alaska than bears, by a huge margin. I don't think this moose was trying to attack me. I think it was just too stupid to realize the best escape route was straight ahead, not behind it. Nutty animal.

I see probably at least 5 moose every time I go down that trail, but this was the only time I didn't see the moose early enough to avoid. Last summer I saw a porcupine several times on the trail. I'd always start yelling at him to move way before I got up to him. Otherwise, I could have ridden right up to him if I wanted.

Another animal that gave me trouble is a three legged dog. I don't know if he lives there anymore, but I don't go there. He is probably about 45 kg., a good sized dog. This particular trip, I was riding up a very steep grade, and I saw the dog looking at me while it was lying down in a drive way. I figured he was harmless. After I climbed the grade, I turned and went back. I saw the dog still lying there looking at me, but he must have been timing me to get the best advantage. He bolted at me with two back legs, one front. I couldn't believe he was so fast. But adrenaline and a road bike and a steep downhill combined to propel me down that mountain like a bat out of hell. I never went back.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by gntlmn
It's a good thing you did because there is not a rider on the planet that can beat an adult bear in a hundred meters. As big as they are, they can run almost 70 km per hour. The first 40 meters are particularly explosive.

you don't have to outrun the bear, just one of your buddies, so never be the slowest in the group😄