Commuting - the stink is coming

On one of my favorite parts of my route a raccoon was run over yesterday. This morning it occurred to me that he is going to stink up my commute for a while. I think he got the worst of the deal though. At least it's not 104 degrees every day now.

CD

It's at these times that I hope for the wind to be from the side.

The worst part is going up a long, steep hill with a tailwind when I pass one of these carcasses.

(I don't hate animals, but when they are dead, they smell as bad anyone would under similar circumstances.)

When life gives you road-kill, make jerky.

That reminds of the time when some animal left a gift for me in the middle of the street (ahhh, the hazards of riding the narrow streets of Tokyo).

When I was riding down a dark street, I got a whiff of something foul and started pedalling faster to get away from the smell only to realize that it was following me. Imagine the shock when I got to a better lit area and noticed that I was covered. Ick.

I will take a bloated raccoon carcass on my route over this any day. Skunks, however, are a different story...

- Jeff

Yik! Only the Odd Kitty here. I think I saw an Opossum once, it was kinda' hard to tell if you know what I mean.

One of my biggest fears about riding is: I’m passing a bloated piece of road-kill and just at that moment some truck comes by and runs over it with his tire and it splatters all over me. Worse yet it might splatter all over my bike!

I detected the road kill scent a few weeks back and was disgusted when I came up on a dead dog that had obviously been then for a few weeks. More skeleton than dog. Yuck :P Poor doggie :(

Since man has effectively eliminated natural predators it had to be replaced with the automobile to keep animal populations in check. Part of the ongoing balance of nature.

On my ride I pass some apple trees that have been dropping green sour apples on the road. It's turned that section in to a slipper slide and it smells like someone barfed all over the place :P

Oh there is a flattened squirrel too, but he don't stink...

Okay,I'm not shure, but I think I saw a racoon on the way home tonight. It was dark and I only got a brief glimpse of him. And then there is the fact that he was much skinnier than the way God originally made him, if you know what I mean. Much smellier too, although I can't say I've ever smelled a live :D racoon.

Raccoons and possums generally don't stink too badly around here before they dry up/decompose/get dragged off by dogs. Once a deer was killed along my route, and I had to change the way I went in to work for about a week.

But the stinkiest animal ever in my path so far was a little ol' rat killed on the road. Unbelievable...had to hold my breath.

Don't you guys have skunks where you live? I think every 2nd carcass on my route is a skunk.

Squirrels don't stink that much but they are all over the place here in NJ. They also have a tendency to spew their guts all out their mouths.... Yyyyyyyuuuckkkk!!!!

Deers are bad too, in fact, once I saw a deer that was off the road slowly decompose until it was nothing but dust.

Jay

Once I saw a deer that was off the road slowly decompose until it was nothing but dust.

You must have incredible patience. ;)

Don't you guys have skunks where you live? I think every 2nd carcass on my route is a skunk.

Just missed hitting one on my way to work last week. Wouldn’t that be great ? Getting skunk spray all over you on the way to the office.

Don't you guys have skunks where you live? I think every 2nd carcass on my route is a skunk.

Skunks abound out here, but strangely enough, so far they have been considerate enough not to get creamed on my route.

To be honest, I see less skunks on the road these days at all, and a LOT more raccoons and possums. Wonder if they're pushing the skunks out?

You must have incredible patience.

Patience of steel! :) Actually where the deer was, there was no way the DOT would of cleared it off since it wasn't on the road so each day I would go by (holding nose of course) and each day I would make a note of how fast it just decomposed to nothing. I've also seen a Canadian Goose decompose too.

So far, no humans have died on the bike paths though.

Jay

Met a skunk on the commute this morning, but it was not roadkill, it was just waddling toward me on the bike trail. I turned a corner and there he was. My light blinded him and he turned around. I passed him praying he would not see the need to spray. - He didn't. Saw a fox near the same place on the commute home last friday.

