View Full Version : Clyde VS bird
A couple of miles into my ride this morning a bird darted out of a bush and struck me in the arm. Needless to say I was quite startled and barely kept my rig upright. I think the bird survived.
Anyone else have an encounter with a flying object during a ride?
I was riding along the Baldwin rail trail and it has a lot of farm and rural are along the route. A flock of chickens came screaming out of the bushes as they were chased by a cat or a fox and went right in front of me and one went between my front wheel and the bottom bracket area. I thought I was crashing for sure, but the little bugger made it through clean and I stayed upright. My HR went from 140 something to 180 in 1 nano second.
Caincando1
07-24-07, 06:29 AM
I had a couple of Red Wing Black birds dive bombing me the other day. They must have had a nesk close to the road.
Terrierman
07-24-07, 06:57 AM
As long as your are not dived on by a buzzard you're OK.
About 25 years ago I was on my motorcycle running about 90mph into a hard right turn. Right in the middle of the turn a small bird flew up and hit me just above my right eye(No helmet). It really took some concentration to stay together and finish the turn. It felt like someone was standing there and hit me with a baseball bat!! I also had a knot about the size of a baseball on my forehead for a few days.:eek:
Pupsocket
07-24-07, 09:20 AM
I was riding many years ago without a helmet (back when they were rare and expensive). It was a hot day and I had stopped at a boat launch to dunk my head in the water. After riding on, a blackbird dove at my head from behind. I felt claws (and beak?) then it flew off. Nearly scared the lunch out of me! :eek: Maybe my soaking wet hair looked like a tasty snack?
Karl
Scummer
07-24-07, 10:02 AM
Beware of those darn insects when you are trying to breath with an open mouth while riding after dawn. They tickle inside throat until they are swallowed.
CliftonGK1
07-24-07, 10:03 AM
In the winter, owls use the commuter's headlights as an opportunity to swoop down and nab the bunnies sitting along side the trail. Twice this winter I had that happen. These owls are big (3'+ wingspan) and dead silent when in flight. They just show up out of nowhere like a wraith, grab a meal, and fly off with it. It scares the hell out of me every time it happens.
chunkyd
07-24-07, 10:19 AM
I had a squirrel dart out and run next to me then dart back and forth like he wanted to cross..it would have ended badly for both of us..but he stopped and ran back into some cover.
I also got a mouth full of a Japanese Beetle ..tasted horrible! and almost made me puke.. my mouth was gaped open in full air intake mode. bleh!
JoeMetal
07-24-07, 10:21 AM
In order to avoid the bug thing, as the sun starts going down and I'm going through areas with lots of trees, I try to keep my mouth firmly shut as much as possible. I can't tell you how many bugs went in my mouth as I was going down my local bike path before I started doing that.
I had a low-speed crash the other day when, while grinding up a steep hill, a bug got between my face and my eyeglasses! By reflex I took my left hand off the bar and tried wiping it away, but my right hand caused the bike to go into a sharp turn - luckily no cars coming - and I stopped pedaling at the same time. Quickly came to a halt and I was simultaneously trying to rid myself of the bug, get my feet out of the clips, and come to a graceful stop all at the same time.
I managed everything everything except the graceful stop thing!
Took a bird off of my helmet when riding my motorcycle. It really feels like a good punch at 50mph. I now ride with a 3/4 helmet with a face-shield. Couldn't imagine keeping the bike up after that shot in the face.
Halthane
07-24-07, 07:53 PM
In the winter, owls use the commuter's headlights as an opportunity to swoop down and nab the bunnies sitting along side the trail. Twice this winter I had that happen. These owls are big (3'+ wingspan) and dead silent when in flight. They just show up out of nowhere like a wraith, grab a meal, and fly off with it. It scares the hell out of me every time it happens.
Somewhat off topic but I've seen similar things while scuba diving at night, silverfin and yellowtail tuna will often shoal just off of steep drop offs and if you shine a bright light onto one of them into the dark a tarpon or baracuda will often come take them, the come straight down the beam, you can't even see them until they take the fish, scary as hell the first time it happens, pretty awesome after that.
