Northern California - Saw a mountain lion - What scary things have you seen?

I was riding along the coastal trail (MUP) near my house Saturday. Wandered off the footpath a little, into an area with more trees and shrubbery. Lo and behold, about 50 ft away from me, I see a mountain lion :eek::eek::eek:. Holy smokes! It was about the size of a medium-sized dog, crouched down eating something, but keeping a watchful eye on me. I didn't wait long enough to figure out if that was appetizer or dessert. I just pedalled my a** out of there!

We walk along that area all the time with our 3.5 year old. I'm going stay strictly on the path from now on!!!

What scary things have you seen on your rides?

PPPpppeople!~!!! :cry:

I saw a dead mountain lion the shoulder other day. I thought it was a really big feral cat until I approached and saw its open mouth. YIKES! Glad it was dead in this case.
About 2 weeks ago I came home from work early and went out for a quick ride during the peak of the heat (around 100-degrees) which I never do. There were all of these ground squirrels running about just off of the shoulder (not scary). However, on two occasions I could hear this distinct RATTLE in the brush just a few feet away from me... If I get a flat there, I'm definitely staying on the road.
I mainly see lots and lots of roadkill where I live/ride. Nothing but miles of farmland about 2 miles away from my house. So it's lots of dead racoons, opossums, skunks, cats, dogs, large birds, one mountain lion way out of its normal habitat, and lots of dead sun-dried tomatoes to get your tires tacky. Fallen tomatoes are probably what cause a majority of these deaths.
Oh, and yesterday it was getting chased by dogs twice. Chihuahas weren't scary but the pitbull-mix were.

(edit) I forgot about running into a multi-pointed buck on the tapeworm trail in Seattle. The thing was as tall as me on the bike. Scared the beejezus out of both of us. Glad those things can do quick 180's otherwise I would have had a mouthful of hooves. It was the last thing I expected on that trail since suburbia surrounds it.

PPPpppeople!~!!! :cry:

ha ha, yeah, they are some of the scariest things around! :)

PPPpppeople!~!!! :cry:

+1
I haven't come across anything scary while riding except for the average crazy driver.

Hmm now there was the time when i was out Bass fishing , back home in Memphis, and we had a Cotton Mouth fall off a tree branch into our boat. Not an animal you would want to have in your boat esp. when it's a pissed off big ole poisonous snake.

http://www.fotovault.org/coyote.jpg

Not that scary, but I saw this lil guy going up Mt. Hamilton last month...

Moose and a bear. This was back in Montana though. Never seen a mountain lion, and I'm very glad.

My scariest encounters happened when I had my head down and had no idea what was ahead.

1st was a black snake that snuck up ahead of me. I was climbing a hill and I was looking at my front tire when out of nowhere a black snake materialized on the ground.:eek: I jumped from my pedals and scared the heck out of me. Good thing it was dead.(whew)

2nd was fresh roadkill the size of a cat. Almost the same scenario. I was commuting to work and looking down because I'm too tired and the roadkill materialized in front of my wheel causing me to swerve and hitting it with my left pedal. Some blood transfered over and that was a gross.

Did it have a long tail? We also have lots of bobcats in this area. I saw a bobcat moving one of it's kittens across the trail at the east end of Sunol Regional Wilderness.

Going up Alpine last summer, saw a skunk on immediate side of road, it's butt was aiming towards me in shooting position. I accelerated like my life depended on it.

A few weeks ago I was descending Hwy 84 at night. I was approaching one of the righthand turns and at the apex of the turn were two cars coming up the hill one right after the other ... and a third car passing them both at the same time on the uphill in my lane :eek: It all happened so fast I can't remember the exact sequence of events other than to know I didn't crash.

A week later I was doing the same descent and up the hill comes a car with *no headlights* driving verrry slowly with 2-3 pissed off cars behind it. Night riding is a lot of fun, too bad all the crazies seem to come out then.

Last year in TX we encountered a live snake in the middle of the road. It was coiled and looked poised to strike! It was an organized ride so hopefully no one behind us got bit. We tried to warn the people behind us of the snake so hopefully everyone else did the same.

Scared the crap out of me as it looked like it was looking at me as I passed it. As I was pedaling as fast as I could I was thinking if it strikes I'm screwed because I'm clipped in! haha! Doh!

