Night time ride - got hit in the chest by a . . . .

petemadoc

Bat

Caught a flash of it my light and then it hit me square in the chest, felt a bit weird.

Anyone else had collisions with animals? I regularly have to dodge sheep but not hit one yet.

kettrinboy

Ive nearly hit squirrels, muntjac and common deer, pidgeons,pheasants, but only actually hit a young rabbit and killed it instantly, mind you in the summer i like to start early and so these critters are still on the roads and havnt gone to hide in the woods yet, pidgeons annoy me the most , the way they take off at the last second as you approach, if you hit one of them at speed it would be messy.

nwallace

Had a bat strike the top of my old Tuff Top about 15 years ago.

Haven't hit anything else other than small flying insects, but have had the worrying situation of a rabbit running alongside the front wheel and it not knowing which way to go, thankfully it went away from me rather than into the spokes.

anto164

Apart from nearly hitting people crossing the road who haven't noticed you coming at speed, i've had a 3 inch dragonfly hit me in the chest a few weeks back.. Sounded like someone had thrown a bag of crisps at me. Luckily it didn't go down my jersey, as i had it half undone.

Airwave

Out on a ride yesterday a squirrel darted out of the verge at just the wrong time.I felt the back wheel run straight over what felt like it's head.I slowed down&looked behind to see it doing what i would decribe as a dying swan routine.By the time i'd turned aroud&gone back it had dissapeared back into a hedgerow.I don't think it would've survived very long.I was going to put it out of it's misery if i coulld've found it but the hedgerow was to thick to see it again.Kept thinking about it all the way home.

grandad3

Heh heh, theres a warrior grouse out on the moors where I ride who attacks you when you ride past his territory.
You can hear him as you get closer and you look all around to see which direction he is going to attack you from.
It's a good downhill ride when you pass so you can get a decent speed to escape but made the mistake of going the opposite way after a long ride so was a bit slower than usual a few months back and he pounced from behind, attacked my head (luckily I was wearing a helmet) and back and pecked away like mad.
Quite a nerve wracking experience cos he's pretty fast and it blxxdy hurts.
Got mobile phone out few months back and filmed him after I passed, will put on youtube sometime.

grandad3

Here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GZG1mJR ... re=channel

White Line

I got hit in the face by a bat coming home from work one night!

That's all luckily. Unless ... do bees count?

cycologist

When out running one night ,Ii too got hit in the chest by a bat. I thought these things had radar-like hearing or whatever - I never knew I was so stealth -like.

Casbar

grandad3 wrote:

Here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GZG1mJR ... re=channel

Give us a clue at what time it strikes....dont really want to sit through the whole 10 mins :shock:

Lagavulin

Not hit anything on twilight/night rides yet. The nearest thing has been crows on several occasions eating road kill and startled a couple of those buggers.

morstar

Lagavulin wrote:

Not hit anything on twilight/night rides yet. The nearest thing has been crows on several occasions eating road kill and startled a couple of those buggers.

I initially read crows as cows. Now that conjured up an odd image. Bl**dy hazardous too.

petemadoc

One day I was riding through a remote area and came face to face with a bull in the middle of the road. I thought it would move as I got closer but it just stood there with it's massive horns pointing towards me. I came to a stop and we stared at each other for a few seconds . . .

Then I wasn't sure what to do, should I turn around or move towards it . . . anyway after a few more seconds and trying not to poop my pants I decided to slowly ride past it. The bull just watched me as I went by about a foot away from it. There was probably no need to worry but I was pretty scared.

Monty Dog

Had a pheasant fly into me in the middle of a group ride - cradled in across my chest for a bit whilst it flapped about - I was laughing so much and it just flew off.

ThreeLionsBrian

Badger took me across a country lane and i ended up mangled in the bike Luckily just road rash. A few years later met another one but this time he shot off at right angles and legged it noisily down the hill with me braking to let him get away )

jim453

Casbar wrote:

grandad3 wrote:

Here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GZG1mJR ... re=channel

Give us a clue at what time it strikes....dont really want to sit through the whole 10 mins :shock:

Really great camera work!

Well edited too.

I'm never getting those nine minutes back. Bar ends are so 2008.

LazyBoycp

Think I killed a bird today. Saw something come out the hedge to my left and heard it hitting my rear wheel. Thought it was just a leaf because I didn't feel anything, but then a little bird (finch/censored ?) bounced past me looking pretty dead and just lay there. The person cycling a bit behind me said he didn't see the bird so hopefully it was just stunned for a bit.

Other than that, just the usual flies, etc. Oh, and millions of flying ants in Northwich a few weeks ago - it really stings when they hit you in the face!

bugsrabbit

my mate hit a duck with his handlebars on the decent off boundry hill in the trough of bowland, there was red and yellow stuff all over him, he stunk!

GavH

I've had a small bird fly through my frame, only just brushing one of my legs on the way. My HR jumped up more than a wee bit as a result.

antfly

I had a small mammal fall from the sky once and land in the road right in front of me. It bounced a few feet.
I had a bird fly through my open window once while driving. It hit the rear window and exploded.

freehub

ThreeLionsBrian wrote:

Badger took me across a country lane and i ended up mangled in the bike Luckily just road rash. A few years later met another one but this time he shot off at right angles and legged it noisily down the hill with me braking to let him get away )

I was cycling long about 22mph once, looked to my left, and a badger was literally right in line with me lol matching my speed, insane.