Fear and Loathing on a Bicycle

paul.skibum

I ride on my alone a fair bit, primarily because there aren't that many people I know who ride or ride what I want to.

Use to be that when riding in the UK I had a healthy fear of hurting myself but it put me off doing very little - I'd still tackle most things on a descent without really getting worried even though out in the middle of say, the Peaks, you are often out of mobile signal range and a fair ways from civilization.

These days in BC I am starting to develop a fear of wildlife to go with the fear of the more objective danger. Bears I am not too worried about (they will generally try and avoid you) but there seems to be a fair bit of cougar activity at present in the local parks and cougars scare me - on a slow climb up hill I feel like I have "Lunch" written on my back.

I appreciate the majority of you are in the UK where the wildlife is not so much of an issue but how does anyone else deal with their inner voice expressing fear out on the trail?

Long_Time_Lurker

I got attacked by a gull and got followed by a barn owl once.
That is about as scary as it gets on my local trails.

I don't really suffer from fear....loathing on the other hand - dog-walkers and runners using ipods :x

VWsurfbum

The way i see it is, If i die doing something i love, Bonus. If i get killed by a mental beast doing something i love, Double Bonus.
Always try to be happy, never die angry.

bit deep for this time of day i know.

Ironpants

Hi Paul,

Normally you should try and take small steps outside your confort zone to gradually push back the boundaries of what you are comfortable taking on. Overcome you inner voice by focusing your mind on something else, i.e. repeating in your mind the technique for the approaching obstacle etc.

However I don't think that these are applicable here so the next step might be to learn about you fear, but on reading these I am not sure that this will help...

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/documents/cougsf.htm
http://www.mountaineersbooks.org/client/client_pages/Media%20Archives/mtn_media_CougarEncounters.cfm

Cougars seem to be pretty unpredictable creatures.

Hope you manage to enjoy your trails.

Toby

DodgeT

paul.skibum wrote:

but there seems to be a fair bit of cougar activity at present in the local parks

(pic removed as forgot I wasnt in the CC )

Nothing really to fear on my usual trails apart from my own inner fear of big jumps.

Sometimes get a bit twitchy on night rides as I have an over active imagination

.blitz

paul.skibum wrote:

Bears I am not too worried about (they will generally try and avoid you) but there seems to be a fair bit of cougar activity at present in the local parks and cougars scare me - on a slow climb up hill I feel like I have "Lunch" written on my back.

The stags on Cannock Chase can get a bit prickly when they are rutting but they're not predators.

I ride everywhere on my own and am not scared of the dark or adverse weather or UK wildlife etc but if I had to contend with properly wild animals - no reason, no thought, just pure survival instinct - I would take some precautions either a companion or some weapons and know how to use them.

But wild animals are sneaky creatures they stalk and hide and make the first blow count.

Hope this helps

felix.london

There are wolves round my way but they're very rarely spotted and tend to keep themselves to themselves (with the occasional sheep for dinner). Guess I could get charged by a wild boar or ibex but think that's unlikely

Came across these Blair Witch type wigwams the other day...creepy

1mancity2

Only predators we come across is the scary women in Burnley!

Try riding with someone who is slower than you that way they get eaten first.

Would love to ride out in BC but I would be sh**ing myself as well.

jairaj

what do the other locals do? is there some sort of mace spray or similar thing you can use?

Good Old Bakes

1mancity2 wrote:

Only predators we come across is the scary women in Burnley!

Are they not cougars...?

specialeyes

Good Old Bakes wrote:

1mancity2 wrote:

Only predators we come across is the scary women in Burnley!

Are they not cougars...?

70\ʹspenguin

Long Time Lurker wrote:

got followed by a barn owl once.

Dont mess with the owls!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHhRMTwxfYM

paul.skibum

A friend of mine confirmed that he is not keen on heading into the deeper park trails alone this morning either and he's canadian so at least its not just me - I guess most ride in groups. You see plenty with bear bells but I am not sure what they do to cougars - I guess some sort of warning of approach will potentially get them moving.

For work we had a dealing with wildlife chat and as I say bears you have pepper spray and bangers as options but for cougars the guy said "carry a really effing big knife" which is not something I really want to do on a bike.

