jppe

And we're not talking about mountain lions, panthers, tigers or even a souped up Mercury Cougar. We're talking a Garfield type of cat. A big 'ole chunky farm cat that probably had feasted on a some field mice a little before I came by.

I was out on some rural roads this AM cruising along and saw a cat along the road ahead. Surprisingly this cat had yet to become road kill. When I got within a few yards of it, there it goes. It takes off running in the same direction I'm going and on the right had side of the road. Normally cats dart away from the road after a few yards but Garfield just kept a chugging. He ran a good 100 yards before he was able to find cover in a thicket. While I wasn't sprinting I wasn't going all that slow.

My goodness, how humiliating. I knew I was really out of shape but didn't know I'd sunk to that level.....

Ranger63

Well,I don't consider myself out of shape but I had a flock of wild turkeys outrun me last spring.
They wern't flying...They were running. All females and we came upon them as we rounded a turn in on a rural bike path.
They took off running and I swear I had NO idea turkeys could run that fast!
The best part was when they ran smack dab thru a group of grade school kids who were out with their teachers on a nature walk.

Kurt Erlenbach

A few weeks ago I came across a flock of wild pigs on the road out by the beach. Most of them scattered when I approached, but one started running on the road away from me. I sped up, but didn't try to pass, figuring that if the pig turned the wrong way as I passed it might cause trouble. I was surprised how fast the pig could run.

Think about it this way: You're not slow - the cat was really, really fast.

crtreedude 

You really aren't that slow - your average house cat is faster than a human. Usually it requires openning a can of cat food to find out though.

Jet Travis

I spoke with the cat. I told him you were just out for a recovery ride.

Swimjim

A year ago November I was riding down the bike trail and kicked up a buck with a rather large rack. I was going about 25 and he was pacing me. This lasted for a half mile when he turned up the burners and pulled ahead of me. He eventully crossed the path and i paced him on the other side of the trail a bit before he turned and I saw his white tail bounding away. What a beautiful animal. I'll never forget that ride.

Jim

alicestrong

hehe...that's my cat. I asked him to please pretend that he's slower than he is the next time any of my friends ride by...

Monoborracho

Not to hijack the thread, but I've hunted more than my share of turkey over the last 30 years. They can outrun pretty much any bike, as in 30 mph or so BEFORE they take off and start flying. In short, you're not going to run down a turkey on foot or probably on a bike.

BSLeVan

That actually sounds like a pretty cool experience. I've had similar experiences with horses running along side for short distances... typically until they run up to the end of the fenced in area. But a cat... well, that just means that that farm cat thought you were cool enough to run with. You should be honored... cats don't run with just anyone.

Digital Gee

I was going to make a crack about jppe chasing a little ... well, I'm going to censor myself.

Kurt Erlenbach

Then there's swimjim chasing the "rather large rack." Are there any adults around here?

Jet Travis

BTW, Alice, I was speaking with my cat Blackberry who mentioned that your new hairdo is fab.

megaman

Actually cats can run for short distances of up to 30 mph. I saw a PBS show talking about marathons. They talked about how humans can outrun dogs and horses over long distances. How the human race survived was by outrunning their prey.

maddmaxx 

Somewhere on a forum there's a cat bragging to his friends about being out for a walk when an old guy on a bike tried to catch him................

Bud Bent

That cat no doubt told his friends, "I dropped that guy like a used kleenex".

aRoudy1

Last summer on one of my rides three horses came racing across a pasture to the fence line by the road I was on and then 'paced' me for about half a mile.

robtown

I almost ran down a bunny once. The cats I see at dusk (probably feral) show up from a distance as bright white, yellow, and green reflective eyes. They then scurry into the side growth.

Louis

Don't feel bad jppe, I think Garfield is a CAT 1.

Jet Travis

Ouch!
Wish I'd thought of that.

Mojo Slim

I clocked a squirrel at 15 mph.

RockyMtnMerlin

Pikers all. Come out to Wyoming and watch the antelope RUN. 45-50 mph is not unusual and they do like to pace cyclists (until the get tired of the game and turn on the afterburners)! And no matter what anyone says, they can jump a fence a easily as a deer - when they want to.

stapfam

Came across a deer on a night ride once- Didn't give me a chance to outrun him as he ran at me from about 100 yards away. Big Red deer with big antlers and I did not want to get a closer view of him. I was off the bike and in the scrub before he got that close.

John.BC

You should feel honoured to have run with a cat...a special moment in time....

freeranger

Never had a cat chase us, but have had a crane fly along for a while when we were cycling along the C&O Canal, and Donna once (also C&O Canal) had a small snake chasing her and trying to get at her foot while pedaling--the snake was small, no bigger around than your pinky, and looked like it was trying to strike at her foot! Never did latch onto her foot (would have probably ended up in the chainrings), but it was certainly odd-no idea what kind of little snake it was, but it was certainly aggressive!

BFD

Yeah, but jppe, you weren't ready. The cat had seen you coming down the way, and had time to prep both mentally and physically. All the cat had to do was charge a short distance - yeah, those sprinters...all alike. And you; you have to gather up your ego and carry yourself home x number of miles! Next time you go that route, you'll be prepared! There the cat will be, waiting and lurking, thinking he's a smarty. Ah, cats...ya can't trust em!