stevepusser

what do you carry if chassed by bird like here? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kotWv4MCxNI#t=50

Someone said that ostrich kick can kill u & that they can outrun you esily on bike? How fast can they go, I dont have time to look up the anser.

I am going to to tour in San Diego and they have big birds like these and emuus in farms like right on the ACA southern Teer route in Lakeside & they could jump over fence & chase u!!!

I carry bear spray 32 oz and HALT 9 0z from REI, but birds lack the receptors on their cells for the chemical capsaicin and related compounds, which are the active ingredients in pepper spray, so they are immune to its effects!

Steve0000

You don't have time to look up the answer yet have time to compose a post?

I don't have time to answer you.

Darth Lefty 

I'm worried my MTBR-sanctioned mountain lion knife won't be effective on an ostrich.

BigAura

I can't count the number of times that I've been chased by large birds while on tour!

jonc123

Google Johnny Cash Ostrich. The Man In Black would know what to do, but he might be a little hard to locate. He should have wrote a song about it.

stevepusser

Ostrich must have heard about Johnny burning up the refuge of the nearly extinct California Condor in '65 and being flippant and unrepentant about it.

prathmann

I wouldn't worry about it. We have some on ranches nearby and I've never seen them have the least interest in jumping fences or chasing cyclists. I'm sure they could be dangerous under some circumstances - but so could horses and cows and a local cyclist died as a result of an encounter with a turkey. I'd put emus and ostriches way down on my list of things to be concerned about. Pictures from a ride a couple weeks ago.

bikenh

I would be more worried about getting dive bombed by birds. It happened to me twice in about 10 miles in Nebraska last summer. I've heard of everything but I hadn't heard of birds dive bombing a cyclist before. Supposedly the shininess of the helmet is what attracts them. The first bird dove at me several times. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and finally started swatting at it. The second one I saw in my/it's shadow since I had the sun at my back. It only dove at me twice before it gave up peacefully. Not quite the experience I was expecting to have on a bike trip.

jonc123

I saw a kid wearing a bright red shirt get attacked by a red-winged blackbird. It kept diving at his head over and over while he was riding, he finally got away. I figured it was the red shirt.

Doug64

What time of year was it? In my experience they will buzz you when you get too close to their nests.

BigAura

OOPS! --> I just counted and it turns out to be zero!

REMEMBER: THE REAL DANGER: cars & trucks

TheLibrarian

If it can kick you do you want to stop and fight the thing. They can run at up to 42 mph though so outrunning is an iffy proposition. Best bet throw some bait to buy some time to get away. They will eat anything but should like fruit. Emmu can be mean and tempermental, think i've heard the same about ostrich.

spinnaker

You don't need to worry about being faster than the ostrich. Just be faster than your riding partner.

Darth Lefty 

Oddly enough for this thread, I've been buzzed by hummingbirds. They are territorial little bastards, and they strafe. If you watch them at a feeder, one is always chasing the other away.

Darth Lefty 

Who has bigger quadriceps, a cyclist or an ostrich?

indyfabz

I have ridden past several emu farms. 1. They are poor jumpers. 2. They typically shy away.

?

indyfabz

Or slower, as the video demonstrates. The guy off the back was not the one being chased.

stevepusser

Which is skinnier, a cyclist's arm or an ostrich's lower leg?



That's an interesting white jersey...oh, wait a minute. Eww eww ewww.

Anyway, my OP wasn't serious, I just saw the video and thought I'd imitate the posting stylings of a frequent thread initiator here. I would think that the ostrich in the video could easily have caught up to the cyclists--it seemed to just be pacing them.

Though I did find photographic evidence of a large avian (besides turkeys) attacking humans here in Southern California: https://www.google.com/search?q=imag...kbxoWFpY99M%3A

I guess down in Oz, you need to watch out for cassowaries, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassow...sowary_attacks

As if the 'roos kicking you into a pond, koalas chasing you, birds, snakes, goannas, spiders, blue-ringed octopi, cone snails, sharks, crocs, rays, etc. in Australia aren't horrific enough, even innocuous-looking plants are out to give you years of incredible pain: The Gympie Gympie Stinging Tree Delivers the Worst Kind of Pain You Can Imagine | Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities

indyfabz

+1.

Why did the free range cow cross the road?

stevepusser

You could stick your head in the sand...

Thanks folks, you've been great! Try the veal--I hear it's good.

jonc123

Probably spring or summer...we have quite a few ponds and lakes around here, I associate them with water.

kaos joe

A few years back here on Long Island, a popular MTB trail was haunted, yea, was terrorized, by an an aggressive and territorial winged monster.

We all called him the Unpleasant Pheasant.

Many were chased, a few were caught, and thence pecked.

He has not been seen in recent years.

Some men say he lurks out there still.

Waiting.

mrveloman

I wasn't going to say anything but then I came across this "news" video tonight:

Watch a Huge Ostrich Chase a Cyclist Riding Over 30 Mph

While it sure can run faster than I can pedal, it didn't seem interested in doing any harm

mike

mdilthey

I would kill to be chased by an ostrich. My blog would go viral!

Zenophon

I once headbutted a bat while riding on country roads at night. I think he must have been chasing bugs attracted by the headlight on my helmet. Felt like how I imagine getting punched by a fuzzy toddler would be.