gonesh9

I often notice odd things going on around me while riding my bike.

My commute takes my under a bridge near downtown, where all sorts of strange people seem to hang out. There is one strip where there are always 5-6 homeless people sleeping in a row. I've seen them shooting up many times in this spot. This morning when I passed, they were all sitting up in a row, reading books. I was impressed, and admittedly somewhat surprised. I slowed down a little because I was curious to see what they were reading. I noticed one was reading "The Grapes of Wrath". Another was reading a manual of home repair....

It made me smile.

Seth

That sounds like something out of a comedy sketch

because I'd have to ride about 40km before i got to anywhere with pavement most interesting things i see have to do with wildlife, carcasses or garbage.

though one time I was happily riding along, and I came across a nude couple picking wild blackberries. when they saw me coming they jumped into the blackberry bushes.

if you've seen a blackberry bush, sometimes called brambles, you may agree with me on the fact that it would have been less painful to throw modesty out the window

DnvrFox

Three empty condom wrappers on the floor of a wheelchair accessible (meaning large) portapotty. I can only imagine. Wouldn't the smell alone stop all of the ardor?

Snakes all the time. I have run over several.

A large bloated dead cow being devoured by crows and vultures.

NJrider

I ran over a hornworm looking thing once. It exploded. I also had a squrriel try to jump over me while i was on the trail. He could have just went behind me, dam crazy squirrels.

heresy

I witnessed two horses attempting to make a baby horse, if you catch my drift.

Scooby Snax

en route to work two years ago, I ran over a very large urban racoon, who seemed a little tired, and wasnt looking where he was going.
I ran over it with both wheels, and sprinted away as I heard it making very angry noises.
The funny thing was I came upon a man walking a dog about 100 meters down the road, and warned him about the angry racoon. He gave me one of those "yeah sure" looks.

SellingEngland

Funniest thing:

I was riding down a trail and I noticed in the distance a black dog standing in the middle of the trail. Upon closer inspection it was a young black goat guarding what he thought was his property. I stopped to see what he would do and he promptly bounced his head off my tire a few times and wandered off.

Worst thing:

I was Riding one of my regular road loops out in the country and I ventured up one road with woods on both sides. Looking off to my right I thought I saw a set of eyes look back at me from the ground but I was going pretty fast and occasionally quick glances provide less than accurate info so I didn't think twice about it. Instead of completing the loop I decided to turn around at the half way point and double back to get more hills in...when I made it back to that road there were police cars everywhere. An old woman walking saw the same thing I did and she checked it out further to find it was the body of a 37 year old woman.

Dirtgrinder

Just two days ago on the Katy Trail, I saw garter snakes, black snakes, tree snakes, a huge copperhead across the trail, (just missed his tail, he didn't budge), and for the first time I saw a corn snake. It was beautiful. Then a very large snapping turtle.
But today was the topper. I was looking ahead down a long straight stretch and saw this thing walking. Looked like a small dog. But where I was there shouldn't have been any dogs. Then I noticed it was walking like a cat. Didn't want to startle it so I started whistling to get it to move but it wouldn't. So I yelled a couple times and got it's attention. Biggest damn bobcat I've ever seen! I've seen quite a few in the woods but this thing was huge. Glad I didn't startle it...

Corn Snake

The Terminator

I saw a wild turkey leisurely cross the trail in front of me last week. - Ted

lateralus

I like ths discussion...amazing the things one runs into..or over... as the case may be when biking...make me laugh
so far the stragest thing I have seen is a lama being walked like a dog on the bike path I ride. Did I mention I live in Boston ?!?!?
Well, the lama was not right in town, but still pretty unexpected. I see this big thing in the distance and I'm going donkey? no- head to tall. horse? no, way to furry. baby giraffe? no- no zoo around here....lama? yep, lama.

MsVicki

I see lots of odd things when I ride in my "hundred-acre woods". Once I was riding along and found that someone had built a teepee way back in the woods on my place, complete with a barbecue pit. There was even what looked like a goose cooking over the pit, but no humans in sight....I may have scared them off, 'cause I was singing aloud as I rode.

