decimation of all things roadside
 

Roadside cleanup has been underway here for about a week. The county has hired contractors with huge tractors and mowing machines to cut back the weeds along the roadways. These machines virtually cut, rip, shred, spew and otherwise destroy everything that they encounter, including the carcasses of dead and decaying animals.

So please imagine for a moment, if you haven't experienced the odoriferous environment this process creates, what it does to the lungs of a cyclist who is gasping for air when this chance encounter ocurs.

Man, Wednesday I had a great ride into work. But...

About 2 miles from work, I smelled something evil! Somehow a dumpster with decaying (whatever, much worse than usual) was leaking.

After about 500 feet, the smell was still there! O NO! Maybe I had run through it and it was ON ME! :screaming smiley with vomit:

:)

I couldn't find it when I got to work, boy was I glad.

Riding out in the country areas of Australia you can often encounter the evil smell of dead kangaroo by the roadside.

Even worse - when crossing the country a couple of years ago we passed 3 dead camels on the side of the road. The smell is not pretty.

I was tubing on a small river in Virginia and passed a
dead cow on the bank, couldn't get that stupid river
to move fast enough, and no matter how much I mouth
breathed I couldn't get by without. . . well you know.

Marty

My problem is with dead cats. I love cats; adore them even. Every time I see a dead cat it sticks with me in my head for weeks. I can handle all the dead birds and rodents by the side of the road. I've never had the pleasure of encountering anything really big. I thought I found a dead human once but it was just drunk camper. My riding buddy rolled him over onto his side and went on our way. He did have quite a smell.

There's a dead deer on my commute route at the moment--it's just getting to be smelly. I'm glad I have today and tomorrow off, maybe I'll miss the worst of it.

Around here mink farming is quite popular. These furry creatures is as smelly as they are furry. When these guys go into heat the smell is unbearable, so much so that normal cycle routes take long detours around areas where they are farmed with. I still cannot describe the smell 100%, but is something of a mix between - dead wet dog, mixed with a hint of stale urine and cat droppings. Sometimes the favourite of all smells, Hydrogen Sulfate (rooten egg) , also makes its way in to this delicate bouquet.

For the note: I do not support mink farming. Fur is not a neccesity
unless you're a Inuit or someone similar.:beer:

well here in Toronto, the Garbage collector are now planing to have a strike within this week or they are already on strike, so we will be having a stinky city and then comes, july the World youth Day will also be held in the City its ganna be a mess out here if the Garbage are not collected by the time the WYD, roll in the City, bad for the City bad for the People and bad for the economy, :crash: :crash:

On an epic ride a couple of weeks ago, one of my buddies managed to get a flat on a stretch of road right next to a dead skunk. I have no snese of smell, though, so it didn't bother me.

Nothing like enjoying my morning coffee and reading about roadkill. Yummy:o . In this area its racoons I seem to ride by at least 5 or 6 kills every ride no matter which route I try.
Poululla :there is a mink farm in this area near Lake Erie and to add to the wonderful aroma they also have bins of dead fish that they grind up for pet food. Once you get a wif of that you can't seem to get rid of the odor for days. Also you have to keep your mouth shut because of all the flies in the area.




All of sudden I don't feel much like breakfast?

It's hard to beat ...swerving out around a juicy dead possum or at least something vaguely mammalian anyway(WAY OUT AROUND IT) and just when you think you're in the clear and the worst is behind you a little stringy piece of something putrid and unmentionable slaps up the back of your calf and sticks there. Makes you ask yourself: just how badly will I need to DRINK that extra bottle of h20 today?
And hog farms...has anyone mentioned that? If the meth chefs ever figure out how to distill the ammonia from the air around hog installations we are all in big trouble.

In a nutshell... I'm furry and it bothers me every time I ride past a dead animal.

Mostly what we see are squished squirrels and sometimes birds,usually pigeons. The latter doesn't upset me that much, since we are overrun with pigeons and I remember having hordes of them crapping all over my air conditioner. I love all animals so it upsets me a bit. I hate seeing squished squirrels or chipmunks, though. I sometimes put on a big act pretending to bawl like a kid, "waaaaa, a squished squirrel,we have to go back and bury him!"

depending on the freshness of the thing I have no problem with jumping off and dragging casualties off to the side of the road. Unfortunately in my area this is usually a deer. It is amazingly disgusting how people will just drive around something that large day after day until it's just a flat peely scab on the road. What's better is the fact that I always seem to be meeting someone at the exact instant when I am coming up on a large gut pile and going wide is just not an option. EEEEEEWWWWW Im getting a stench flashback just thinking about it.