Some of the good trails head out into the wilds, a good distance from population and its these ones, steep wooded hills that I tend to think the cougars love. Also with us having had a very wet spring with fewer people in the park it seems they have encroached further into the more usual safe area of the park although I think they are considered now to be moving back again as the weather is improving.

As you all say - I never feared much in the UK aside from an off on a lonely peak onto pointy rocks.

The other day I ran over a rattlesnake - I was on a gentle sandy climb, nothing on the trail, suddenly aware of a rattling noise behind me near my back wheel, looked back and a rattler was writhing on the floor where my wheel had rolled over him - I think he was startled int he grass by my bike, went to strike at me, missed and landed between my wheels. He slithered off into the long grass. 5 mins later I passed a grazing bear and 2 deer.

Good Old Bakes

paul.skibum wrote:

You see plenty with bear bells but I am not sure what they do to cougars - I guess some sort of warning of approach will potentially get them moving.

The ones I've encounted were quite happy to be approached and were usually brazen enough to approach you. The sight of bare anything only got them more stoked up though. I found the only thing that got them moving was anything by Erasure or Abba.

paul.skibum wrote:

Some of the good trails head out into the wilds, a good distance from population and its these ones, steep wooded hills that I tend to think the cougars love.

I know what you mean. There's a place called The Embassy at Intake in Sheffield, which backs on to scrubland and bushes. I've known blokes to be eaten alive by cougars outside there after dark - several times! It's even happened to me but thank god I've lived to tell the tale.

paul.skibum wrote:

For work we had a dealing with wildlife chat and as I say bears you have pepper spray and bangers as options...

Good thinking. Hairy blokes love a barbecue.

paul.skibum wrote:

...but for cougars the guy said "carry a really effing big knife" which is not something I really want to do on a bike.

We resorted to using shitty sticks in the end.

In all seriousness mate, I can understand fully where you're coming from but it does sound an absolutely wonderful place to ride through. Stay safe mate.

mak3m

I do most of my riding alone, including occasional night rides.

However, im going to keep out of this thread as on said night rides I regularly scream like a girl at squirrels and the kamikazi rabbits transfixed by my lights :oops:

Boy Lard

I was hoping this thread was going to be about trying to ride your bike while stoned/on acid/on mescaline.

I'm guessing that only the first is really viable and with a limited degree of success.

Goodgertron

Boy Lard wrote:

I was hoping this thread was going to be about trying to ride your bike while stoned/on acid/on mescaline.

I'm guessing that only the first is really viable and with a limited degree of success.

Haha I was expecting that too! :twisted:

compo

1mancity2 wrote:

Only predators we come across is the scary women in Burnley!

Get me to Burnley, I'd love a bit of that

MountainMonster

Out in Austria we used to have a few areas we would ride that had all sorts of wildlife that wasn't fun to deal with. We've been chased by quite a few bulls, which having a few red bikes in the bunch doesn't help. Cougars arn't great.

Best thing is just to try not to think about it much, focus much more on a specific task you are doing, such as smooth pedal action, getting really flowy, or smashing sections, and the trail sides normally just fly by.

MDobs

paul.skibum wrote:

The other day I ran over a rattlesnake - I was on a gentle sandy climb, nothing on the trail, suddenly aware of a rattling noise behind me near my back wheel, looked back and a rattler was writhing on the floor where my wheel had rolled over him - I think he was startled int he grass by my bike, went to strike at me, missed and landed between my wheels. He slithered off into the long grass.

this more than bears, cougars and breaking my neck would have me leaving skid marks (not the rear wheel variety) long after i left the snake lying in my wake, probably to the point i'd never ride that trail again. hate snakes.


on a more relevant note, do cougars have a track record of attacking people (without provocation)? i tend to think that unless threatened most wildlife like this will tend to avoid human contact.

EH_Rob

Easily solved, just ride with Austin Stevens:

Stevo_666

Maybe this is where body armour might come in handy as well as that big F.O. knife

Looking at the Wiki entry it seems they tend to avoid people: "Attacks on humans are rare, as cougar prey recognition is a learned behavior and they do not generally recognize humans as prey." I'd still brick it if I saw one though.

billyballs

Would,nt mind a few cougars chasing me.