Road Kill
 

What kinds of animals have you guys accidentally run over?

So far I've accidentally mowed down two chipmunks and - get this - a full grown woodchuck who ran out from some tall grass as I was coming by at about 17mph. The chipmunks did not fare well at all, but the woody shook himself off (Warner Bros. cartoon style) and dissappeared into the grass.

I've never actuall hit anything. Two summers ago, I got chased by a squirrel, and the year before that I barely swerved out of the way of a deer crossing the road. My guess is that the squirrel was either rabid, or thought my Bianchi was a pistachio nut ( a slightly different shade of green than Celeste, but I don't think squirrels see color very well). As for the deer, I think I would have been the fatality in that case.

I bet some of the wildlife here is having the same discussion...

Big Horn Sheep: Take down any cyclists lately?
Elk: Almost got this one guy the other night. Lined him up, but he braked just in time.
Rattlesnake: Almost bit one, but he heard my rattle, pooped his pants and hammered his pedals away in a hurry!

I hit a deer - an antlered buck. Square in the gut. Weirdest thing to ever happen to me on a bike.

Fall, 1990. Riding along the American River Bike path in Sacramento at about a 20 mph clip, a deer came bounding out of the brush at a 90 degree angle. From there, everything went into ultra slo-mo. He hit the pavement and his slick hooves caused him to do one of those "Bambi on ice" leg splatters, where his gut goes to the deck. I, having had only about 1 second to react, hit him square in the gut and proceed to topple over him, all the while praying I don't hit one of his antlers. Sprawling ensues and as I raise my head, I see him bouncing back into the woods. I was actually ok physically - a few scrapes was about all - but the front wheel was destroyed. I ended up walking a bit as cell phones were still attached to cars back then.

55/Rad

Another one I witnessed happened a few months ago on a club ride. The group was proceeding single file down a narrow bike path when I noticed a kamakazi squirrel dart across right in front of a rider about 4 bikes up. I thought to myself "lucky squirrel" until the darned thing did an immediate about face and headed back onto the path, only to be scrunched by the guy in front of me. Big yuck factor too.

55/Rad

My closest near-miss was with a groundhog (woodchuck). It startled me but didn't seem to bother him too much.

I've hit a rabbit on my road bike, just missed an Elk on my Mtn. Bike (I'm certain it would have killed me)

This past summer I was riding down an twisty descent when I went through some gravel, I yelled back to my buddy to watch out for it, but didn't know if he heard me. He had to slow down because of some mechanical trouble, so I was looking back to see if had crashed or what when I looked back up I nailed a dead possum and shot his guts and stink all over the place, it was the nastiest thing.

I too had a friend hit a deer on a downhill on his roadbike, it was one of the early Trek OCLV frames. He snapped it right in half. He swears he flew off of his bike and landed on his feet and skidded down the road, surfing on his road cleats. I did not witness this, but It sure is fun to imagine.

That IS rad! :D

I ran over a black snake a few years ago. I felt the crunch more than heard it. It was laying by the edge of the road and I thought it was already dead when it moved into my path. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. My Conti Ultras were unfazed.

Ground squirrel on a tandem
Magpie on commuter bike
2 pigeons - decapitated in the spokes. Very messy.
Several snakes on mountain bike.
Had two geese take off into me. Carried them for about 100 yards as they flailed me with their wings. Boy did that hurt. Very strong - and mad - birds :eek:
Dozens of frog on the Interval in Vermont. I squish grasshoppers all the time in Colorado - kinda a hobby - but I thought the frogs (very small ones) were grasshoppers until I stopped to take a look. I don't like squishing vertabrates.

Stuart Black

i ran over a squirrel on a 35 mile an hour downhill. he stuck to the front tire a little, so he was flung up into my chainring, bounced off the chain and into the back tire. it didn't kill him - i looked back just in time to see him wiggling around and get hit by a car

I've inhaled a lot of gnats and run into human beings 2 times.

I've ran over a snake mountain biking, scared the jeepers out of me at first but then I kept going. At first glace I thought it was a stick so I just ran right over it until my tire felt alittle weird and looked back to realized it was a snake. Other then that nothing as exciting as your stories.

That's funny Snowy, good thing you front wheel didn't throw the bugger up into your lap :eek:

On a century ride last year, I was riding in a line and all of a sudden the guy in front of me pulled out, but I didn't. At that moment I ran over a freshly killed skunk, got his scent gland head on, damn! The guys wouldn't let me back in line, said I'd make them sick from the odor. Took about a week to rid my rear tire of the stench, I would have replaced the tire, but I didn't want to touch the thing.

I ran over something that was already dead once. I have no idea what it was...it was so flat that I didn't even see it until it was too late to react without running into someone else.

I hit the side of a truck once. I was riding on a sidewalk and the truck came speeding out of an alley. I hit my brakes and slowed down a lot, but I still hit it. The people in the truck just laughed.

Yeah, I know....that's why nobody rides on the sidewalk.

