further

Honeysuckle starting to blossom on a morning ride. So much better than roadkill roasting in the afternoon

MNBikeguy

How true!
I love the flower scents on a good ride.
Except this time of year, the smell of food grilling outdoors on an after work ride can drive me insane! Maybe I should eat first.

jppe

Excellent observation! On a ride in the mountains a couple weeks ago I noticed the same thing. Unfortunately we're past the blooming season here and deep into roadkill season!

Oppossum season is in full bloom here. Last night I spotted 4 roadkill in all stages of decomposition on my short 20 miler.....and they did not smell like honeysuckle!!!

Beverly

I've noticed it on a couple rides recently and love the smell.

Unfortunately some of it can be very invasive. There are volunteer events each year to clear it along many of the park trails and paths.

Terrierman

Last night I found out the only bad thing about a 100% tailwind. You smell dead armadillos longer. I must have passed 20 of them on my 30 mile ride.

further

Dead deer have made me change a favorite route for a couple weeks

Beverly

Skunks are the ones I dread seeing along the road. You can smell those things for weeks

BluesDawg

Last week during a MTB ride, I actually saw a live armadillo. I had never seen one with the legs down before.

BSLeVan

Lilacs, honeysuckle, and wild roses are three of the most wonderful things about riding in May and June. When I try to explain to my kids why I like riding so much, this is in the top ten.

Artmo 

<<I must have passed 20 of them on my 30 mile ride.>>

I've often wondered why there are so many dead animals on US roads. Is it because some drivers take pleasure in killing small animals?

maddmaxx 

ewe de skunke..

Bud Bent

I think it's just the same distracted drivers that we cyclists have to watch so closely. They run over whatever is in the road, and see nothing before they hit it.

Beverly

Originally Posted by ArtmoI've often wondered why there are so many dead animals on US roads. Is it because some drivers take pleasure in killing small animals?


I find they dart out into the road so quickly you often don't have time to avoid them

There is one stretch of road near my home that has woods on each side for about a half mile and deer are always crossing in this area. I've had a couple close calls even though I keep an eye out for them. I tried blowing my horn to give them warning but this just seems to bring all of them out of the woods

SaiKaiTai

I saw a nice freshly dead raccoon on the highway when I started out on Saturday. Couldn't get a picture though I wanted to... I didn't notice any smell. There was the scent of wild mustard and various other natives and grasses in the air, though.

freeranger

Honeysuckle is thick around here also. So much so that it almost chokes you going by some spots! The title of the thread reminded me of when I took a young lady for a motorcycle ride years ago. She had a purse on her shoulder, and didn't notice it was hitting the spokes of the rear wheel-luckily it didn't snag it and sling her off! Anyway, it broke a bottle of perfume she had in it--a rider behind me remarked that he couldn't figure where the smell was coming from!

Trsnrtr

Darn, I thought this thread was going to be about riding with comely lasses.

Seriously, I attended the Horsey Hundred in Kentucky a couple of weeks ago and was impressed with the number of young fit women on the ride. And they smelled better than a lot of the guys that I normally ride with, too.

BluesDawg

I would much rather they run over animals than steer around them and into me.

guybierhaus

The smell in my air is usually cow manure the farmers spread on their fields. It is most poignant when they are actually spreading it. Always refer to it as "fresh country air".

stapfam

If you really want to smell the countryside- Get out before the sun and before the cars have polluted.

Couple of years ago- Or it may have been last year- there was one section of road that has the poignant smell of Something dead for about 2 months. Turned out to be a Dead Human that had just crawled to the side of the road and fell into a ditch. The death was put down to natural causes.

The Weak Link

I thought I could predict your responses, but still you remain a mystery...

I was pretty sure you were going to post a picture of chocolate gateaux and coffee as the ultimate aroma one can smell during a ride, and I wasn't going to disagree with you.

stapfam

Problem is that I do not get to the Cafe for coffee and Cake till about 11am. By that time my sense of smell has been deadened with the Aroma of carbon monoxide and The slurry pits from the numerous farms en route.

Now next week I go to France and I am afraid that I won't be smelling much of the country odours either. The Cote Du Rhone has to be savoured and I have just found out that there are several vineyards in the area that do Sampling and a couple of distileries are not too far away either. Just hope that the bike knows how to steer a straight line- Because I know I won't be able to. Just as long as there is not a local "Garlic" Sausage that has to be savoured as That would be bliss- Garlic sausage, french bread and a good bottle of the Local Plonk. After the sausage -It will be me that is smelling, but I won't care as long as the Plonk is in enough quantity.

wrafl

I swear I could smell fresh brewed coffee in the distance, but as I got closer, dead skunk in the middle of the trail. Yikes. Lost my interest for coffee that whole day. I was wistling that song, "Dead Skunk In The Middle of The Road" as I sped away. Weeks gone by before I rode that trail again last year. Anyone ever experienced that before?

MichiganMike

The flowers around here are starting to go crazy. I love the honeysuckle also. We have tons of grapes growing around here, both for wine and grape juice. In the late summer, early fall when the grapes are ripening, it smells like a giant glass of Grape Juice. Love that smell.

Beverly

Yep! We had a dead skunk on one of the roads we travel on the Sunday breakfast ride. For a couple weeks we avoided that road so we could enjoy breakfast

Jet Travis

I thought this thread was about riding next to The Weak Link.