Thread: Why I Ride
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Old 03-03-12, 10:33 AM
  #7  
nashcommguy
nashcommguy
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: nashville, tn
Posts: 2,499

Bikes: Commuters: Fuji Delray road, Fuji Discovery mtb...Touring: Softride Traveler...Road: C-dale SR300

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A little off topic as this transpired on a pleasure ride. It was late...about 10:30 or 11PM late October and I was out on a night ride on the Natchez Trace Parkway here in Mid-TN. I'm rolling along enjoying the solitude and sound of my tires on the asphalt when I see what I think is a dog up ahead on the right. I brace myself, get out my pepper spray and notice the dark shape is moving more like a skunk than a dog. As I roll past maybe 25-30 ft away this brown/gold trim creature looks up at me. Eye to eye w/o an ounce of fear. As soon as I'm by him/her it goes back to 'snuffling' along. Thought it was a badger until I got home and it was the wrong color, so I googled 'wolverine'. The picture that came up on Wikipedia was exactly what I'd seen. Contacted the Gulo Society and they said it must've been an escapee from someplace nearby as they don't go this far south on their own.

As the NTP is a part of my daily commute to the tune of 12 miles of my 42.2 miles rt I see all kinds of deer, turkeys, skunks, ground hogs, rabbits, in the AM and PM legs. Some of the deer are to the point where they don't even run from me, anymore. It's gratifying to be able to watch a small herd w/a buck, 2-3 does and fawns all just being deer doing what deer do.

Sometimes, I have to stop while a gang of turkeys walks across the road w/poults, hens and a dominant Tom...who's pretty easy to pick out. I think most of the gangs that have the NTP as part of their range are used to cyclists and don't see us as a threat. So, they take their sweet time about the process of crossing.
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