Cagers on cell phones..............

Last night on Stevens Creek Canyon, I saw a coyote. Being from Australia, I assume they're more afraid of me than I am of it, not like a dingo. But if ever they gave chase, I am sure they can bite real nasty. I also ride quite often in Los Altos Hills by the park, I have heard many stories of mountain lions there. I hope to see one in the far, far distance!

A mystery tropical spider attached to my foot here in Singapore :eek:
Looks like no long-lasting effects, I was hoping for super powers.:p

The thing that freaked me out the most was seeing my broken and dislocated wrist after an accident many years ago (crossed wheels with someone else on Stanford campus).

I was mtn biking once and on the way back down a hill I came across a herd of about 30 very large bulls, complete with long, curved, pointy horns. I slammed on the breaks and they all looked really pissed off by my intrusion, so I picked up my bike and one slow step at a time I walked between them. They were all staring at me and I had to pass within five feet of a couple. The memory of being chased by a bull down a mountainside was still fresh in my mind.

I went on a bike ride with Pheard once...

The sight of my own road rash, blood pouring over the gravel and dust down my arm and leg...

A wild turkey stood in the road and squawked at me as I bore down on it. I had visions of feathers flying as I yelled at it to get the $#^% out of the road. It listened and didn't become dinner.

Last year in TX we encountered a live snake in the middle of the road. It was coiled and looked poised to strike! It was an organized ride so hopefully no one behind us got bit. We tried to warn the people behind us of the snake so hopefully everyone else did the same.

Scared the crap out of me as it looked like it was looking at me as I passed it. As I was pedaling as fast as I could I was thinking if it strikes I'm screwed because I'm clipped in! haha! Doh!

oh boy, I hope that wasn't a western diamondback. They can be found all across Tx and AZ. Those puppies are pretty mean... if ticket off they will take a person down.Adults ones I think can reach somewhere around 5-7ft when fully grown. hehhehe . I hope no one was hurt and that the snake wasn't a diamondback.

Did it have a long tail? We also have lots of bobcats in this area. I saw a bobcat moving one of it's kittens across the trail at the east end of Sunol Regional Wilderness.

Hmmm, it could have been a bobcat. It was crouched down, so I couldn't see the tail or legs to distinguish. It was medium-dog size and tan color. I'm no Marlin Perkins, so I don't know for sure. Plus, I was too busy getting my butt outta there!

I saw a bear eating a donut once...

Its been the wettest summer we have had in a long time in Houston. One of the areas I normally ride has had heavy flooding. This is a rural area with cattle and undeveloped land. One evening around dusk I was turning back and headed toward civilization when I heard a loping running sound and some snorting to my left. I was riding about 16 mph on an asphalt road. About 50 feet away just ahead of me were two full grown wild pigs running in the bar ditch. They have long curved tusks. A full grown pig weighs about two hundred pounds. They are known for being aggressive and attacking calves, goats, etc. They will eat anything. Ranchers say that you will be lucky to find the hooves of a calf that's been killed by these critters.

I just stayed my course, not knowing really what to do, but ready to peddle like crazy if they came my way. Fortunately, they kept running. One crossed the road in front of me and ran into the brush on the right side. The other one kept running for about 50 yards, then darted into the brush on the left side.

Bob

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Wild_Pig_KSC02pd0873.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Wild_Pig_KSC02pd0873.jpg

(edit) I forgot about running into a multi-pointed buck on the tapeworm trail in Seattle. The thing was as tall as me on the bike. Scared the beejezus out of both of us. Glad those things can do quick 180's otherwise I would have had a mouthful of hooves. It was the last thing I expected on that trail since suburbia surrounds it.

Deer travel up and down the power line right of ways all along that area. So do bears and cougars and coyotes.

I've seen plenty of deer, but nothing else. There's at least one bear in the Lake Youngs reservoir, less than two miles away from home, but I still haven't seen it.

Never seen anything really frightening on my rides...atlhough I stalked to within a few feet of a bobcat once :D .

East Hill

I've seen coyotes, both living and dead, while riding. The living one was on the other side of a 6' fence, so that wasn't too scary.

