Ninja Squirrels and other freaky anumal encounters

DonDaddyD

On the way home work Friday just gone I was riding along Clapham road coming up to Clapham North tube. Suddenly a squirrel ran jumped out of nowhere and onto the road!!!

It was impossibly scary - I screamed and everything - as it was mere moments from my from wheel and I was on the Kharma and not prepared to stop and had nowhere to swerve - surprisingly squirrels are quite long....

A combination of my brakes and the rodent running quickly allowed me not to commit ride over the squirrel, last I saw it ran into the heavy traffic

But that doesn't compare to riding up Denmark Hill (towards work) and nearly riding over a fox that had been clearly driven over and split right down the middle.... that one was nearly and off the bike and vomit moment.

Have you got any wierd animal encounters while on the bike/commute?

Gussio

DonDaddyD wrote:

On the way home work Friday just gone I was riding along Clapham road coming up to Clapham North tube. Suddenly a squirrel ran jumped out of nowhere and onto the road!!!

Poor thing might have been on the run from one of Clapham Common's "Gentlemen of the Night". A squirrel with its claws removed is probably about the same dimension as one of Richard Gere's hampsters.....

R_T_A

This is the standard of non-city SCR: Scary Countryside Racing 8)

I've had a muntjac deer zoom out of the undergrowth at speed (yes, I was scalped by a deer).

I think the best though is having a live squirrel fly past me in mid air from a tree to a hedge on the other side of the (very narrow) road. I was doing about 23mph at the time so I could've had fur and claws in my teeth :shock:.

Hoards of rabbits with flick-knifes, squirrels with attitude, and the hidden threat - insects that want to throw off your bike by dive-bombing your mouth. Ohhh yes - you city types have it easy....

tardington

The trick is to make it work to your advantage.

Jay dubbleU

Squirrels are just rats with fluffy tales and good PR

roger_merriman

had a few rabbits and deer step out when commuting though the parks/tow paths around SW london though no contact.

back in wales get sheep can dive out, had one burst out of the bracken and attempt to put it's head though the front wheel of the bike before now, though on road normally the sheep come worse off with the cars. though not always big rams can survive a lower speed impact with boy racer type cars which tend to just fold, while the ram gives it a filthy look and walks away.

Stone Glider

I had a grass snake cross the path i was riding on the other week. The odd thing was the speed of the snake, really fast, with lots of squiggles of the sort i thought you only saw with warmer climes. Weird :?

Jay dubbleU

I did once run into a cow on a country lane in the dark - why don't these things have lights ?

always_tyred

I once had a bear run across the road in front of me.

Best I've done recently is an arctic hare (bears being extinct in the UK and me not living anywhere near a Hoffmeister brewery.......)

rally200

my encounter with Tufty didn't have such a happy ending as DDDs.

Done the occasional bit of SRR (Silly Rural Racing) with muntjac & hares. Saw a Polecat taking a rabbit last weekend. Just need to go out around dawn & all nature's there waiting to leap out on you (unless you live "up that London" )

itboffin

No idea why but there was so many wood pigeons out on the road this evening literally hundreds of the delicious blighter's

Gilbie

Squirrels make me laugh. They tend to stand in your path staring at you whilst hoping from left to right in a sort of game of chicken. Thankfully never hit one yet.

During a night ride testing a new light I nearly went over a sleeping badger - scared the living daylight out of me, I sprinted off like a nutter thinking it would give chase :oops:

Brixtonbiker

Squirrel nuts over builder friend

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8108297.stm

I want one, Its so cute

Kieran_Burns

I was chasing a kestrel this morning. I was cruising up the bridleway at a particularly overhung section, it swopped down into the path right in front of me and tore up for about 200 yards.

Really impressive!

I also had dozens of bunnies and one ex-field mouse.

Well it was ex- after it ran out in front of me and got squished

Feltup

Had a Badger run across in front of me two weeks ago. Strangely it was still very light and I thought they only came out at dusk.

I was nearly hit in the face by a dead bird; killed by a car coming the other way and thrown at my face by the impact :shock:

I once thought I saw a stripey donkey going from pavement to pavement but in fact it was a zebra crossing.

lost_in_thought

Feltup wrote:

I once thought I saw a stripey donkey going from pavement to pavement but in fact it was a zebra crossing.

Can you get barred for making really dreaful jokes? Mods?

Deadeye Duck

Feltup wrote:

I once thought I saw a stripey donkey going from pavement to pavement but in fact it was a zebra crossing.

http://instantrimshot.com/

nicklouse

Speaking of Nina squirrels



training did not go to well.

il_principe

nicklouse wrote:

Speaking of Nina squirrels



training did not go to well.

I know it's wrong, but that made me snort coffee up by dose.

DonDaddyD

That is wrong

downfader

Ooo ooo ooo!! Me next!

I was riding into work and as a car overtook me it hit a squirrel as it had been running across the road, it bounced off the bumper and as I was pinned in by traffic had no where to go to avoid his little body. So if he was still alive before my front wheel cracked open his ribcage, he wasnt after.

I think it was tuesday morning I was riding across the common, came out of the underpass and I often see lots of crows and magpies there, but this particular morning I heard a commotion. I stopped the bike and looked over to my left where there was a bin and saw that the crows had pulled all of the rubbish out looking for food. They seemed to be pretty organised about it too!

-spider-

DonDaddyD wrote:

That is wrong

What? The squirrel or snorting coffee?

jimmcdonnell

I've just had 2 days off school with a wrenched shoulder - was riding in to work on Tuesday morning, through leafy Hampstead when I came across an urban fox snurfling through a bin bag.

As I was approaching silently as only a well fettled Litespeed can, he was surprised when I hove into view round a car and immediately bolted across the road an inch in front of my wheel; I grabbed two huge handsful of brakes without my brain asking my opinion, Supermanned over the bars landing on my outstretched right arm/hand. Ping!, shoulder tendons/ligaments/stringy bits gone, ragdoll right arm.

F!*king urban foxes. Fur coats for all, I say. If I see it again I shall wear him like a Davy Crockett hat (there's one for the teenagers).