Chipmunk standoff
 

The other day I was riding alone on a flat section of road with woods on both sides when I spotted a chipmunk starting to cross in front of me. As I was doing 17 mph I immediately slowed down to ascertain whether he was in fact going to complete the journey. He then slowed down also. I slowed down a little more. He slowed down. We both pretty much stopped in the road for a moment looking each other over. He must have decided I was not very interesting and went back the way he came. Very amusing and thankfully not disastrous for either of us.

Thank goodness you had a good outcome. Chipmunk attacks can be vicious, ugly affairs.

You would have recognized Simon as he wears glasses and is certainly smart enough to stay out of the road and Alvin would have been much more mischievous, so I expect you encountered young Theodore.

Well done to avoid harming the lil critter!

Oh brother I wouldn't dare call animal control over an Attack Chipmonk. I had the same thing happen to me at the end of my block. Same behavior; he wen't back in the direction from where he came also.
Good chuckle.

gotta watch it when getting into a fracas with them chipmunks. they always go for the nuts first...

One of the best things about cycling to work every day is the critters I see along the way.

Just imagine the stories the chipmunk is posting back home.

That's why they make such easy prey for my cats. When something charges at them they just freeze. I've had at least 7 half eaten munks on the back poarch allready this year.

It's a kind person who brakes for chipmunks and a good alert rider who pulls it off well.

A couple days ago a wild tom turkey crossed the road a good way in front of me. He saw me after he had fully crossed, so he hunkered down in the tall grass to hide. When I was almost to his hiding place, he suddenly panicked and dashed back across the road just a couple feet in front of my wheel. I suspect it would not have been a happy collision for either of us.

saw a fox crossing the road i was using. he must have heard me cuz it was barely sunrise. (no sun yet, but a little light to the east) he stops, watches me approach. by now we're maybe 10 feet apart. he watches me pass then heads off into the bushes. niether one of us got worried. where i ride, there's no hunting, so most animals don't pay people any more mind than they would a tree. unless, of course the fox has to pee, then we know all about the tree :-)

Oh yeah, well I saw a hippopotamus!



................okay, maybe it was just a possum....
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...3090707-00.jpg


And there is a pair of wild turkeys along the river trail I use.

I often see deer. I'm afraid I'll get nailed by one when I'm pulling 30 down a stretch and can't react in time.

In the summer I always see a lot of turkey buzzards circling overhead. I find that oddly disconcerting.

Maybe the two have some sort of working arrangement. That would be truly disturbing.

Have you noticed how drivers will almost always try to pull out into traffic just before the last car, when there is nothing behind it for miles? I think of squirrel behavior and wonder if this driving behaviour isn't some strange remnant of the "flee the predator" behaviour.

speaking of reacting in time.... check your brakes lately?

almost had a run in with a Chow Chow going around a corner on my commute this winter. standing there a happy as can be middle of road. pitch black out of course and I did not see him in my dinotte bike lights until I was nearly on him. He just stood there not a care in the world. was a close call as I swerved around him. strange those Chows. on a MUP recently and almost ran over a copperhead snake. missed it by that much. didn't recognize it as a snake until I was nearly on it. then I realized it was a copperhead. biker coming the other way did see it and had just stopped as I passed it. comment from the other biker.... pretty wild country out here....

Chipmunk Bike Tag is a test of bravery, speed, and agility.
Scoring is as follows (multiple awards are possible for the same turn):

Basic move - on trail at same time as bicyclist: 1 point
Cyclist makes avoidance move: 2 point
Running between front and rear wheel: 3 points
Touching tire and returning to grass: 4 points
Making cyclist crash: 5 points

just did that with some old ladies in Macys as we crossed paths in an aisle. one had a walker. the 3 of them didn't even the otrhers were right next to them. they were all wondering why I stopped walking.

I got stared down by a mean-looking bunny rabbit today.

Could it have been Sir Lancelots 'Attack Rabbit'? "Run away! Run away!"

There's this one particular area on one of the back roads I frequent where there is some form of small ground-squirrel colony. There must be a hundred or more of them. I was riding past one day, and all at once there was 20-40 of them all dashing across the road simultaneously, right in front of me. I was able to stop just in time, but at one point I thought some of them were going to be running right across my toes. Cute little buggers, but I'd just as soon have them stay on the side of the road.

This will go down in BF 50+ history as the great chipmunk challenge chicanery caper.

Or simply, "Chipmunk Chatter"