I ride along a bike path on the west side highway - for cyclists and rollerbladers only (supposedly) but I often see horse mounted policeman using the path (I'm very cautious when passing them or going around them since I don't want to spook the horse) and they often leave their waste in the middle of the path which can be less than pleasant!

Gross! I passed an Opossum the other night, this one was full size, not road pizza. As my headlight cought his attention he just stood there on the side of the road and watched as I silently rolled by. It was neat. :)

To be honest, I see less skunks on the road these days at all, and a LOT more raccoons and possums. Wonder if they're pushing the skunks out?

Ya got a problem with that, punk?

-The Raccoon Cartel













:)

Fuhgeddaboutit!
The Opossum Family.

Every once in a great while, I'll be really close to running over a rat in the loop, late at night...my fixie is soo quiet, they don't even here me coming!

Squirrels in my back alley are no fun...again, I'm quiet, and I've narrowly missed running over a couple in my time!!

hehe..

the worst was after the Cubs games this post season...I would be coming home on Irving Park, between clark and sheridan, where all the police park their trailers...horse poo for an entire city block!

randy

Patience of steel! :) Actually where the deer was, there was no way the DOT would of cleared it off since it wasn't on the road so each day I would go by (holding nose of course) and each day I would make a note of how fast it just decomposed to nothing.

That'd make a cool bit of time lapse photography.

Thats sounds lovely.... :p Here we dont get mnay deers and possums. But because there a pest we dont mind the odd one on the old...Just of the topic any one here hate no..dislike fireworks?? They are soo annoying!!
Marie

Ok, but what about riding through leaky dumpster seepage on the way to work?

Ew. Pkhh.

Sometimes I'll be following a garbage truck and they will be leaving a trail of smelly "fluids" all over the road that smells awful.

Sometimes I'll be following a garbage truck and they will be leaving a trail of smelly "fluids" all over the road that smells awful.
I just got that a couple days ago on my ride into work. The worst part is that the road was so narrow (I live in Tokyo), there was absolutely no escaping the gaping stinky slimy maw of the truck. No room to pass on either side and cars lined up behind me so I really couldn't fall back too far without someone complaining. I was thinking of just hopping off into a store front and let everyone go by, but I was already late to work and I was hoping that the truck would turn off somewhere. I was wrong... ick

- Jeff

The raccoon that prompted me to start this thread is long gone. Something dragged him off in the woods and the smell didn’t last long. Now I have something much worse. It’s a plastic grocery stack that’s in the road. I think I actually ran over it a few times in the dark before the time changed. I don’t know what the hell is in it but it is the foulest reeking stench I have ever encountered. I am going to have to either hold my breath for 100 meters (it’s on a slight downhill so I could probably pull this off) or change my commute to circumvent it. I’m about to toss my cookies thinking about it.

:cry:
Creep Dog
creepin up on the stink. HA!

You see, this is the nice thing about living in an urban area... no raodkill, no smells, no poop, nothing. However, riding in Indianapolis may turn you into roadkill.

You think you know stink. You haven't lived until you ride through the valley down from Akron where their sewer treatment plant is. The sewer plant isn't so bad itself but they have a "solid waste" composting facility less than 10 feet from the trail. The smell is so bad through there on hot summer days, it's all you can do to get a breath of air and it certainly ain't fresh!!

Yick!

You see, this is the nice thing about living in an urban area... no raodkill, no smells, no poop, nothing.
Well, I ride in Tokyo, I have had dealt with garbage trucks, diesel fumes, roadkill (cat in the gutter-- :( ), and, yes, poop. On top of that I face scooters, insane taxi drivers, ignorant truckers, and cyclists who like to talk on the phone.

I don't get nice dewy mornings, pleasant smells of wet grass, flocks of birds (crows don't count)-- a chance to "commute" with nature.

However, I don't mind. It is still riding and can be sometimes be some of the most challenging single track I have ever ridden. And it sure beats crowded trains. ;)

- Jeff