My commute yesterday morning got off to an exciting start which could have gotten ugly had I come through a fraction of a second earlier.

My ride starts off with a quick downhill sprint. This time of year it's pitch black at this time and this section is unlit. My nightsun head light is great, but at 30+ mph, I'm still pretty much riding blind. As I flew through this section a big fat racoon waddles across the road maybe 20 feet ahead of me. I was never in danger of hitting him, but, coons tend to travel in groups, so my arsehole was puckering in anticipation of a second one walking right in front of me.

I'm guessing that a 30 mph collision with a 30 pound racoon would not have gone well on a road bike.

Maybe I ought to get one of those monster truck tired surelys like joeybike has.

I think I'll start taking it a little slower through this stretch since there is also a flock of suicidal turkeys that lives there. they have run in front of my car numerous times. catching a 20 pound turkey in the face at 30 mph would probably suck too.

What's been your worst encounter with wildlife other than squirrels which are pretty much a given on almost ever ride. Squirrels don't concern me much as I'm pretty sure I'd come out of that encounter way better than the squirrel.

Anybody ever hit a deer? That could suck.

The turkeys aren't suicidal. I've got a country road that I take my morning ride on when I'm working from home, and there's a flock of turkeys that hang out on the road during the warm months. They see me coming, I move to the left to go around them...they all walk over to that side of the road. So I head to the right, they turn around and head right. So I swerve left and they go left...then I swerve right and they go right. They run me off the road about 50% of the time and I'm sure they think it's hilarious.

I came within about 8 inches of one that bolted across a country road in front of me. Pretty high up there on the pucker factor scale. I was going just under 30 mph when the deer bolted, and I slammed on my brakes (which is what gave it enough time to cross in front of me). I probably would have been going about 20 mph at the moment of impact if the deer hadn't made it.

PICK ME!!! PICK ME!!! OH PLEASE!!!!

Lots of snakes. A pigeon committed suicide in my spokes once. So did a magpie.

A ground squirrel...I know you said no squirrels but this wasn't one of those bushy tailed tree climbing ninjas...did a dance in front of my tandem as I came down off Vail Pass. Grossed my wife out when I told her what that 'crunch, crunch' sound was

Two geese tried to assassinate me once. One flew under my arm and the other across my back. Trying to control a bike while a couple of mad geese try to beat you to death with their wings is extremely difficult. My ride partner (who scared them into the air to begin with) thought it was hilarious

I've seen a couple of geese smack into trees and fall to the ground (it doesn't do them any amount of good to hit a tree). They may have been trying to finish what the other geese started.

I've had black birds that were offended by my helmet attack me.

And I've killed a dog. The car killed him but he was jumping a fence to chase me and my dog. Sailed over the fence as pretty as you please and right into the grill of an 88 Olds Cutlass. Eww.

Mostly frog. They look like leaves, till it's too late. I have slaughtered a couple of squirrels, and near missed a skunk. I live in fear of whacking an armadillo or a goose in the dark at speed.

I did have a doe rush past me on an mtb trail close enough that I felt the breeze she made. I startled a group of 3 and they all went different directions.

I ran over a rabbit last year.

You may want to rethink that statement if you have a carbon fork.

About this time last year I got one. Honestly I don't remember much of it. It was dark, I remember coming to flat on my back on the trail and looking up and thinking "gosh that moon is big"....


About a month later I got a squirrel through the spokes. That was just gross.

i ran over a couple of pigeon in old san juan...i disslike flying rats!...

last fall a rabbit ran under my rear wheel on a MUP. does anyone know the etiquette for disposal of such after an incident? do you just leave it, or is it courteous to remove the carcass?

One day riding on the MUP and a guy was walking his dog with no leash. That is my pet peave, as there ARE signs clearly reminding users that leashes are required by law. My worst fear is hitting a poor unsuspecting dog because he has an irresponsible owner. I slowed down (for fear of hitting the dog), the guy smiles at me warmly, at which point I lose it and go into parent mode, lecturing "You know, it's the LAW to have your dog on a leash!" All of the sudden, his smile turned to grimace and he started cursing at me is if I was the one doing something wrong. I sped off not hearing a word he said.

Other than that, I spied a water moccassin sunning himself across the middel of the MUP one day. I just stood up on the pedals and sprinted past him as fast as I could. That was good for me but my buddy behind me had to witness the snake's jump and coil reaction, which made it all that much scarier for him.

how do you ride with that saddle angle?

In the cases of a squirrel on the MUP. I stopped to be sure it's dead, then just kicked it out of sight of the MUP to spare the joggers and other bikers.

Buzzards gotta eat.

exotic lizards are a meanace here, I've had quite a few close calls with iguanas in the 3-foot + range, but never run over more than their tail. The population of basilisks and monitors is on the rise also, the former are fond of basking on warm pavement in the afternoon, but they're mostly in the foot-long range.

By sitting on it. Having the nose up touches me where I don't want it to touch me. I do tons of climbing. Tons.

A guy I went to grad school with spent a few days in the hospital after a rabbit tried to run through his front wheel. When you are going 30 mph or more (bottom of a hill), halfway doesn't cut it for the rabbit. Actually it does, but he still jammed up the fork of Erick's racer.

D

Hit a goose at speed on a paved bike trail in the dark, managed to stay upright.
Had a deer try to tackle me, luckily I had slowed and she missed by a few inches.
I use a similar seat angle to avoid taint carnage on rough terrain, you put your
ass-bones across the wide part of the seat.

Exactly right. When I was a kid with a Sting Ray, I put a conventional saddle in place of the "Banana Seat."

When I ride my Ellsworth, I take some tough hits and DO NOT want to suffer from them.

A couple close calls with deer and geese.

Last month a coyote crossed in front of me. I didn't like that at all, they can sprint to 40 mph. I don't think I can.

However nothing is more dangerous than the humans. No doubt about that species.

I stared down a coyote one cold morning last winter. That was kinda freaky.

I commute in early - just after 5AM and sometimes before.

Nothing causes more ass-pucker than having a skunk scamper across your line. The only thing worse than going over your handlebars is going over your handlebars while vomiting.

I'm more worried about a deer hitting me than me hitting the deer. Once while driving my car, I saw some deer running towards me through the woods on a collision course. I slammed on the brakes, and one of them used the hood of my car as a trampoline. If he had misjudged and hit the windshield, we both would have been in trouble.

I have bunnies dancing in the beam of MTE P7 every morning and night.

Almost hit a deer one night on the way home, that scared the whatever out of both of us i think.
Where i commute, there's a few stray cats that like to dart out of the bushes on one section, have had a few close calls with them. And then there's a flock of rabbits that do the same. I'm fairly certain i hit a bat (or huge bug) once with my shoulder. and i've seen three, large dead rats (on separate occasions) on the WO&D trail with tire marks through them. that's about it for interesting ones, the rest being dogs and squirrels.