Death by Squirrel?
 

Must be the time of year, but I've had what seems like dozens of these little buggers dash out right in front of my tire, pause, and do a little suicide dance before they go dashing back off into the woods...

Anyone else? Any other critters almost taking you out?

Cats often are bad for this....curiosity runs over the cat....or I swerve it and nearly wipe.

Groundhogs galore here. Those suckers streak right in front of me every night. They are big enough that I will crash if I ever hit one, too.

Had one almost spoke him self in my rear wheel at the part just a few minutes ago infact. I think i clipped him not sure though i was doing around 20 i guess (no comp) he darted out by my pedals i looked down and seen him flip around and dart back off the road. Couldnt tell if i clipped him or not but they way he flipped and landed ill asume i clipped him a bit.

I had a few rabbits run infront of me on a trail ride the other day. Luckily they are usually pretty quick and to the point and cross the roads before I can get to them. :)

Squirrels here too, almost ran over a gorundhog once, and almost got hit by a deer once as well!!

There's this doe on the bike path near me that keeps giving me "The L@@k." She looks ticked off ... I don't think she wants to race.

chipmonk last night.

Then after you crash, they high-five each other...

Had something run out of the brush trail-side and BETWEEN my wheels last spring. Luckily I had just rounded a curve and wasn't going too fast. Didn't see it clearly. Thought it was a squirrel, but it might have been a rabbit.

Check out my squirrel experience from this past spring. Be sure to check out my post on page 2 it has damage photos.

Mostly rabbits here, there's tons of them in the Newport Back Bay. They usual dash accross the road, but once in a while you get one that freezes right in front of the tire. Would a 23mm tire slice a rabbit in half, or are you going over the bars if you hit one at 25mph?

I was riding my 30 lbs dual suspension MTB on the sidewalk when I ran over a stupid squirrel. He ran along side the bicycle then darted in front of my bike. Felt like a large bump in the road. I think the squirrel survived.

- random armadillos dashing across the path are a treat in the early a.m.

- there are also daily suicide squirrel conventions down here... (3 or 4 gather in the middle of the path)

- i really like getting up close to some of the less wary squirrels, then watch them spin in a tight circle several times before they decide to go 180...

- bird attacks are common as well...

its mostly 2 legged humans or their 4 wheeled comapanion around here.. They pass you and dive right...

I have never had an Animal run in front of me... I guess I dont hit the back roads enough..

One of the guys in my club almost hit one going 26 mph. That wouldve been intersting.

Squirrel I don't know about, but last year I saw the results of what happens when a rabbit jumps into your front wheel. Not very pretty.

Last month I was cruising down a hill and a cat ran right into my downtube , between the tires and took off into the bush. Luckily I stayed upright, I looked for the cat but he was long gone and I assume he is fine.

Asphalt moles, the ones that burrow half-way into street tar and vanish. They don't seem to live in these holes, but they MUST be stopped! :rolleyes:

Happens to me all the time. More frightening than squirrels though is when I'm riding down a country road with woods on both sides and I spook a deer or two... the sound of the rustling scares the bejesus out of ya, then they tend to want to run along side you, probably looking for an opening to cross the road. That's when ya just downshift and try to outrun them to avoid the inevitable collision with 200 lbs of flesh, bone and antlers.. SCARY!

Last spring, a squirrel dashed into the road straight in front of my path, sat up and just stared at me while I was coming down the mountain around a curve at close to 30mph. It was about 15 ft. away and instinctively I squeezed on my brakes and the bike locked up. The next thing I remember was doing an endo over my bike and flopping down on the pavement on my right side. My bike did a few somasaults and I ended up with a huge swollen bruise on my right pelvis and a bunch of bruised ribs. I was very lucky that nothing was broken or cracked, but I was in such pain that I could barely walk after that. If I had flown at little further to the right I would have fallen down the side of a cliff and no one would've found me except perhaps for some turkey vultures.

I normally would never intentionally hurt a small animal or even an insect, but since my "Geico" incident, I've decided that if I ever see a squirrel get in my way and it was going to be either him or me, I'm just going to ride right over the bugger and feel sorry later. It's not worth it to risk my life over it.

-Kevin

I ran over a squirrel last fall on my bike, but I was lucky enough not to crash or hurt my bike. I always worry that one is going to go into my spokes though since I think that would do a lot more damage. Has anyone had this happen?

I have heard -- although I do not know the truthfulness of this -- that a squirrel's suicide dance is basically a response to what you're doing. The theory that I heard is based on squirrels not being amoung the brightest critters in the world -- i.e., squirrels tend to interpret just about anything that's moving and larger then them as a predator. A squirrel's best defense against being eaten is their ability to dance the way they do... So, they interpret you trying to miss them as you circling around to attack from behind (i.e., they're dancing so that you lose them as you're circling around for the attack). This implies that the best way to avoid a squirrel is to actually aim right at the little bugger, and let the squirrel dive out of your way. i.e., do exactly what the squirrel thinks you should be doing -- attack!

Having the courage to actually try this is a different matter, but from what I've seen there might be some truthfulness to the "aim right for them" theory.

Definitely true. I always aim (after years of swerving, like an idiot, until I was advised to do the above). With the dozens of squirrels that do the "indecision jig" in front of me on my commute through the park, I've never hit one using the "aim" technique.

I did run over one's tail once, while on some single track on my mtb, but I never saw him until I actually ran over him. He kept on going, though....

Back in early june, a small bird flew up from the side of the road and ended his life in my front wheel. I felt the impact and remember it sounding like someone striking a tuning fork. Poor little guy. :( All I could find afterwards was a pile of feathers. :(

Dante

We were two miles from home on our way in when a snake slithered between the wheels of my wife's bike. I still giggle when I think of her whooping, yelling and screaming for the rest of the trip.