Originally Posted by Machka

I did a 400 km randonnee through the Canadian Rockies a few years ago. As I left Canmore, dusk was falling. I was cycling along a quiet secondary highway lost in my own thoughts during that peaceful, reflective time of day when an animal walked crossed the road some distance in front of me.

I ran through my mental database to determine what it was.

Bear ... foremost on my mind in that area. But nope, it didn't walk like a bear.

Dog ... it was too big for most dogs and just didn't have a dog gait.

Wolf ... maybe about the right size ... but again, not the dog gait.

Deer ... might have been a small deer, but deer don't move like that.

... running out of possibilities ...

By this time I was getting closer and could see it a bit more clearly. It ran up the embankment on the opposite side of the road to where I was ... and crouched.

I recognised that crouch. It was a cat. A very big cat. A HUGE cat. And it suddenly dawned on me I wasn't looking at a domestic house cat. The alarm bells went off in my head ... that's a mountain lion.

I had my helmet light on, so I sat straight up, turned my head so that my light was on the mountain lion, and cycled past it. I also reached down and opened my pepper spray pouch so I could grab my little pepper spray canister. Of course, chances are I'd end up spraying myself and just seasoning myself for the mountain lion's meal and if I did manage to spray it, I'd probably only annoy it. I kept going at a steady pace for a couple hundred metres glancing back every few seconds, and then I slowly picked up my speed until I was riding as hard as I possibly could.

It didn't seem to be following me ... but it is a cat and cats are quiet. How would I know? And do they come in pairs or are they solo creatures. Could there be another one watching me up ahead a little ways. Was I boxed in?

I don't know how many kilometres passed ... not too many ... maybe only 6 or 8 or something ... and I rolled into a very small town where my father was waiting for me in his car. We were leap-frogging ... I'd ride and pass him ... then he'd drive past me and wait for me somewhere up the road because neither of us like the idea of me riding solo through the night in the Canadian Rockies.

I could hardly breathe or talk when I rolled up to him and told him about the mountain lion!! And he stuck a little bit closer to me for a while after that.