Shimagnolo

I ran over one once when the dumb thing darted across the MUP to get to the pond. (They seem to have this get-to-water fixation when potential danger is present, even if that means jumping directly in front of the danger.)

On another occasion, a dumb one launched an attack head-on at me. Just as it went airborne, my mtn brake lever caught it in the chest and knocked it backward out of the air. (Aggression due to presence of goslings).

voyager1

02Giant 

I've had three that would have ended in injury for me, had we collided.

Early one morning riding into the sunrise on a rural rails to trails MUP, I can tell something is coming at me, it is huge, just before meeting it veers sharply to my left, it was a bull, running towards me.

Another time, a deer came out of a creek bed on another rural rails to trails MUP. He landed on his hooves just in front of me, his legs were spinning trying to gain traction, we missed each other by a foot or two.

The other I recall was a goat, I assumed it wouldn't move my way, it did, and we barely missed each other.

bikecrate

Thousands of encounters with the SSS (Suicide Squirrel Squad). Only 4 actually hit. The most dramatic instance one of them went for a Ferris wheel ride on my front wheel and flew over my shoulder. I had a pair of cats chasing each other across the street. One went past my front tire and the other the back tire. They timed it perfectly. Many dogs. Usually I can out sprint them, but had one almost go under the front wheel. Had a duck take off from the side of the road. I went flat on the handle bars as it flew right over my back. I could feel its wings hitting me. If we are counting insects too...a bee flew into the unzipped top of my jersey. I gently shook the bottom of the jersey and it flew out again. Also had a really large bug hit my glasses and actually cracked them.

Yendor72

A daredevil squirrel once plucked a few of my front spokes, he came out hard and fast then turned in the same direction I was traveling, I heard a few pings of my spokes the he darted back the way he came.

A fawn came out onto the rural MUP I frequent, I spooked it and it headed the same way on the trail I was going. The scary part was when it's sibling showed up and a second behind was mom. By that point I was right on top of them. Luckily mom pointed them up the other side of the trail and they disappeared. I learned after that, that they can kick back and their hooves are extremely sharp.

Then there was the day time ride to have a beer. Same rural MUP, heading to another town. My wife and I on our fat bikes. She was leading and I hear a scream through my headset (we hear headsets) and she is on the brakes. Braking because a skunk was on the side of the path. It pointed its butt right at me. I had to give the wife a lesson on not stopping for a skunk.

banerjek

Many close encounters with elk, deer, dogs, coyote, skunks, raccoons. No collisions yet but two "code brown" situations involving high speeds, elk and deer.

My favorite BF animal encounter report... Animal that scares you the most when riding

Bikesplendor

I collided with a deer while going downhill fast. Much like the video, except at night, and there were two deer in the road. Helmet cracked. Road rash. Sticky for days. Probably had a concussion, though I didn't go to a doctor. Could have broken my neck if I had landed a little differently.

Deer can be unpredictable and panicky. They often make just the wrong moves. Mine froze. If they had just kept moving it would have been fine.

Came very close to hitting three bears, also at night, also in the mountains and going fast downhill.

Had a series of other bear encounters. Made contact in one. Came face-to-face about an inch away in another. About a foot in another. About a yard away in several others.

Shuffleman

Jon T

The bison were put on Catalina in the 20's or 30's for making a movie and then left there. I'll bet you didn't know that during the Civil War there was a Federal Army post on the island at Twin Harbors. California was pro-Confederacy and the Federal Army was worried about all the gold in Cali and they didn't want it winding up to support the Southern Cause. Same reason Alcatraz was originally a Federal out post--to protect the San Francisco bay against gold-runners. Interesting, no?
Jon

jon c. 

Had a raccoon chase me a while back, growling and sort of barking as if he wished to be a menacing dog. Never saw one behave like that before.

rutan74

My 2 cents here.

Hit a dog once. He ran out and tried, in vain, to bite my front wheel. He instead got T-boned with that front wheel. I managed to stay upright and kept moving. That is until I looked down at my front wheel. Nice wobble. Turned around and went back to find the perp. Kids in the yard evidently had stashed the dog indoors. I could not be 100% sure of the house but I was ripped and was going to have the owner pay for a new rim. Never happened though as everyone scattered.

Second incident. My riding partner and I are headed out on a Sunday morning. About 2 miles from the house we are on a slight downward section of road. I was about 15 feet behind him. He points over at the centerline and there is a large black snake moving across the road. He passes the snake but his motion stirs the snake and it does a 180 to the right side of the road where I am headed. No time to move. The snake is scared and fast and believe it or not makes it across the road in between my front and rear wheel all without me making contact! Now that will get the blood flowing early in the morning.

I can relate to the deer too. I had one run across a road I ride on that is heavily wooded and lucky for me, it was about 10 yards in front of me. Just flew out of the woods straight across the road. That was a near miss.

As others have said, I've had squirrels run thru my wheels, buzzed by turkey vultures and many snakes along the side of the road. Still no bears though. Two dog bites and a fellow group rider that went down in front of me and I hit him square in the back and I did the ole up and over landing on my back. Luckily, I've had no injuries through all of these. I have to admit though, the dogs are the real problem for me. Have to get a camera to record. No one believes the crap I run into out on the country roads.

john

bakerjw

I had a border collie go into my front wheel once. I didn't go down too hard but was about a week from flying to Canada to ride the Tour Divide route.

My friend Dave has had several dog altercations.
This was kind of funny.

Lemond1985

Bike rider was just asking for it, dressed in that colorful jersey and them tight bicycle racing pants.

Brad L 

Around 20 years ago I was in a race that finished with two laps of a 13 mile loop out in the country. Being in the last third of the pack, I saw a small-ish dog run directly into the pack ahead of me. The dog ran directly under a team-mate's rear wheel, causing him to bounce in the air, but fortunately not crash. It was a strange sight as the group parted ahead of me and the dog tumbled down the center. On the next lap, the dog was barking from the porch.

atwl77

This picture has been doing its rounds in a couple of my local WhatsApp cycling groups recently. No idea of its source though.

Trsnrtr

My wife and I were hit by a deer while riding our tandem in 2001.

We had just started a downhill when a doe and a fawn came out of some woods from the right. Both jumped and the doe cleared me but the fawn hit my wife in the shoulder. The impact knocked us across the road and into a shallow ditch with deep soft grass. My wife suffered bruising from the elbow up to her neck and down her chest to her right breast. It took 6 months for her shoulder joint to quit hurting.