ellerbro

So I was riding along a multi-use path with a wall on one side and chain-link fence on the other. The squirrel saw me coming and ran towards the wall. Dead end. He darts the other way and hesitates at the small openings of the fence. Worst choice of its life: it darts back into the path, and directly under my tires. I look back and see it flopping around, so I turn around to check on it. Fortunately the little guy looks stunned but not seriously injured. That was the largest living thing I've run over so far. To make matters worse, it started snowing big time on the way home. Glasses fogging up, snow pounding my retinas, brakes becoming worthless in the wet. What a day.

AEO

you should be happy you didn't suck it up into the front fork and endoed.
Rabbits are bigger and worse

madfiNch

Oof. I feel for you. It happened to me a couple months ago:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=343800

I bought a squirrel feeder and filled it with peanuts and pumpkin seeds to help my squirrel karma..

Sigurdd50

Pictures, we need pictures

fc_

The squirrel should be happy about you. With a tandem the stoker just calls out "Hey! warn me about the bumps!", the squirrel, not so talkative after that.

ps: I actually saw this happen with a loaded touring tandem.... the squirrel never had a chance.

startedspyder05

Yeah I hit a squirrel once on my way home. Ran over it's neck with my back wheel and left it flopping in the road. I uh...killed it after that cause I felt back about leaving it like it was. Thinking back that's prolly the biggest animal that i've ever killed. Never went hunting and wasn't one of those kids that shot birds.

crtreedude 

Chickens are worse - takes forever to get them out of the spokes.

savethekudzu

Feathers everywhere?

crtreedude 

Yeah, and worse. Shall we just say that the glue that held it all together was disgusting.

Ouabacher

I had a slingshot when I was a kid. It was one of those bada** ones with the arm brace. I shot at birds for two summers without hitting anything. Then, out of pure luck, I hit one midflight and dropped it. I felt bad.
Incidentally, has anyone ever heard of the black squirrel's idea of survival of the fittest? I think it's probably just a myth, but I've been told by more than one old-timer that they will "de-nut" other breeds to keep them from procreating!

ban guzzi

don't worry, it won't be the last thing under wheel.

This summer I took out one squirrel (chain ring suicide), speedbumped a racoon and *just* missed a striped cat at 0-dark thirty on my way into work. Actually, the skunk and I BOTH missed (thankfully!) with plenty of close calls with three of his cousins.

I just *know* I'm getting skunked next summer...

fish0n

I hate to break it to you but if you ran it over it's probably going to die if it hasn't already. It isn't your fault, and if it is an invasive species consider your self a conservationist, the native critters will thank you.

MrCjolsen

Many years ago, squirrels declared squirrel jihad against cyclists. Any squirrel that dies in an effort to bring down a cyclist becomes a squirrel martyr and goes to squirrel heaven. Right now that squirrel ran over is playing muskrat love with 72 squirrel virgins.

Treespeed

Not bad Karma, just a slow squirrel.
You're helping weed out the squirrels that can't avoid bike wheels.

dewaday

They've also been known to de-nut cyclists who hit them to keep them from procreating.
Very bad juju for u.

chephy

Sounds like the squirrel had some bad karma, actually.

bikertrash

well the only thing you did wrong is you didn't take it home and make squirrel casserole. If ya kill it, ya got to grill it. Not doing so is bad karma.

Mobiker50

Consider it karmic justice for the many bikers who've spilled because of squirrels doing everything from running through the spokes to playing chicken in front of the wheel to scaring the bejeezus out of you by running at you full-tilt through the leaves on the side of a trail (I kid you now, I thought there was a shark under there!!!!).

mihlbach

I've actually done this and would do it again. People (mostly rednecks nowadays) do eat squirrels and they are actually quite tasty, though a little small.

I ran over a dog once and broke its leg. The dog didn't really deserve it, but the owner deserved the vet bill.

Tapeworm21

/Obligatory

sknhgy 

Squirrels do make the best pot pies.

Sigurdd50

I would definitely avoid that Squirrel.

walterk46

I had a raccoon cut in front of me from behind bridge support Thursday night. Stopped my front wheel cold. I didn't stop, at least not until after I hit the ground and rolled. The raccoon got up and ran away. And I was riding a heavy, old Chicago Schwinn, and I'm no lightweight myself. Tough critters.

Bionicycle

My wife and I were riding on a local greenway last summer, when a squirrel decided to play chicken with me and run just in front of my front tire. I would go left and the squirrel would go left, I would go right and the squirrel would go right, all the time ringing my bell at it... After what seemed like fifty yards of this, I finally got mad and sped up to try and run this crazy squirrel over… It must have decided that this wasn’t any fun anymore (cruiser 26x 2.125 tires) because it finally dove off the side of the trail. My wife was laughing so hard I thought she was going to fall off her bike and wreck.

Sparky005s

"Squirrels are rats with good PR" Not sure who said it first, but I agree. Kill all you want. I have noticed an astonishing number of dead squirrels over the past two weeks. Van Maren/Dewey is littered with them. It's like slalom riding in the bike lane trying to avoid the carcasses. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but there are a lot of them who have met their Maker recently.