[Crashby]

So I was just riding along this morning on my first ever pre-work ride, and this turtle (about 20" long) was just sittin' in the middle of the narrow single track. Steep slant to the right, and steep drop-off to the left. Needless to say, gravity won, and I took a bit of a tumble as to not harm our prehistoric friend.
:dancing:

Here's a picture of the little bastid:

Who else has any trail/animal stories?

 

[Echo]

Ha! What trail was that on?

 

[Crashby]

Ha! What trail was that on?

American Flag Trail... you know how I do it...

 

[Skookum]

Touche turtle salutes you!

 

[DVNT]

 

[bluebug32]

Way to look out for our shelled friend. You get the gold star for the day.

I always have a problem with woodchucks lumbering out in front of me when I'm riding at a good clip and I've come very close to marking them with my front tire. And then there are the Canada Geese who hiss at me, refusing to let me pass as they walk their gosslings VERY slowly across the trail.

Beth

 

[hooples3]

you should have turtle-hopped him!!!!!

 

[MTB_Rob_NC]

We have Armadillos down here at my favorite trail, Markham Park (Sunrise, FL).

DUMBMOFO's that move slowly, with their heads down. But they are stout and you will tumble if you hit one.

Then at Oleta (North Miami Beach) which is basically ON the IntraCoastal waterway there are a bunch of Fiddler Crabs. They are usually quick back to their little holes, but if you do get one they make a cool crunching sound

 

[MMcG]

Last year MBC, IAB and I all rode by a copperhead at the W. Hartford Reservoir - we had to go home that night and look it up as we didn't realize what it was while on the trail. I think someone had already squished it though as it wasn't really moving when we rode by it. It was a pretty big snake for around these parts though.

Last year at the Reservoir I was within 7 or 8 feet of a young deer who followed me for a bit as I had stopped to wait up for MBC and IAB who were riding behind me.

 

[pixelninja]

I've had to stop and wait for a couple elk to finish eating and slowly wander off the trail. This was at Apex Park just outside of Golden.

I came across a severed deer leg at White Ranch before. This was just a couple weeks after a mtb'er had a standoff with a mountain lion in the same area. Needless to say, we didn't stop.

 

[C.P.]

It was a Night ride. About 10 years ago, I was doin a fast dowhill section of a ride in Noanet Woods (with another friend), when out of the right corner of my eye I saw a movement. Faster then any kind of reflex I could have delivered, a large deer (buck)galloped full speed across the trail (perpendicularly) right in front of me...I missed his hind quarters by inches. He disappeared into the darkness...by then, I was white-knuckling the brakes (which was too late of course), and when I came to a stop, I started counting my lucky stars.

 

[reflux]

Cal Poly SLO's team president a few years back (2 or 3) was hit by a peacock in the chest in the middle of Berkeley's road race. Someone from SLO please correct me if it was a different race.

 

[splat]

On Wednesday as I was riding to work , there was a Coyote on the side of the road.

and Last Sumnmer doing a Mt bike ride with my Son , I startled a WIld turkey as I rode past it ( not seeing it till it flew out in front of me ) and it scared the crap out of me !


and a couple years ago I was riding down a Trail and I scared ( I didn't see it ) a Huge Buck , and he went running across the trail about 10 yards in front of me . I bet he would have made a great trophy !

and of course numouse sets of eyes looking back at us during night rides

 

[Denny]

Back in 2001 or 2002, I was on a night ride with Craig from Park Ave Bikes (ROC). We were cruisin' down the trail, and he gets a bat in the face.

That's right, he and a bat collided, the bat took a while to get off his face, too. He had a helmet light, so he saw the whole thing...

 

[LordOpie]

Turtles are awesome!

I've had run ins with rattle snakes and big horn, but the best two were both in Waterton Canyon SW of Denver. I rode up quickly on three elk who FREAKED OUT and ran into each other and then different directions... one decide the safest direction was right at the source of their stress... me?! Nearly got trampled, but it was cool

The neatest was same area, I spotted a black good sized animal just hanging out. Not sure what I was I approached slowly. Got to about 100 feet when it stood up. It was a 4 foot black bear. i've never seen a bear outside of a zoo, so I sat and watched it for a while. He eventually ran off into the woods.