A squirrel, once. He bolted across my path on a steep fast road decent. He sort of grabbed the front tire as it ran over him, and that tossed him onto my upper body, where he scurried around for an instant before jumping/falling into the spokes of my rear wheel. Amazingly he was ejected from the wheel, apparently without too much harm-because he ran straight up a tree afterwards. The whole thing happened so fast I hardly knew what had happened.

WHOA :eek: like a zombie-snake? I hate zombies.

Holy Crap.

Ran into a bee. Yep! Got stung inside my mouth. I almost fell off of my bike! :D

I know what you mean! I had a phone like that too way back when...

RT

Tarantula. It was dusk and I didn't see it until he opened up and started moving. On another ride my wife was riding ahead of me. We were about 2 miles from home. A four foot long (she says 12 feet) red racer snake made it between her front and rear wheel without being hit. She whooped about that all the way home.

Back in the 70's, my brother clipped a medium sized dog on a down-hill and crashed. Bent his forks and tubular rim all to heck and wore some pretty nasty scabs around on his arms and legs for a while. This was before helmets were heavily advocated - he's lucky he didn't crack his skull.

Cat - it was dark - right in front of my house. Next day my neighbor is outside calling here kitty kitty. Poor cat made it off the road into some woods before dying. Man did I feel bad about that.

I have also hit a snake, and a squirrel (squirrel survived).

Then there is the dog that chased me on my MTB and was biting at my ankles which I SHOULD have run over. Or should I have run over the owner standing there with leash in hand?

Besides the chip's, the only other thing that I came very close to hitting was a pack of Turkey Vultures. I was on a rolling stretch and came up over a small hill and the SOB's were right there. Dam near crashed trying to avoid them, and then they started running at me. Pissy bunch if you ask me. :eek:

The other strange thing that I noticed last year was the number of dead chips. Ton's around my part of the world.

:roflmao: I'm sorry, but I'm laughing my butt off with this one..... :roflmao:

A couple of notes.....when I'm driving my girls (6 & 12yrs) in my truck we all sit in the front. In the fall the squirrels go bananas, I don't know if it's mating season or what but they do that crazy run to the middle of the street, stop, swish their tails a couple of times at me like a little bullfighter then either run back to the side they come from, or to the other side, or under my tires.......
So here's what usually happens. I'm driving, the squirrel runs to the middle of the road and swishes a challange at me, I yell "squirrel" which gets the girls both looking out the window and pleading "Daddy don't hit it !!!". I don't alter my path, well almost never, then we all go silent. We either proceed on with the girls cheering the squirrel's apparent victory over "daddy's bad truck", or we get the "thump, thump" to which the girls howl & moan the rest of the way home about their "mean ole daddy"...... :D

The deer scare me though....I haven't hit any with my bike but I have had many near misses in my truck. It's not the one crossing the road that will get you. It's the 3 or 4 more on the side that you can't see. They wait til the last minute and then suddenly collectively decide they must cross now to rejoin their friends on the other side.....

This isn't bike related, but oh well....

One day after my brother had just gotten his license he was driving me home from school and we saw a cat in a ditch close to the road. The cat gave us this scared, "don't run over me" look and just stood there frozen. My brother, being a young idiot, jokingly swerved towards the cat to scare it some more. The cat, being a dumb cat, ran into the road right in front of the car and got hit.

Well last year was my first full year in cycling and I ve already got a few stories. I live in Iowa (Deer capital over the known universe) and our group ride takes a paved country highway. First 3 rides of the year guy on the front hits a deer BLAM couldnt get out of the way. In the Fall I had one come at me while i was riding solo, I think it was rutting must have liked the way i smelled. Was far enough away I could actualy U turn and speed off the other way I hadnt planned on tangled with a deer that day. Only kill i ve gotten was a wild turkey in a State park (oops). Was decending down a hill with a friend at about 25 and came to a blind corner sweeping from L to R. As we took the corner sweeping out wide to take the apex and cutting it to the inside 3 wild turkeys were standing there, I guess waiting for the Butter Ball truck to pick them up. Couldnt swerve with my buddy behind me, just rode my line....straight into the biggest one. Luckily didnt throw me off the bike but I did get dark meat everywhere.
Deastin

I was on a long ride out in the country with one other guy. We go by this house and a dog comes out, running along side us but up in the yard. We pick up speed but so does the dog. Then, it runs down from the yard into the road and I nail it dead center. I do a front/side endo and land on my hip and elbow. Dog yelps....runs around in a circle for a a bit then takes off. My shorts are ripped, I have a nice road rash on my hip and elbow and my bike's fork is bent. I go up to the house and a hick comes out. I demand his home owner's insurance policy or I am calling the cops. He gives up the policy number. I ride home slowly as bike will not steer right with a bent fork.

Later, I call the insurance co. and make a claim and they send me a check for $600. I get the bike straitened, buy some new shorts and pocket the change.