General Cycling Discussion - Not your usual traffic

While reading the thread about the worse drivers and what they drive I got to thinking that not all of my close calls while on my bike were with vehicles.

Last fall while on my road bike, I encountered a small herd (about 18 to 20) of buffalo crossing the road. The largest bull spotted me and stopped in my lane and began staring me down while the rest of the herd continued to cross. Not knowing how he would react if I were to try to pass him I greatly reduced my speed while I tried to think what to do. Luckily a car came up behind me. I guess the driver saw what was going on and decided to help out. They slowly pulled around me and pulled up to the bull and began honking his horn. The bull finally walked off the road but kept his eye on me as I pedaled passed.

Although I've had many close encounters with deer, racoons, skunks, snakes, and turkeys while on my mountian bike I was cought off-guard because I wasn't really expecting it on my road bike.

What kind of out of the ordinary non-vehicular close encounters have you had while on your bikes?

well i was nearly ran down by a ferris-wheel transport truck.. chashed down by a flock of angry geese...a chiuahua(sp)...

I almost ran into a stupid rabbit a couple of days ago. I saw it up a head, and slowed down in case it could not make up it's mind which way to go--and it couldn't make up it's mind. It waited till I was almost up to it and then it ran across the road in front of me, about 5 feet away.

Stupid rabbit!

Not on my bike, per se, but I did have a bicycle destroyed by an Air Force F-4E. It's a long story that I need to put in print sometime.

:eek:You are very lucky.
We had a small herd that escaped from a farm.Then a person driving a Ford escort stumbled across them an decided to take some pictures of them crossing the road. Thats when the dominate male turned around an charged.The bull pushed the car into the ditch.:eek:

Originally posted by pointyhead
Not on my bike, per se, but I did have a bicycle destroyed by an Air Force F-4E. It's a long story that I need to put in print sometime.

Come on now, you can't tease us like that! This oughta be good... :p

today a chipmunk decided that the way to escape his terrible life was to position himself in my bike lane. Silly me, thought he would move, but lucky i did:) so thats one more suisidal 'munk out there!

-Ross

Magpies virtually every spring. I've had close calls with kangaroos and wallabies in the hinterland, not to mention psychotic brush turkeys. I saw an absolutely beautiful Albert Lyrebird a few weeks back (the Gold Coast hinterland is their only known habitat in the entire world).

However, one notable one happened last year behind Murwillumbah on a dirt road. I found myself riding behind a cow, which was running down the road in front of me. One became two, which eventually became six. I didn't know whether to stop and let them go or pick up my pace to pass them. In the end it didn't matter, the six of them changed course dramatically at 90 degrees and ran straight through a barbed wire fence! Now that's gotta hurt! :eek:

On one of our weekend club rides, we were riding through a regular suburban neighborhood. We were heading up the road in the northbound lanes. I look over to my left, and there, heading south, in the southbound lanes, is a HUGE white bull. Trotting along, like he knew exactly where he was going. I'll never forget that. I have no idea where he came from, as there really isn't any pasture areas within a few miles of there.

Other than the usual krazy skwerls and a low flying mourning dove this morning on the way in to work, my biggest problem has been other cyclists, usually the sidewalk variety who for some reason decide to venture out on the road (without looking for traffic of course) at minimum speed just as I am riding along in the curb lane. Their total unpredictability (like squirrels) makes them very dangerous.

I had a collision with a squirrel. The beast hesitated by the side of the road, and just when i was alongside, he went for it, and bounced off my spokes. He shook is head a bit, cartoon style, then bolted off.

I did have an aircraft encounter. Heathrow Airport in London has a road which crosses part of a aircraft taxi-way, which is blocked off during some landings. I was cycling along this road at the same time as Concorde was landing (on another runway). Concorde, the loudest aircraft ever built, flew over me at about 100m altitude, which is about as close as anyone can get to a flying aircraft. All I can say is "Shock and Awe".

Originally posted by MichaelW
I had a collision with a squirrel. The beast...

How eloquently put. "The Beast." :roflmao:

I missed out on this one, but some of my friends on a ride, while going past a pasture (hmmm...that sounds funny), started mooing at the cows, who according to them, stared for a bit like cows do, then bolted and broke through their fence.

Originally posted by MichaelW
I had a collision with a squirrel. The beast hesitated by the side of the road, and just when i was alongside, he went for it, and bounced off my spokes. He shook is head a bit, cartoon style, then bolted off.

Michael, I was lucky enough to grab the beast's picture just before your encounter. I have put up the picture in my profile ;)

You mean that isn't you?

Sweeping around a fast corner in a popular recreation area on my brand new steed, wind in my hair, nary a care in the world, when I came across a pack of young stroller (pram) toting mums, three-abreast, with the right-most stroller having a semi-psychotic epileptic cream labrador tied off to it. A moving roadblock of monthy-pythonesque proportions. Missed them all fortunately, shook my head, and hammered on......