I am always finding deer stands during deer season on my property....we have a bad time with poachers, 'cause our woods are full of deer. I took a chainsaw to one, but decided to sell the others I found. I've made some pretty good money, too!

I see a lot of animals, too...wild dogs, deer, wild boar, bobcats, coyotes, once a whole family of ducks waddling down a trail. And once I happened upon a huge emu running along down one of my trails (a local emu farm was hit hard by a tornado and all the emus escaped). There was an escaped cow on a trail one day. I had to call the neighbors and find the owner. And a whole herd of goats ran through one time, with a kid chasing them!

Once I came out of the woods down by the lake and found cut-off jeans (wet) hanging on the fence. Oviously, someone had been swimming in the lake and had changed clothes and left their swimming clothes there. Maybe I scared them off with my singing, too!

Oh, and once I came across a car parked on the property. Got off my bike, went up to the vehicle, and there was a young couple in the front seat, mostly unclothed, and pretty oblivious to their surroundings. I scared them to death when I knocked on the window and asked them to find someone else's property to go parking on. You never saw anyone get dressed so fast!

Prosody

Is your singing really that bad?

Prosody

I've seen several wild turkeys, many deer, one fawn that had been struck by a car, dead, a tangle of legs, a silver fox (no, not Charlie Rich), hawks, dead opossums, and dead skunks in the middle of the road--a real treat on hot summer afternoons. Once on the KATY Trail I was riding past a field of corn stubble and startled what must have been thousands of black birds; they were swirling all around me as they took flight.

ngateguy

Last year when I was doing a lot of rural riding in prepration for the STP I noticed that dairy farm stink badly, but cattle ranches don't

Louis

Kind of sad, that man reading "The Grapes of Wrath". A small dose of irony, perhaps?


While riding if farm country, I came upon a large ostrich standing near the roadside.
Nearby was a man walking; I ask him if he could see an ostrich too. He gave me an odd look and said "yes". "Thank god" says I.
He looked at me as if I just stepped off a UFO.
No sense of humor.

dexmax

a dog and a goat trying to make a baby goat or dog... you figure...

SamDaBikinMan

I look for bugs scurrying across the road. You'd be surprised at how many you'll spot.

Sandra

I mainly see perverts and exhibitionists, drug addicts and winos.

Brother, do I need to find a better place to ride!!

WhiteMtnWench

There seems to be a lot of road-dumb 'possum in the world. The most vivid was a mama 'possum on the side of the road with her babies knocked out of her. All were dead except one tiny guy teetering in the carnage....so sad!

smelly

Things I notice are how crazy fast people drive. Its not uncommon to see people drive 60-70 maybe even 80 mph in a 35 mph zone. I'v also seen alot of car crashes to. Then there are those kids who point and laugh at me when they see me riding my bike.

hillyman

I had two bald eagles do a low level flyby over a bridge on the Tunnel Hill Trail.
My favorite was seeing a redtailed hawk dive from the sky onto a snake then he flew up to a power pole with the snake slithering in his claws.Better than seeing it on tv!

cyclingshane73

(chills) That must have been kinda creepy at the time.

ParamountScapin 

I'm astounded by the amount of "junk" folks collect that you don't see when whizzing by at 45+ in the car. On a bike it is easy to see that a great number of us don't discard anything. We just pitch it in the back or side yard.

John00

I was riding on a fire trail in a large park near my house (Briones), when I saw a man on a horse coming towards me. Behind him was a herd or goats he moves around the park to eat the star thistle, a nonnative plant that is taking over the grassland, in California. I moved off the side of the road to let them pass, the goats were packed tight, shoulder to shoulder, nose to tail taking up the full width of the road. I waited for about 5 min. There were thousands of them. They kept coming like there was no end. As far as I could see in both directions there was a sea of goats. Finally the end of the herd came around into sight still packed as tight as the rest of the herd, and at the very end a very small dog following behind, darting from left to right, nipping at the heals of the last goats. It was an amazing sight, I rode a few hundred feet and passed a bird watcher who saw the goats too. We shared a good laugh and amazement at the experience.

SellingEngland

Not only creepy at the time but every time I ride that loop....Real glad I didn't stop to see what it was.