Commuting - Commuter Woes: Bike v. Skunk

I've been commuting to work since June 1 this year and can tell you that I have loved (almost) every minute of it.

This past Thursday I started day shifts and have to take off at 4 to get to work for 5. On Tuesday I bought my first road bike and prayed for a relatively dry Thursday. I also purchased my first pair of clipless shoes and pedals and wasn't feeling too confident yet.

About 20 minutes into the ride, in the corner of the light beam, I caught sight of a little black and white furball on the opposite side of the road. I didn't have to look to see what it was. I picked up my cadence and angled out slightly towards the edge of the road. The skunk decided to make a break for it accross the road and I went a little harder and angled out further.

The last thing I remember was yanking my left foot out of the pedal and drawing my knee up to my chest area (oh yeah, and holding my breath). Just before I turned my face away, the skunk was below my left pedal and I braced for what I thought was the inevitable.

He/she either went between my wheels or behind me, I know for sure I didn't run anything over. I didn't breathe for about 10 seconds and when I did couldn't smell anything.

I realized later that the whole thing took about 3 seconds from start to finish but my heartrate was up for the next 10 minutes.

Coulda been worse... way worse.

Clipless pedal worked good for you then?

Why do animals do that?

Every morning, I head out at 4:30am, and at about 437am, I hit a part ot the trail that bends, and just at that moment, a HUGE rat comes running across that path. I hate rats- anyone that's ever seen "El Norte" will understand why. I've had more close calls with that stupid rat then I've had with taxis! It's gross!

Now on the streets, it's pigeons- they don't fly away until the very last second, and then I'm afraid of getting bird droppings on my face or something. Yuck!

Glad to see you avoided the skunk!

Koffee

Originally posted by pointyhead
Clipless pedal worked good for you then?

I think the pedals worked well. I have them set pretty loose and will tighten them slowly as I get more comfortable. I worry about getting my foot out when I need to but I think I would have pulled my foot right outta the shoe if I had to then.

I haven't had the pleasure to meet up with mr. lepew yet, but I have had a opossum run back and forth in front of my head light early one morning. I also had a whitetail buck run along the road beside me for about 3 miles yesterday evening. It was on a 5 mile strech of devided 4 lane highway that is closed to traffic at the time due to construction work at one end. I was going any where from 22 to 26 mph and he was just bounding along no effort!:p
You just don't see things like that in a car!;)

Next time, if you get sprayed, remember tomato juice gets the stink out.

My least favorite part of my commute is the road kills. I get skunks, ground hogs and those 100 lb. speed bumps with the antlers.

The smell is bad enough but watching a deer being reduced to bones day after day (over several weeks) just isn't my idea of morning entertainment.

In the winter I end up chasing the same (I'm sure) field mouse along the cycle path. It always runs in the beam of my lights and just as I brake, dives off to one side.

Geez, and I used to think the Brush Turkeys at Burleigh National Park on my old commute were bad! I honestly don't know how I'd deal with a skunk.

I've had a couple of skunk encounters. The first was on a bike path winding through a wooded/grassy area. The skunk was sitting on the right edge of the path, and as soon as I saw him appear in the light of my headlight, his tail went up, and a fraction of a second later, I heard what I imagine a skunk spray would sound like. Luckily, the targeting computer in a skunk is a little too slow to accurately track a target moving at 20mph, so I was already past him by the time the deed was done. I sure didn't go back to investigate the area though!

The second one was on the road and the skunk was just in the grass off to the side, and even though I passed within 3 feet of him (I was probably within 1 foot of the first one), he didn't even seem to notice me.

It definitely gets the adrenaline pumping, even when it's totally harmless. It's pretty useless adrenaline though, since if you're moving at any kind of speed, the time between when you see the skunk and when you're past him is not much more than a second. I never even really had time to steer out of the way; there was basically nothing I could do but say "oh crap" and hope for the best!

The worse is when your heading into a head wind of a skunk thats been run over.You get a small taste of what the skunk is going to smell like.The last 20 feet you have got to hold your breath.The smell makes me want to puke.

Originally posted by originalbart
Coulda been worse... way worse.
You stinker, you.

;)