Or the Grinch That Stole Christmas dog.

The disc brake one looks especially painful....

it's ok though it's just squirrels, i hate squirrels..... they cause so much crap around my house.

now if it was a fuzzy wuzzy little rabbit i'd be more sad....

I had to swerve around a squished squirrel on my commute today. Maybe not dangerous, but definitely icky.

I have a new perspective on squirrels now. I am convinced that they are the suicide bombers of the animal kingdom, hellbent on taking out cyclists that have encroached on their natural habitat. Those squirrels, who will trust them now!

They're behind fences but fun to run into on the road.

Haha, here in Holland there are only rabbits on the road. I had to stop within a cm of a jack russell terrier once, though, he was running along with his owner on the horse path along the cycle path when he suddenly decided to jump in front of my wheel. Thank god for double pivots!

My latest bicycle-wildlife encounter was on Saturday evening just before dark with one of these (not this one).



We crossed paths on a golf course cart path. It didn't realize I was there until I was about 10 feet away. At that point it was just starting to cross a bridge over the creek so it went into a porcupine gallop, which is funny to see, but about as fast as a normal walk for me.

Porcupine gallop - I'll remember that metaphor for the next time something cute yet awkward comes up.

Was hit by a whitetail once, knocked me off the bike and jumped away. Luckily no damage except for my pride because my girlfriend at the time couldn't stop laughing. I see snakes on the trails around here, but haven't had to dodge one on the road yet, they are all over the trails though. We tend to get a lot of uncaged dogs who love to chase a bike rider, deer, skunks, squirrels, wwwabbits, and buzzards feeding off roadkill.

I use to ride in the mountains of So Calif, and in the summer time those rattle snakes would come out to the edge of the road to warm up. Going up the mountain I would just give them a wide berth, coming down I was going to fast to swerve so I would just run them over at 40mph or so. I don't think snakes liked that, but I don't think it killed them, I never went back to check.

I had a rat run across the roadway and attempt to jump through my front wheel. It was launched about 6 feet in the air. This all seemed to go in slow motion...I'm watching it as it's falling. It's tail is spinning like a rotor on a helicopter. The damn thing lands right on my left thigh. The guy I'm riding with is yelling "holy sh*t, holy sh*t" repeatedly. I'm shaking my leg trying to get it off and it's hanging on for dear life. I finally shook it off, but ended up with scratches from it's nails. Ended up getting a tetnus shot in the ER

I've encountered black bear and once was almost taken out by a darting quail, but snakes just aren't a big issue up here.....thank God!

Top

Similar thing happened to me, maybe five years ago! My father in law was riding right behind me and saw the whole thing. A squirrel ran through my front wheel (32 spoke MTB wheel; how'd he fit?). He was most of the way through when the wheel picked him up, spun him upward and forward, and then as he made his way back toward the ground I booted him with my left foot, still clipped in and pedaling. This somehow stopped his spinning. By this time I've clued in to something funky going on, and I see this squirrel flying forward past my front wheel, still running like heck as he sailed through the air. Landed on his back, momentum rolled him over onto his feet, feet made a scrapy-scrapy sound as they found purchase, and he was on his way again, which involved running right under an SUV in the other lane of the road. Dang lucky critter.

It's handed to you on a silver platter- what's a boy to do?

After hitting a groundhog 6 weeks ago, I have come to dread wildlife. I came away with a broken collarbone, 4 broken ribs, a punctured lung and a concussion. My doctor has still not cleared me to ride. I've seen snakes on the road from time to time, but nothing venomous as far as I know.

we get rattle snakes around here, I give em a wide berth and always check around me when I stop
for a 'natural break' as Phil & Paul would say.
we have about a gazillion rabbits here, subsequently I've been seeing and hearing coyote in the
evening, I see em occasionally. I haven't seen it but my wife tells me there's a few bob cat hanging
out near us, again given all the bunnies I'm not surprized.

almost hit a deer in No. Va. on the W&OD path when I lived up there, nice 8 point buck.

Marty

Don't even get me started with cows - that's completely different issue altogether around here thanks to open range laws.

Ok, I'm sorry, but that's downright funny. Sure it wasn't at the time but ....

But follow only if you are men of valor. For the entrance to this cave
is guarded by a monster, a creature so foul and cruel that no man yet
has fought with it and lived. Bones of full fifty men lie strewn about
its lair ... therefore sweet knights if you may doubt your strength or
courage come no further, for death awaits you all with nasty pointy
teeth.

That is not an ordinary rabbit ... 'tis the most foul cruel and
bad-tempered thing you ever set eyes on.

That rabbit's got a vicious streak. It's a killer!

He'll do you up a treat mate!

Well, It's got huge ... very sharp ... it can jump a... look at the bones.

I warned you!

Did I tell you? Did you listen to me? Oh no, no, you knew better
didn't you? No, it's just an ordinary rabbit isn't it. The names you
called me. Well, don't say I didn't tell you.

It's always the same ... if I've said it once.

COws scare me. I was riding past a ranch on the Florida line w/ herds of black angus on both sides of the road. Then I notice one who was a little closer to the road then the rest. As I approached I was coasting nothing but the sound of my bike, then I mumbled slightly aloud to myself that the cow looked like she was on the wrong side of the fence. When I did that thing jumped and bucked itself through the barbed wire and tore apart the electric fence. I was about 10 feet from it when it jumped. Scared the crap out of me!

We get lots of rattlesnakes here, we call them firehoses.

^ WTF. I dread snakes of all kinds. They are evil

Are you referring to recumbent riders?

i think i'm gonna sharpen my spokes, especially my aero spokes on my nicer rims with a sharpening stone. This way if a squirrel ends up in my wheel it'll be chop suey instead of busted up fork or messed up wheel.

i bet it will make my wheels more aerodynamic as well which equals me going faster.

it's definitely a Win - Win situation!...

This reminds me unpleasantly of the time I first attempted to use a downtube shifter at speed.

People don't realize just how big a ground hog can get.

Great shot. Yes, thos SE and Texas rattlers can get big. I admit that, being a life long avocational biologist, I actually like snakes and often find myself pushing them off the road so they can live to bite another day.