Wildlife Encounters
 

Last night after leaving a beer drinking, bike ridin' gathering I ran right over a opossum. The little guy just came out of nowhere and ran right under my back tire. I stayed vertical and laughing hysterically, continued on my way. I would never do this on purpose! Hope the little dude was alright, but was not about to stop and check becuase they have big O' scary teeth.

So....
Who has any stories like this? Any animal encounters on the bike?
post em

Just last night a buddy and I were riding in Minneapolis and found three foxes in a yard, I'm not sure I'd ever seen one other than at the zoo.

I read a post on here about some guy hitting a little dog or some such thing and thought to myself..."whatever, how could that ever happen.". Then a few nights later I was riding on 78th street, off of second, a tight treelined street with parked cars on either side. I wasn't going that fast as I was slowing for the stop light...when I look down and WHAM...a cat runs out from under the cars and literally under my bottom bracket (between the wheels). He cleared me and darted under the car on the other side of the street. We didn't touch, no one wrecked...but I rode away laughing...thinking..."oh,,,that's how."

I've neve rhit anything on the bike though nightly I dodge racoons in Central Park and rabbits when I ride up in the 'burbs at night. Rabbits are fast little bastards that dart out of nowhere in the dark!

courtesy of teh interwebz
http://pardo.net/bike/pic/fail-014/squirrel.jpg
a buddy showed me this and others a few days ago. gahhhhh.

I guess more spokes would prevent rodents from getting stuck in your wheels.

i hit an old lady

I see a lot of foxes if I'm close to the river at night. Plenty of deer around, too. Some friends and I saw two bobcats when we were screwing around some rock piles. After they took off we found a half-eaten ground hog (I see those, too. Usually alive). I saw two coyote pups absentmindedly goofing off along a bike trail earlier in the Spring. I made the universal "here boy!" clicking sound with my mouth and they bolted.

I hit some tourists once. Well, just their arms.

One would think that the spokes would give to the pressure of squirrel before the fork snapped?

nice fork eh?

This is why you're supposed to sharpen your spokes, assuming they're bladed.

so that's where the phrase comes from.

did it just lie there, as if dead?

i've actually had the same exact experience except it was coming up the driveway to my house.

Never hit anything, but I did have a bobcat come out in front of me and start going down the street. Followed it, about 20 feet or so behind for a few hundred feet. Finally made a noise to let it know I was there, and it just got off the road and watched me ride by. Pretty cool, I thought.

My latest encounter was with a very nasty looking racoon. I ride dirt country roads daily, and yesterday i happened on a very sick looking racoon. His back legs weren't tracking right and also it is fairly unusual to see them in the daytime. He ran in front of my bike for about 200 yards before he finally diverted.

I didn't want to pass him because i don't like the thought of rabies shots.

I ran into some cougars in Manhattan Beach earlier this week... Har har.

But seriously, rattlesnakes are all over the place where I mountain bike.

Hit a squirrel on Tuesday morn, posted it in the commuter forum. Poor bastard...

I had a deer jump across the road in front of me on Saturday. It wasn't too close, 40 feet or so, but it got my attention.

I've also had a close call with a pheasant. The wings flapping scared the crap out of me.

The most disconcerting encounters are when turkey buzzards circle overhead during a ride. It's like they know something you don't...

He showed you fuzzy pictures?

Racoons and coyotes get really close in the local inner city park. Also today I rode past a squirrel which had just its head run over, looked like rare beef!!

I had a bird divebomb my front wheel once while riding. It smacked right into it, I don't know how it flew away.

oh, he showed me more than that.

he actually showed me some more squirrel-in-spokes pics, but I couldn't find them again. they were in wheels with higher spoke counts, too.

I got a bug in my eye once.

I was riding on an industrial road one afternoon, and these two cats were either fighting, playing, or mating, but they both ran out in front of me. Luckily I quickly skidding to a walking pace. But they both stopped, one on either side of me. I yelled " *****" and they were gone.
Both were feral, and very mangy. But none the less, I guess I can say I was in a ***** sandwich at that moment.