So in the past week, I was charged at by a llama (yes, a llama...), had a young bunny try to martyr itself under my front wheel, and was dive bombed by a bird (not sure of they type as I didn't have my Audobon(?) guide handy). After spending enough time on the road, we've all had our dog chase stories, but what about other animal encounter stories can you share?

I was riding down a kind of country road - wooded one side and farm the other, slight downhill so had a good head of steam going on. A deer popped out of the wood 30 or 40 yards ahead of me. I saw me and and tried to change direction flailing its hooves on the asphalt road surface. Poor thing almost went down in its panic. Pretty comical sight - like Wylie Coyote trying to get back to cliff after running off it.

A squirrel was running across the road toward the side of the road i was riding on. Saw me, turned 180 degrees and met its demise under the car wheels coming the other way.

A red tail hawk swooped down right in front of me, crossed the road and nailed a squirrel or rabbit on the opposite verge. That was amazing to see. Another time a red tail rose out of the grass on the side of the road as I cycled past. Scared the stuff out of me until I realized what it was. Must have been within 5 or 6 feet of it when it took off. They can be pretty big birds.

I walked up to a mountain lion in Newark, Delaware about 15 years ago. Not knowingly.

Wild ride with horses.

https://vimeo.com/5432274

I found a small caterpillar on the front of my jersey on Wednesday. No idea how he got there, but I suspect he was trying to throw himself into my spokes and got thrown up.

Squirrels like darting out in front of me almost every day on the way home. I'm pretty sure they know I'm on to their little game, I've stopped trying to avoid them, they seem to do a pretty good job of darting out of the way at the last second. They're my little squirrel buddies!

A cougar, one particular bear, and a dragonfly were probably among my most memorable.

I saw a bird once.





I think it was a bird, anyway.

Was it flipping or flapping?

About 20 years ago The Santa Ana River (Southern California) used to have a muddy bottom/sides and the MUP along its levees used to dip below roadway bridges where swallows would build their nests (they are communal birds, so LOTS of nests). You'd ride under the bridges and there would be 100s of swallows darting around chasing insects. It would 'freak' you out the first few times, but swallows are really agile birds while in flight and you wouldn't get hit; actually a pretty cool experience. Just my luck that one time I'm blazing through an underpass and not worry ing about the birds, and a pigeon is in the mix of birds. Didn't realize it was there until it goes "WHACK!" against my shoulder. Didn't fall off the bike, nor break anything, but that sure did hurt for a few days!

deer, dogs and those ****ing lil green worms the hangs from trees in the spring. Freaked me out when I got back home and felt something wriggling in my hair.......I hate bugs. Oh and I've nearly ran over my kids cause the luv to stop right in front of me. I can't wait to take their training wheels off so they know that they can't just stop.

My commute home passes by a lake, I almost had a head-on collision with a Canada Goose trying to land in said lake.

Had a squirrel try to run through my frone wheel. Idjit squirrel bounced off the spokes and scampered back up the tree, probably with a blinding headache.

I missed running over an Opossum by about 2" one dark morning.

Maybe that is how I picked up my friend...

Fawn I saw this week.

One time I raced a coyote down the main dirt road of a nature preserve on my mtb. On the same trip I surprised a bobcat who was about to breakfast on a bunny. The bobcat was surprised and the bunny saw it's chance to get away.

I saw a fox last month when I was on vacation. That was the first one I've ever seen outside a zoo.

On my hometown rides I've seen dolphins and manatees in the nearby water.

I played chicken with a turkey vulture earlier this summer. The worst was when I flew into a swarm of gnats that lasted for 20 miles. I was finding those guys in my hair for a couple days after the ride.

On my commute yesterday I got chased by two turtles... I outran them!

I also had a flying insect get lodged in my helmet vent. Not cool.

I surprised a pack of bears once having a garbage picnic at the Helen Hunt Falls Park up in Colorado Springs once. There were at least 8 of them, trash was strewn everywhere, and one of them was even sitting on top of the picnic table. I dismounted and was digging out my camera, but when I thoughtlessly ripped open the velcro of my camera case, they bolted in all directions. One of them never saw what made the noise and was (it still makes my butt pucker when I remember this) running directly at me.
I was standing on the wrong side of my bike, wearing useless plastic shoes on ice-cold asphalt, with a top tube in one hand and a %$%#@& velcro camera case in the other. My dog-conditioning instincts took over and I stood tall & erect, looked the panicked bear in the eyes, (and braced for impact/devourment....)
...and the dang bear ran right past me as if I were a tall & erect lycra-clad tree in the forest.
Whenever I smell valerian root, it reminds of the smell of that bear as it thundered past, inches away.


And then there was the time a Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Monument when I got trampled in my tent by a herd of deer. Got stomped in three places, my tent was destroyed, and my motorcycle knocked over and spilling gasoline in the snow; but that is a motorcycle story.

My wife and I had a huge 6 point? buck run inbetween us last year. We must have been 30 feet apart at the time and this was downtown on the bike path here. Awesomeness!

I've been chased by my share of dogs but beyond the deer only had a raccoon run out on me from a ditch. Luckily I missed the creature.

I am riding at night now so I hear the crashes in the brush but can't see anything (mostly deer or squirrels). But on the last ride I had what looked like a moth or small flying insect fly in the light my supernova put out for about 1/2 mile. It reminded me of what dolphins do when they swim in front of ships at the prow.

Last year I was on an early morning joyride and a beaver crossed my path, slowly enough that I had to stop in the road to wait for it to pass (I was afraid of scaring it senseless, in case it ran back across my path as I passed). It was just waddling across the road dragging a long branch in it's teeth, walking towards the beach. Very cute.

I saw another beaver foraging around the edge of the river from above two weeks ago, as I was crossing a bridge. Not nearly a close encounter though.

Saw a couple of deer last week on a forest ride - both within about 5-10 meters. The second one, a small buck, scared me as it jumped out of a bush (I think it was sleeping) just as I was passing it.

And then what happend? Don''t leave us hanging.

Ahhh......I hope it found it's mommy. Great video.

Wow!!!! That must of been something to watch.

Yep, I'm waiting for the turkey vulture smackdown too. Ugly things.

Good for you. If they had chased me on my trike, they probably would have won.

My wild animal/insect encounter.

I got swamped by clouds of lovebugs looking for a place to make out. It was raining and I had a yellow rain poncho on. Between the rain and the lovebugs landing on my glasses and all over my poncho, it was a horror of a commute that day. Nasty, nasty things. They should get a room.

Tons of rabbits, tons of prairie dogs, several snakes, a road runner, a coyote, geese, several swans, a falcon and deer,deer and more deer. This morning there was a herd of about 4 does, 5 to 6 bucks and a couple of fawns. I ride through a state park every morning and evening on my commute.

this morning was my most "breath taking" animal encounter... I was going down hill at a decent clip (25-30mph) and a woodchuck ran out in front of me... within a few feet. Good thing I was looking forward and on the hoods so I could hit the brakes in a hurry or I would have hit the MF and ruined my ride.