sggoodri

- the winged kind.

I had just bought a set of front and rear lights for my 14-year-old niece and we were riding through a neighborhood after the sun set. In the twilight I saw some bats sweeping through the air near the treetops ahead.

Then I feel something soft bounce off of my hand on the handlebar and strike me in the chest. I look down just in time to see the bat flapping and flying off.

I had no scratches, so no concern about rabies. [Edit: After the ride I took off my jersey and looked carefully for any break in the skin, and found nothing. Take bats seriously!]

Anybody else ever run into a winged mammal or bird?

pj7

I'm laughing here, seriously. But not at your misfortune.
I'm laughing because when I read your post I could totally see the "BLAM" and "KAPOW" signs pop up when the bat hit you in that cheezy Adam West style.
lol

RB1-luvr

that would have freaked me out.

AtomicCactus

Haha, a bird collided with my head once. Good thing I was wearing a helmet!

dobber

Even though they look like their flying under the influence, bats are usually pretty amazing in their avoidance abilities (I've had to capture / eliminate several in the house).

mulchie

Bat hit me right in the throat one night late on my ride home when I had new lights. Soft impact. No ill effects. Hopefully not for the bat, either. I rather like bats and was not so much afraid as amazed. Protect those little guys! They indicate and help to maintain a healthy environment.

Treespeed

Still, up close and personal they are quite alien looking and would startle anyone not expecting to find one on their chest. It's so strange that something could hunt a moth by sound and then run into something as large as a person on a bike. I've only seen one up close and personal that I found sleeping in a woodpile. What an amazing example of natural selection at work.

eubi

Ah, the wonders of riding in the dark hours.

Yep, I hit a bat once too...well, he hit me.

But bats don't scare me, it's those doggoned OWLS!

You can't hear them coming, and they're the size of a 707.

joejack951

With all the new homes being built and the resultant lost of forested land, the biggest problem we have up here at night on the roads is deer. They can run pretty silently through the woods and pop out onto the road without any notice. A friend had one run into the side of his car as he drove down the road (talk about bad timing). I'm always a little on edge at night, especially in the winter, if I hear any rustling of leaves/brush near the road. It's often smaller animals moving a lot slower but a few times I've looked to the side and spotted those beady deer eyes staring me down. Scary.

evblazer

My wife becoming an animal control office scrapped plans to put up a habitat for bats. They are great for the health of the environment and all but they are the top rabies carriers, and yes rabies in humans is extremely rare but getting thwacked in the chest or face with them at high speed might be more risky then having them in the attic.
Looks like only 1% or so of bats but just be careful playing with the bats
A few quotes from Rabies.com
"Bats pose the biggest rabies risk to humans.
Source: Plotkin SA. Rabies. Clin Infect Dis. 2000;30:4-12.

Bats have small teeth and are able to bite without leaving a noticeable mark. In fact, there are cases where bats have bitten people who were sleeping without waking them.
Source: Plotkin SA. Rabies. Clin Infect Dis. 2000;30:4-12.

Bats should never be handled by people who are untrained and unvaccinated.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Human rabies prevention—United States, 1999: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1999;48(RR-1):1-21"

I don't see many owls down here.. Vultures though yipes they completely ignore cyclists, probably anything really. I tried to avoid an cluster of armadillo patties and almost got creamed by a vulture.

dauphin

not long ago I came screaming around a corner and startled a buzzard feasting on a squirrel....it takes those big guys a few seconds to get up speed and take off.....we almost met face to face....those things are huge.

bac

Was this the bat?



... Brad

gttim

While I was cycling in the North Georgia mountains, a wild turkey flew off the edge off a hill where the earth had been dug our for the road and almost hit my head. Scared the hell out of me. My buddy cycles up next to me at a stop sign, "Did you see that turkey fly off the hill?"

Of course that story pales in comparison to a friend who ran into a bear.

genec

Just bees.

Had one sting me right in the center of my chest one day while riding my bike. It startled me, but I never lost control. Strange sensation feeling that "glow" that follows a sting while riding along all flushed from cycling.

Treespeed

Anyone been attacked by crows? It seems like they get very possesive of our yard and buzz me on occasion.

GeoLes

I didn't know Hitchcock make a movie about bicycling.

GeoLes

That's it. No more baseball for me.

sggoodri

No, I was having a good day, and it was more like this:

invisiblehand

Ooooooo yeah!!!

dobber

I prefer this variant

invisiblehand

Except that I saw her trying to do Shakespeare.

The horror ...

GeoLes

She is more suited for Strauss's "Die Fledermaus".

(that would be Richard Strauss's opera called "The Bat", for you non-operatic types.

buzzman

had a bee fly into my mouth and sting me on the tongue and lips a couple of weeks ago- no fun!

one night, while riding home, a rabbit leapt from the side of the road and was less than an inch from my face as we came remarkably close to a collision but a had a species to species whites of our eyes moment

Glynis27

I got hit in the eye with a bug that sure felt like a bird. Also had one go down my throat and try to climb out. Had to wash him down with lots of water.

donnamb 

Just in time for Halloween, Steve.