Originally Posted by
ofajen
No, but my mail carrier has warned me of the dangers of a squirrel running into your wheel spokes. She said a friend of hers was seriously injured in a fall when this happened.
Now I ring the bell or yell at them if they are on the trail ahead of me in hopes of scaring them off the trail. Probably seems silly, but a few weeks ago, one started out of my way, then ducked back in at the last moment and got partway into the spokes of my rear wheel. Didn’t affect my motion but I’m afraid the squirrel was hurt.
Otto
squirrels are wiry little bastards. It’s on the internet so take it for what it’s worth, but there’s a pic floating around out there of the aftermath of a squirrel taking down a cyclist. It apparently ran through a front wheel, got whipped up and jammed in the CF fork. One might think that the spokes would slice the squirrel, but the fork gave way instead, snapping at squirrel level and taking the rider down. The rider survived (injured) but the squirrel succumbed (good!). I have seen a squirrel zapped by high voltage - flash, bang, smoke, squirrel hanging off the cable dead-like for minutes, then waking up and scampering off. Like I said - wiry little bastards. I do my best to avoid them - I slow down until it’s clear that they’re not going to attempt a kamikaze through my wheel