E53 

Maybe my sense of smell is getting better because my eyesight and hearing are getting worse, but one thing I notice more and more are the different smells I come across on my rides. Sometimes its something pleasant like flower blossoms and other times its something not so nice like a road kill possum that's been left to ripen for several days. Today was the possum.

TimothyH

Paul Fournel has an essay about the smells of cycling in his book "Need for the Bike."

It is one of the best cycling books ever written.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...d_for_the_Bike




-Tim-

ripkin

nomadmax 

Burning leaves.

Wood stoves/fireplaces heating homes in the country.

The smell of chili when I get home from a long ride on a cold, overcast and windy day.

Shimagnolo

One of the most intense smells I ever experienced while cycling was in Berrien County, Michigan.
There were a lot of vineyards, and when the grapes were getting close to ripening, it was like inhaling vaporized grape juice with every breathe.

JanMM

The only route across White River (other than the I-465 bridge a couple of miles north) on the southside of Indy goes by a water treatment facility. (Can you say sewage?) Thankfully, on my many rides past there to get over to rural roads in Decatur Township and south to Morgan county, I have only very rarely smelled anything worse than a faint whiff of anything disagreeable.

zacster

I can always smell the cooking of Chinatown as I go over the Manhattan Bridge. And also in that same spot you can smell the subway as the bridge tracks go into the tunnel.

OldTryGuy

THIS

What makes THIS SMELL one of uniqueness is its rarity here in SW FL since 80°F temps abound even during winter. Very pleasant to this geezer's olfactory nerves.

bogydave

canklecat

Allergies and stuffy sinuses usually keep me from smelling anything more subtle than a week old dead animal in summer heat. But once in awhile my sinuses will suddenly clear during a ride and some interesting odors waft across my path.

One particular block nearby smells like a commercial laundry. There's always a strong odor of hot starch. Reminds me of working in hospitals and military bases with big laundries. Probably a big family with an outdoor vented dryer running full time.

BobbyG

@JanMM There is a sewage treatment plant near my commute route that sometimes makes its presence known. When I first started commuting here in Colorado Springs in the early 1990s I'd smell cigarette smoke from passing cars. Now, more often than not its marijuana.

Two of my favorite smells are in the fall when this Asian couple would dry red chiles on their front lawn, and two or three times a year when I smell patchouli around this house:

_ForceD_

gregf83 

tcs

On my old commute to work I rode past a cabinet shop (fresh sawn wood!) and a a bakery (tortillas hot out of the oven!). On spring and summer mornings there was the smell of fresh cut grass - lovely!

BobbyG

Oh, oh...I forgot...lilacs! Some years, I can smell 'em for mostof my commute while they bloom.

E53 

Diesel is certainly one of the worst, gas can be annoying too though. Yesterday, I was passed by a couple of t-buckets. They were cool to look at, but it smelled like half burned gas was coming out of their tailpipes.
Another one I won't soon forget is the smell of cigar smoke that I encountered one day. It's a mystery because there were no cars around, nor people. I was passing a house though, so I thought maybe someone in the house was smoking it.

indyfabz

There is one right next to a very popular MUP a bit outside of Philly. On a hot day it can literally make you gag.

Rootman

I live near the Razorback Greenway in NW Arkansas. We have the distinct pleasure of passing not one, but TWO sewage treatment plants in it's length, one in Springdale and one in Bentonville. The one in Springdale is rarely 'fragrant', but once in a while the wind is just right and *PHEW*. The one in Bentonville is closer and always stinks. Fortunately, I pass it going downhill and take an alternate route back south so I miss having to climb back up facing the smell.

It's a drag hanging your mouth open trying to NOT breath through your nose, especially when the gnats are breeding .

Shimagnolo

I hate gnats!
We have them near some ponds around here.
You know what is really hell?
Getting a gnat in your eye that gets under your eyelid.
There is no way to get it out w/o a bathroom mirror.
I had to ride about 30 minutes one time with one in my eye.

JohnDThompson 

This is the time of year that the CAFOs spread liquid manure on the fields. As we say in Wisconsin, "smell our dairy air."

John00

There is a large hemp farm right next to a road I ride a lot. Lately the plants are maturing and it smells like a large bag of pot. Not that I've ever been near a large bag of pot

KraneXL

Your sense of smell ebbs and flow. You must of had an unusually sensitive day OP?

jlaw

Pleasant.....I ride early in the morning especially during the summer - very calm winds that time of day. Many times I have noticed the smell of the laundry dryer sheets that are used in a clothes dryer - people doing laundry before they go to work.

Unpleasant.....Diesel - seems to hang low to the ground and persist.

jon c. 

Is this an outdoor field? I have an indoor grow facility near me, but have never smelled a thing.

One of my favorite scents comes in a certain area at a certain time of day when I get a pine smell that reminds me of the woods around my grandfather's farm. A 50 year old scent memory that I find delightful.

KraneXL

You guys must live in the 1980s? I haven't smelled diesel in decades. Can't even remember what that smelled like.