FractalSquirrel
07-24-07, 09:23 PM
Scares you? Imagine how the bunnies feel, heh.
v1k1ng1001
07-25-07, 12:43 AM
bees and wasps in the helmet vents, but no birds
i've run over cats, squirrels and groundhogs. narrowly avoided porcupines and skunks
joelpalmer
07-25-07, 12:43 PM
On my route in CA (before relocation) I regularly had to deal with squirrels who watched to many Geico commercials (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=geico%2C+squirrel&search=) on the MUP I rode on. On more than one occasion my front tire made contact and the little buggers would just dash off into the bushes and call me bad names in squirrel chatter. Almost knocked me over every time.
Winter76
07-25-07, 01:26 PM
I had a chipmunk try to run through my front spokes many years back. It got caught up and before I could stop the spokes had carried it up and it was crushed by the forks. It was very traumatic for me having to wipe the insides of the little guy off my bike.
FractalSquirrel
07-25-07, 04:58 PM
Wow. I'm going to have to figure out how to cover my spokes with something solid, like on some of the track bikes.
slipjoint
07-25-07, 08:10 PM
Just this morning, a full can of diet pepsi flew past me. Thrown by a passing car occupant with bad aim.
Just this morning, a full can of diet pepsi flew past me. Thrown by a passing car occupant with bad aim.
WHY?! Why do people do this type of %&*$?!!! http://www.xrtheme.com/content/emoticons/Angry/11.gif
Rollfast
07-26-07, 03:44 AM
WHY?! Why do people do this type of %&*$?!!! http://www.xrtheme.com/content/emoticons/Angry/11.gif
It was probably pretty fizzy after hitting the ground :rolleyes:
When I was half of myself *1980s and in my 20s that is, yahoos my age found it fascinating to backfire their Blazers as they passed and they'd yell (to see if I would abruptly run out of the gutter channel or just fall over I think. There were no sloped curbs for the main drag of Ontario (SW 4th Avenue) so I learned to stay ramrod straight during the weekend cruise. The same skills helped me to navigate the two highways to Grandma's house out by the lake. By 1992 44 and 55 were congested as Canyon County's population moved into the Lake Lowell area (the water table was depleted too forcing overdependence on the lake for irrigation).
The jerkish stuff didn't end with my first car...The backfire guy found chasing my car to be fun and I learned some stupid driver tricks (long since forgotten). A drunk guy in Fruitland, Idaho once decided he didn't like blue cars, now that he was drunk and sideswiped a Chevy Celebrity of mine with a Mercedes while I was in the bar waiting for karaoke and having dinner...
One more thing I see...speeding drivers tend to come in packs of three and may be related to each other.
They give you a r*** if you have to go around you in a construction area and they didn't see or want to deal with you. They don't like you ON the street (as in stay on the sidewalk). This is on the edge of town where the new truck interchange has become the new Autobahn almost. Oregon State Police has dealt with a lot of criminal activity but is hardly able to do traffic enforcement as they have maybe two troopers around here period.
How do you make your car backfire on purpose?
The Historian
07-26-07, 06:46 AM
Just this morning, a full can of diet pepsi flew past me. Thrown by a passing car occupant with bad aim.
They usually do have bad aim. I had french fries tossed at me on one ride a couple of months ago. They missed me completely.
patachenca412
07-26-07, 07:25 AM
this is not about biking but...
my brother and a couple of his friends were on a roadtrip out west last month before he left for grad school, and as they were driving along the highway a buzzard flew into their windshield!!! it broke the windshield, shredded itself on the glass, and sprayed my brother and friends with blood, guts, and feathers. one minute they are just driving along, the next they are covered, the inside of the car is covered, and their bags are covered, in buzzard guts! i saw the pictures - it was incredibly messy. they had to try to wash everything out, and for the next several days drove around with a gaping hole in the windhshield!!! how's that for disgusting!
themickeyd
07-26-07, 01:01 PM
I thought I came close to pegging a small bird one day. The next morning I was checking the tires and found feathers stuck to the spokes. I guess I got closer than I thought.
Rollfast
07-30-07, 12:38 AM
bees and wasps in the helmet vents, but no birds
i've run over cats, squirrels and groundhogs. narrowly avoided porcupines and skunks
I'm thinking all those stray dogs running lazily into the road at TDF are sabotage, as I've never had one appear by me that wasn't annoyed by my spring noise or your basic thug. These dogs don't bark or growl. It's like they were really drunk at the time...;-p
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