qajaq

Saw this thread yesterday and nailed this critter just this morning. Tried to cut across just as I was going by....fast, but not fast enough.

canklecat

So. Much. Blood.

I remember.

Oh... wait a sec... what's that other "b" word?

Beer! So much beer that night. That, I remember.

KraneXL

Squirrels are pretty stupid but they don't attack they run away. I also think they may have pretty bad eyesight or are farsighted.

Tape2012

I hit a snake in Michigan, more gross than scary. Saw a skunk pop out of the tall grass next to the road, luckily I was able to stop cuz 4 baby skunks followed right behind her.

Squirrels lose their s**t when they see a bike barreling at them, geese just don't give a damn so your gonna have to maneuver around them.

Fuunny story. I was riding with my college roommate in his Ford Bronco when a squirrel ran out in front of us and proceeded to do run back and forth while losing his mind. We tried slowing down, the squirrel finally just froze in place dead center. We thought we were golden but just before we go to it, it stood up as tall as it could. We heard it hit the rear differential, which was quite a feat as it was at least 18" above the road. Looking in the mirror after, we saw it tumble down the road 3 or 4 times then scamper up a tree. If it lived, I'm sure it lost several IQ points.

Stormy Archer

hold on, smaller than a MOOSE???? how large is your daughter???? there are probably a few dogs bigger than most of us

...not that i'd feel safe running into say, a 70lb dog!!! they tend to be kind of stupid too, with all that domestication. Deer are smaller than mooses too...

Stormy Archer

On a serious note, I think I swerved to avoid a skunk a while ago, and in retrospect that makes more sense. Skunks don't run away as much cause they have another form of defense...... I'll swerve in front of the skunk though, not behind.

Also, I'd cry if I ever killed something.

bobwysiwyg

Not sure I follow. If you mean to suggest deer and 70lb dogs are worthy of swerving to avoid at highway speed, I still disagree.

mr_bill

Why you should brake for moose. (No graphic injuries to moose or driver shown in the video. "Just" the resulting crash damage to the SUV.)

BTW, few people driving motor vehicles have the skill to successfully swerve around a moose at highway speeds. And many SUVs and light trucks suck so bad there's even a vehicle dynamics test with the nickname "Älgtest" ("Moose Test").

-mr. bill

bikecrate

I've had a few encounters with the Suicide Squirrel Squad. Mostly they have hit my front wheel/tire making a thunking sound. One time a squirrel got a little ride when the front wheel flung him up in the air. He went flying right past my face and right shoulder. I could feel his fur brush my cheek and his little claws trying to grab my jersey. He scampered off when he hit the ground. Agree it is best to just hold your line. They are too unpredictable.

5teve

I once had a chipmunk scurry right up to the edge of the road as I was pedaling by. He pulled up short and sat up on his hindquarters waiting for me to pass. Only he must've thought my front wheel was the only thing passing, cause as soon as it was by he ran under me and I got him with the back wheel. CRUNCH! DOA, at least-I wouldn't have wanted him to linger.

Nearly hit a garter snake just a month or so back while riding the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive with a buddy. I was leaned into a fast downhill curve doing 30+ and saw him sunning himself right in my line JUST before I hit him. I yanked the bike left, then right, nearly over-correcting into the curb but self and snake both escaped unscathed save for a few more grey hairs for me, and no doubt whatever passes for grey hairs aomongst our scaly, slithering friends...

mixteup

Looks like a Lemming - Good thing there wasn't a mass migration .....

Tape2012

Not to mention that hitting an animal in the roadway and hitting something hard next to the roadway while trying to avoid an animal are two very different tinsurance claims.

kap 7

HA! yes isn't that the truth!? They can't even be bothered by holding up 4 lanes of heavy car traffic around here no matter how angry the motorists get and attempt to get them to move along. On a MUP that was just completed this spring and I've only been on a handful of times I've come across wild turkeys twice - not sure yet what to think of those yet (i didn't even know they ran wild here) ... but I have been attacked by a goose once so I think i'll try to keep my distance from the turkeys best I can.

leob1

I've had them run along side my front wheel a bunch of times. All but one decided to either stop or turn away from the bike. One turned to go between the wheels, he didn't make it. Bump, don't know it's final status.
I also hit a snake, which cause it to cough up the fish it was trying to swallow. When I went back to look at it, I ran over the fish too. The fish was scooped back into the water and swam away. The snake just sat there.

Milton Keynes

Never ran over a squirrel, but I have witnessed a couple of birds murdering a squirrel. There are two trees in front of my place of business, two black birds were going nuts over a squirrel which had climbed down one tree and was attempting to climb up the other. The birds kept swooping & dive bombing the squirrel. Eventually the squirrel headed back to tree #1 , and both birds swooped down to dive bomb it again, eventually chasing the squirrel into the street where it met an unfortunate fate with a Ford F150.

Milton Keynes

One morning I nearly ran over a skunk, too, which was running across the road with his tail in the air. I was hoping and praying that he wasn't going to spray. Never smelled anything on my next lap through there, so I guess he held it in. I was going way too fast to stop, and common sense told me that if I'd tried to stop I'd likely have ended up right behind the skunk, not a good place to be.

Stormy Archer

My point is that if there IS an animal to make your decision change from braking to swerving or vice versa, I don't understand why it would be a moose of all things!

Tape2012

I would say any animal that stands tall enough to go over your hood and into your windshield would change my mind. Moose, elk, horse, cow, large bear, etc. Even deer have a bad habit of leaping at the last minute but you just can't predict what they will do.

Never heard of a dog going though a windshield.

My best friend showed up late to work one morning shaken and with blood and deer hair all over his upper body after he hit a deer that jumped at the last second and ended up lodged in his truck's windshield.

bobwysiwyg

They are big, really big! At some point the laws of physics come into play. That point from my perspective is a moose.

Stormy Archer

I get it, but like, are you saying then that a 700 pound elk just isn't quite big enough??

bobwysiwyg

Since we have both here, I have to concede a 700 lb elk would qualify as well.. though very unlikely to encounter either on the road here.

mixteup

All relative, of course -
Ford F350 + Moose = Mess
Smart Car + 70 lb dog = Mess
Bike + Large Racoon = Real mess

MikeyMK

We get loads of Squirrels on the cycleways here, plus cats acting like they own the place, but i make no changes other than to sound the horn. Squirrels will weave left and right, they have a 360 degree field of vision and can see you from any direction, so changing my speed or direction is only going to throw another variable into the equation and confuse them. As i see it. Well it seems to work, as i've never hit anything.

I don't change for lurching dogs, either. I'll give them all the room i can, got all the time in the world for the ones who mind their own. But if one goes for me i'll trust it's not stupid enough to make contact, and happily hit the passive-aggressive little **** if it attempts to follow through it's intimidation (it's only ever those tiny little scruffy things that have an attitude anyway, like the canine equivalent of little-man syndrome).. My bike alone weighs nearly 50 kilos, the dog's gonna let me proceed one way or another.