Peugeot135

Although after years of riding my bike, both to work and enjoyment, I have my share of run in with animals (rabbit, snake, squirrel, chipmunk) and insects (snail, caterpillar), I have always tried to avoid hitting or killing them. I finally met my match last Tuesday.

I had a collision with a flying Canadian goose while I was peddling hard up a little hill at about 25 km/hr. It came out seemingly from nowhere from the lake, and it hit me hard to my left chest and totally knocked me off the bike. I might be out for a couple of minutes because a jogger was calling the 911.

I ended up suffering a shoulder separation and some skin burn on my left elbow despite wearing a biking jacket. X-ray at the hospital did not show any fracture. This was nothing compared to another biking accident four years ago when I hit a fence and suffered two torn ligaments on my right shoulder.

Anyone has any run in story to tell or share?

P. S. I am 68 year old and put in over thousand of km rides per year so bike mishaps are a frequent occurrence to me.

spelger

funny you should post this on this particular weekend. i too had a runin wiht a canadian goose. although not as dramatic as yours. we both lived to tell about it. i cannot stand those darn overgrown rats with wings.

genejockey 

If they can take out a jet engine, a cyclist is nothing.

Troul 

why dont cats ever want to chase those stupid nuisances away?

topflightpro

Nearly got killed by a vulture. I was flying down a mountain and it took off and just missed flying in to me. It would have sucked if I'd hit it.

I also once came across a giant coyote chasing three deer. I stopped to watch a minute, but then realized the coyote might think I was easier prey than the deer.

CAT7RDR

What would Sully do?

CAT7RDR

Sorry for your misfortune. I have learned to Duck to avoid pigeons under freeway bridges. Nothing more foul than a face full of urban feathers.

I am even sadder to hear you did not bag the goose.

ofajen

Too funny. Back in grad school I worked on condensed matter physics. A scientist used to joke about the 4 TeV (tera electron volt) chicken collider. 😊

This was a jet engine test device that would propel a frozen chicken carcass at about 150 mph into a jet engine under test to see if the engine could survive a mid-air collision with a high-flying goose. Turns out the momentum of the carcass was about 4 TeV, which is rather a lot in the particle physics world.

Otto

spelger

never saw a frozen flying chicken or goose before.

WobblyPop

Our mighty and majestic Cobra Chicken is far from endangered.

indyfabz

A woman I know got hit in the head by one. Suffered a concussion and crashed, injuring her shoulder. The force of the impact caused the goose’s abdomen to rupture. It fell to the ground and literally spilled its guts on the roadway.

Troul 

So you're implying she had a hard cranium?

indyfabz

Heh. A friend of mine posted this on FB 20 minutes ago. No lie.

CAT7RDR

Geese are too greasy for my taste.

Litespud

pretty sure they don’t intentionally test bird strikes with frozen chickens. Not realistic, for one reason. A frozen
bird is like a 5 lb rock - not something the average engine is likely to encounter mid flight. I vaguely recall a story about a bird strike test where the chicken
projectile was shot at the aircraft canopy, with the expectation that it would glance off, maybe cracking the Perspex, but no more. Anyway, someone screwed up and fired a frozen chicken, which went through the canopy and destroyed the cockpit

downtube42

My cousin, a real life mechanical engineer I've fished with, designed cockpit windshields for McDonnell Douglas bitd. He confirmed, no chicken guns involved, frozen or otherwise. Just lots of physics and math. Structural analysis is not a great fishing outing topic btw. His favorite projects were the ones that were cancelled before production, because there's no post launch product support.

ofajen

Firstly, this was nearly forty years ago, so test methods have surely (?) improved. Second, the part that really caught my attention was not whether the story was true or precisely accurate regarding the test procedure, but merely that the energy of a flying bird might compare to the energy of a very highly accelerated particle. Actually, I think the bird turns out to have a lot more energy than 4TeV. 😊

Otto

rsbob 

Was chased by a dog but was doing about 18 when I heard his nails clicking on the pavement behind me, I got out of the saddle and sprinted up to 26 for a short while and dropped him. Never saw the bugger.

Several suicidal squirrels on a local MUP which could never decide which direction to go, but never hit one.

Did have a chicken (not frozen) run into my front wheel and watched it bounce off and run off squawking.’

While doing a descent at 25 a deer jumped in front of me, but managed to miss it. Scared the s out of me.

Did have a few direct hit bee strikes, getting stung down my jersey, on my lower lip, and between my helmet and cycling glasses. Never fun.

The worst animal encounters have been with defective humans with anger management issues usually in pickup trucks.

JohnDThompson 

I came across a couple sandhill cranes standing in the road the other day. One took off and headed to the field on the side, the other flew over the road and dropped a load as it passed over me. Missed by mere inches.

Peruano

I know a lady who had a sea gull jump/fly into her rear wheel on the Tecate to Ensenada bike tour. The bird died and my friend went down due to the locked rear wheel. Lucky that no bones were broken, but much skin was left on the pavement.

ofajen

Actually, it appears the FAA and other safety agencies require these pneumatic bird cannon tests for engines and other components. For engines they are glamorously called Bird Ingestion Certification Standards.

I must have been mistaken about the frozen part as the birds are generally obtained in a frozen state and thawed before use. There was a notable failure when Rolls Royce destroyed an engine with a frozen turkey.

Otto

ofajen

Sadly, I’ve taken out a couple of squirrels in recent years. I do watch for them because I’m concerned that one will dart into rather than under my wheel and lock the bike up. That would be bad for all concerned!

Otto

l_Simmons000

What is next?

KPREN

I had an encounter with running over a large raccoon on my fat bike with low tire pressure. Thump, thump like I ran over a big speed bump. I managed to keep control despite the large adrenaline rush and the raccoon got up, shook and took off. I'm sure I gave him a headache.

Koyote

A friend and I were riding out in the country, and we spooked a little doe that was off the side of the road...It started running, then veered into the road and bumped into my friend as we rode by. No one was injured, though.