sudo bike

With a bird. Yup, a freakin' bird. Riding down the road on Sunday, no traffic, nice as can be, when BAM! A bird flies right into my stomach. I guess he was chasing another sparrow across the road and was so focused on his target he didn't realize he would hit me. Little fella shook it off and flew away none the worse for wear, just leaving me surprised as hell.

ITT: Weird things that have happened to you while commuting.

milkbaby

That's pretty cool, glad the little fella was okay... I always think the squirrels are gonna get me but somehow they manage to avoid the spokes of death. The only creature that's crashed into me was one driving a car. (no bodily damage luckily)

MijnWraak

Had to wait for a family of turkeys to cross the street... I don't exactly live in rural country

I-Like-To-Bike

Had to wait at a frog crossing in France; and I mean the hippy-hoppy kind, not the beret wearing cheese eater types.

plodderslusk

I crashed with a pigeon who was too slow getting up on a downhill part of my commute. Hit me on the cheek, surprisingly painfull but the speed was probably why. Hope the dove survived too.

SkippyX

There are some peacocks that live in a subdivision I pedal through on my commute. I regularly have to slow down and sometimes stop for them.

I don't mind much. It strikes me as amusing to see them.

telkanuru

I have, in fact, managed to run over a startled squirrel (no, not on purpose). It fled the scene, so I don't know what the actual outcome was. Somehow the incident made the entire day feel pretty surreal.

(and hi, btw)

jsdavis

I think I remember reading here someone had a squirrel go into their front wheel send them OTB.

BassNotBass

This happens more frequently than I ever thought:
https://images.ridemonkey.com/index.p...f2de3d5bf4.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bike/76039319/
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q6l6dspeBw...Bin%2Bfork.jpg

I would feel horrible about running over/through an animal who has no understanding of the rules of the game so I slow down until they're away from harm. People, on the other hand, who should know the game but are clueless get what's coming.

K'Tesh

I knocked a squirrel stupid once... The kamikaze runs out from my side of the road, halfway, sees the oncoming car, stops, then decides to try and take me on. Just as I was passing the damn thing it makes a jump for my leg (or the space between the wheels), just as my foot starts the downstroke. Bonk! Right into the pedal. I look back and see the squirrel come out of the roll that it was thrown for, then it gets up, and scampers back into hiding for the next victim. The guy driving the pickup truck behind me pulls up along side at the next light and was laughing at how things turned out.

Axiom

Got hit by a bat on my ride home from the gym at night like 5 months ago

gregjones

With your lights is a good thing that you don't live in the south!!!! Down here possums dart out of the darkness towards the headlights, then stop.

Nothing you can do. Thump, thump. But then not all animals are cute, cuddly creatures. Possums lean toward the vicious, hissing, sharp teethed and claw violent type you don't want to befriend.

enigmaT120

Not just in the south. I hit a possum a few months ago. I didn't know they could run that fast, out from my left, in between the tires, and I rolled over him with the back tire. Because of the characteristics you mentioned, I did not go back to check up on him.

jsdavis

Anyone hit a skunk before? I've run into a few of them during winter since it's darker earlier and I had to turn back the other way...

a1penguin

I ran over a small rat on the MUP last week when riding home at 11 pm. I never saw it until the last second and there was no way I could avoid it. I just saw the tail. I was hoping that I had clipped just the tail, but when I stopped and returned, it was clear it was not a survivor. I felt bad, but I would have felt worse if it had still been alive and in need of being put out of it's misery.

cale

I too hit a rat when riding laps in Prospect Park (Brooklyn, NY) some years ago. As I remember, I hit it right across the body and the rat didn't miss a beat as it scurried across the road. Rats are durable.

Mondo734

I gotta say Squirels and birds I don't feel particularly bad for if they hit you. Now if you go out of your way to hit them thats different. Now, that said I personally have not hit anything other than a ton of grasshoppers and the usual gnats that end up as snacks.

I have nearly ran over a few snakes and lizzards. The snakes are what I feel particularly bad for because when your riding along and they are out in front of you they really just look like a twig. Half the time I wont get out of the way until the absolute final second when I realize its not a twig (I usually just roll over small sticks).

wesmamyke

Years ago riding on a bike path in the dark I hit one. Young and stupid, riding without lights, didn't even see the thing. Rolled over it with the front wheel, skidded to a stop wondering what I had just run over....didn't take long to find out as it came to. Took weeks to get the stink off my bike.

yep202

those darn bugs! they get in my eyes and mouth. So I'm glad that its cooler out.

I ran over the butt end of an opposume. Later down the rode I scared a cat in the middle of the rode. I just so happen to look at the flag. (to see wind direction) There was a med to large hawk up there. So its like I hurt one and saved another.

elkootcho

I've had a rat run into the sidewall of my front tire. He (she?) bounced off and keep moving.

Jamoni

Was riding in nasty foggy drizzle last week, right after a storm, and about 10 geese were huddled on the path. We didn't see each other until almost too late, when they exploded all around me as I locked them up and screamed "GEEEEEESE!!!!!"

lasauge 

Only animal I've ever run over on my bike was a rattlesnake, I was riding up a hill on a gravel trail and he was sunning himself right in the middle of the path in a spot that was hidden until I was nearly on top of him. I didn't go back to find out if the snake survived, for obvious reasons.

Juha

sudo bike, it could have ended really ugly:

Don't Feed the Swans!

--J

lightning60

Was riding to work in Bangalore, India and hit a dog right in the ribs. He had been snacking on some delicacies smeared into the road, looked up as I approached at 20 mph, and decided to head for the other side of the road. I went over the bars and then slid down the road on my stomach. As I picked myself off the ground I saw the dog sprinting up the road as fast as can be. Guess he was OK!

Commodus

Me too...I was like, "was that really a bat? Don't they have sonar or something? Maybe my new handlebar bag makes me sonar-invisible. Does that count as a superpower?"