 

[Damn True]

Banana slugs are pretty common, I see a lot of wild boar and deer, Redtail hawks are like pidgeons around here, and I have seen two mountain lions.

 

[splat]

Banana slugs are pretty common, I see a lot of wild boar and deer, Redtail hawks are like pidgeons around here, and I have seen two mountain lions.

don't the slugs make a mess of your tires ?

 

[Damn True]

don't the slugs make a mess of your tires ?

They splatter all over the downtube. But it comes off pretty easilly as long as you don't let it dry. Not bad with a little tobasco.

 

[bikenweed]

I was riding my motorcycle out to the Parkfield race in 2003 that CPSLO puts on. Anyone that's been to Parkfield from Hwy 46 knows the huge straightaway that's waaay out in the countryside. As you can guess, I was pinned in 5th on my old school Kawasaki. Around 105-110mph I look down to the speedo, then look up to see a flock of birds flying up from the road. One bird was a little too slow, and I caught him straight in my chest. I had the wind knocked out of me, but luckily nothing worse happened. Bird died.

Last summer I was riding the trails by my parent's house, coming back up a fireroad. I was doing intervals on my DH bike up the road, and sprinting around a tight and slightly uphill corner, I see an older guy coming down the road on the left with a dog between us. Then as the corner continues, two more dogs show up right in front of me, and not one was on a leash. I tried to thread the needle, but the smaller dog ran in front of me. BOOM, over the bars. My Boxxer bent pretty badly due to the impact. I just got up and left to prevent any physical fighting that would have occured if I tried to talk to the guy. Back at the trail head I checked the sign, and it says dogs must be on a leash. That gave me a huge hematoma for a couple months. Man, that sucked. I felt bad for possibly killing his dog, but there wasn't much I could do. Whew, hitting dogs sucks!

 

[TreeSaw]

Yeah, you saved a turtle

Well, last spring we were bombing down Spier Falls (with Instigator, Echo, Deyv, Isa, and Sq-Earl) we had to avoid a family of baby turkeys while mommy sat on the side of the trail making all sorts of noise. On Wednesday night I ran over a milk snake and it tried to bite me...funny thing is, I was going to try and kick at it's mouth as it tried to bite me, but I was clipped in

Other than that, the occassional chipmunk running along the trail, deer, snapping turtles by the swamp and Sq-Earl and a frog jump through his wheel once too.

 

[Skookum]

i've seen plenty of critters, i have yet to see a cartoon critter in the woods, but back around 15 years or so ago after dropping some.... well never mind. :dancing:

 

[beestiboy]

Couple of Rattlesnakes but didnt get tossed.

Riding Northrim in Chico for the first time some stupid hiker, I wont mention the sex but its the one without a penis, and their two mutts off of the leash were coming up a pretty narrow section i was going down.

Being the rookie I tried to come to a stop and let them past, but hit something and went over the bars. Thanks to my camelback no injuries and no the mutts were fine would have liked to smack her though.

 

[erastusboy]

i was snowboarding and hit a chipmonk which flipped on to my board where it enjoyed the ride for about 3 seconds deciding what to do before it ran away into the woods

 

[Spitfired]

Back in 2001 or 2002, I was on a night ride with Craig from Park Ave Bikes (ROC). We were cruisin' down the trail, and he gets a bat in the face.

That's right, he and a bat collided, the bat took a while to get off his face, too. He had a helmet light, so he saw the whole thing...

Haha, that's hilarious. Craig welded a few frames for me and built my XC frame of my design.
He's a great guy, has his own shop now The Mendon Cyclesmith.
I really need to get out there and say hello.

To contribute to the post, when building trails recently I found a salamander and named him Steve.

 

[stinky|Dan]

This'll be a rare one for you guys. On XC rides we frequently share the trails with Kangaroos. They go REALLY fast.

Dan

 

[Anders]

i ran over a dead deer once

 

[splat]

Today Berkshire_rider and my self saw this guy !

 

[Clark Kent]

If you kill it with your bike, you need to take a bite. :dancing:



.....its a rule...