I've had close encounters with deer a half dozen times, in Hillsborough and Woodside, where they suddenly jump into the road about 5-10 yards ahead of me. The worst was a 2x3 (at least) Blacktail buck, still in velvet, who jumped out within 5 yards of me. If I'd been descending at the time, instead of climbing, he'd have been in my lap! As it was, since I was only going 6 mph, neither of us was in any danger.

Rattlesnake at the top of City Creek Canyon in SLC. I actually heard it right by the trail and then quickly turned around.

Attached tick under my watchband after an off-road ride and thinking of Lyme disease.

Saw a mountain lion crossing the trail up to St. Joe's in Los Gatos back in 1990, but I wasn't scared of it since it was pretty small.

Just a couple rattler's...

http://www.geocities.com/alicestrong/rattler1.jpg

There was a black and white bunny in a driveway a few houses up on my commute home last night. :)

While riding along the American River bike path near Old Folsom my teenage daughter and I saw this buck-naked heavy guy and his lilly-white arse scaling the cliff across the water. Fortunately his back was to us. Hope he didn't slip and shred himself as he was dripping wet too, apparently diving off the cliffs.

I almost clobbered a group of birds today. Or actually, they almost clobbered me. Downhill at about 40mph and about five birds jump out of the side brush and fly right across the road. I came within inches of hitting one or two, and I had visions of large gashes where I was about to be struck by beaks and claws.

came around a corner about 25 miles per hour and almost collided with a buzzard that was chowing down on some road kill...It takes those dudes a few seconds to get airborne...

Lotsa snakes - including rattlers - and almost ran this sucker down the other day:

http://actionreaction.net/images/coyote.jpg

I've been within a 100 yards of a mountain lion and her cub.... immediately turned around and contact Fish & Game.

Plenty of snakes, rabbits, squirrels, game birds.... a bobcat at Water Dog Lake.

And the worst was a bull.... really, no bull :D On the backside of Mt. Hamilton, very big and full horns. I think it busted out of its fence.

Another not scary coyote report. Saw one today in Golden Gate Park. He looked healthy and well-fed, and totally habitated toward traffic, if not people. Just sauntered across the road even as cars were approaching from both directions.

The cars stopped and gave him plenty of room, so now I am thinking about getting a coyote jersey.

Well I didn't really actually see anything tonight, but what I heard scared the crap out of me. I was in an arroyo near Downtown Pleasanton tonight around 9:00. I was just taking a break after riding the short section of trail under the bridge area a few times and I heard something loud going on in the bushes. I heard a muffled squeal and a loud growling sound coming from the bushes. I jumped on my bike and rode off as fast as I could. I got a good laugh out of it a few monutes later. I tried looking down from the edge of the overpass once I got on Main St. but I couldn't see anything. :(

Anyway, just thought I would share my story from tonight.

I was riding up in Chileno Valley yesterday, and I thought I saw two wild turkeys on the side of the road. They they started flying up and away with very large wings. They turned out to be buzzards feasting on something on the side of the road.

We need a thread for cute and furry -- although the one with the antlers might be scary if he were charging you. Saw them today grazing on a very steep hillside as I rode up Conzelman Rd.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1417/1435328431_b6f9ad45c6_o.jpg

We need a thread for cute and furry -- although the one with the antlers might be scary if he were charging you. Saw them today grazing on a very steep hillside as I rode up Conzelman Rd.


Gorgeous shot!

They look tasty!

Probably need a separate one for grossest thing you've seen ... this one's pretty gross ... http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=347758

Yeah, that's a pretty nasty one. How does one go about getting a picture back there anyway?

I was riding along Stage Road in Pescadero yesterday and saw a bobcat cross in front of me, about 30 yards away. Cute little thing, not nearly as scary as the mountain lion sighting :eek:!

I was riding along Stage Road in Pescadero yesterday and saw a bobcat cross in front of me, about 30 yards away. Cute little thing, not nearly as scary as the mountain lion sighting :eek:!

Bobcats can take down a deer too.

Going down a hill about at 30 something mph and out from the shady area down the hill a black cow comes out. She was looking for her small baby cow that got stock between the bushes.

All I see is this dark figure and first thing I know almost locked my brakes but immediately let go and instead feathered them. My heartbeat sky rocketed in a flick of a switch, a very close call.

rattlesnakes. that is enough.