cmcenroe

Today I was out taking advantage of the completely gorgeous day that it was. I was on a very good descent (down hwy 84 for any of the SF Bay Area locals) at between 35 and 40. On a straight portion of the descent after coming out of a turn, I see a small creature in the middle of my path doing that oh-so-familiar dance of death. I begin to apply my brakes as it freezes in front of me, and all of a sudden the correct wires connect in its brain and it remembers what pain feels like and runs like it has never run before off to the side of the road.

I almost forgot about those guys.

terrymorse 

I was out there yesterday, too. Up Old La Honda, down 84 East. What a nice day.

Regarding the squirrels: I figure I hit one per year, on average. Lots of near misses, though. The worst ones are the chicken games they play with your front wheel when you're banked over hard in a fast turn. I think it's some sort of rite of passage thing in the squirrel gangs. I've even had one run between my front and back wheels. Now that takes some skill and courage.

Hipcycler

I've even had one run between my front and back wheels. Now that takes some skill and courage.

Wow....I don't know why, but that simply amazes me this morning.

WheresWaldo

I know you probably wont believe this, but one of my riding buddies had a cat jump through his front wheel while we were doing about 17mph. It was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. The cat was in a full run and came out from in front of a parked car and went through the wheel. Fortunately for him it was just a minor lose of control and then everything was ok. Unfortunately for the cat, I think we left him badly wounded.

That wasn't all. On another ride he and I were coming down the back side of Dillard Road near Creswell, OR and a deer jumped out of the brush and ran straight for him. He hit the deer in the head with his left thigh in full pedal stroke and snapped it's neck. We had to stop for that one as it left a big welt on his leg and to wait for the Sheriff to arrive.

geog_dash

Squirrels have bad eyesight but incredibly good hearing. You should whistle, hiss, or go "Yo, squirrel". They will instantly know where you are going, and vector away. Works every time.

Grasschopper

Do a search for animal conspiracy:

The Other Animals Are Agin' Us
By Tim Bedore 2003

Did you see that in the paper the other day about those carp in the Mississippi River jumping into boats and bonking fisherman in the head? It's true. They're called big head carp, they're from Asia and they're attacking and severely injuring many fisherman.

Biologists claim the roar of boat motors agitates and excites these carp and they jump towards the sound but I think these biologists are naively missing an obvious connection. Fish are attacking fisherman. For the fish it's get them before they get you, kill or be killed. Even if these fisherman are practicing catch and release, that's a very painful, embarrassing experience for any fish and apparently they have had it.

What about the increase in mountain lion attacks? Great White sharks moving closer to shore? Moose have been showing up in towns and stomping on people. A squirrel was in my living room last spring. Am I the only one that sees a pattern here? People, wise up! The other animals are against us. It doesn't take a genius to see there's an inter-species conspiracy to thwart the urban expansion of man.

How do the squirrels fit in? Surveillance. They spy on what we people are doing in the cities and report back to the bigger species out there on the front lines.

And taken together these other species represent walking, we hope not yet talking, scratching, biting weapons of mass destruction. And if these other species can convince the insect world, for example a well known anti-human group like the killer bees, to join up our way of life and our democracy could be history.

The skeptical may ask why would these other species want to hurt us? Obviously, they hate us. They are jealous of our way of life. We swim in chlorinated, safe environment pools, then towel off and have an adult beverage. They are stuck eating sludge in the Mississippi, a river polluted by guess who: their mortal enemy man. And to top it all off we eat them.

This invasion of Asian carp is no accident. This is stage one of their well planned attack. We ignore the obvious at our own peril.

We can no longer sit back and wait for them to attack us. It's time we adopt a new doctrine regarding these other animals. We have to wipe out any and all species who are a lined against us, wherever they are. We can not rest until every big head carp, great white shark, mountain lion, moose and squirrel and any other species that associates with them are defeated.

If the U.N. wants to get involved fine, if not we can do it alone. Of course the British will show up, they always do, but we will fight to protect our way of life. And if you don't agree, you're an unpatriotic idiot who hates America.

2manybikes

The only thing I can think of is that the squirrels think we are a predator and they need to fake left, go right, to keep from being caught and eaten. It works pretty good for dogs and cats. I wish they knew I just want to go around them.

telenick

I've never hit a squirrel. I yell at them like dash said to do. That seems to work every time.


This is a weird story:

A few years ago I was paced by a lone antelope along a fence line. I think it thought I was one of the herd because it kept pace for about 2 miles. It would've probably kept pacing longer except the fence line met another perpendicular fence line. The antelope crahed head first into a fence post and fell limp. I stopped and looked around to see if anyone else saw what I saw: nobody. All of a sudden the antelope jumps up and leaps the fence into the road driectly towards me. I literally had to dodge the beast to avoid getting hit. It bounded away in the field on the other side of the road.

terrymorse 

That assumes you see them in time. The ones around here like to lie in wait on the side of the road until the last second.

ElJamoquio

Perhaps it was a lonely antelope looking for a 'companion'? Are animals attracted to lycra?

blandin

I agree with terrymorse, it seems that squirrels have a genetic defect that causes them to be Kamikaze like in their behavior. I have many close calls and actually bifurcated one poor loser when he darted between my front and rear wheels. I saw it as the last moment and thought I was going down, but one bump later I was rolling on and the squirrel was going nowhere.

SilentShifter

I ride a loop that circles a forest. I know the feeling of fear when you see those suckers. I had one run all the way up to me so that he was almost under my pedal!! Somehow he ran back away before either of us had any issues.

I have even had a few that run out and then back away again.

Always a good laugh afterwards, but makes me skittish until the ride is over.

blandin

On my ride today, the squirrels were well behaved for a change, but I did have a doe and a fawn jump out of the woods about 10 feet in front of me. I'm thankful there was only two of them, if there had been a third deer in the group, we would have had an unfortunate meeting.

beaverstuff

You guys have nothing to talk about - squirrels - bah. Try to evade a young groundhog that you've just spooked and he can't run anywhere but under your BB for about ten feet. True story - happened last fall. No one, to whom I've recounted this, really appreciates how fast the ol' ticker starts pounding when the moment has passed.
Aauurrgghh!!