Freakiest thing that's happened to you when out riding

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Fluoro7
Posts: 79
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2015 4:30 pm

by Fluoro7

So here is my story... this happened 2 weeks ago. I was out riding on a trail with a friend, enjoying the cool fall temperature and having fun. Suddenly, something struck my ear (we were going around 17-18mph), and I figured it was a leaf. It felt like maybe a bit was inside, so stopped, wiped my ear and didn't notice anything, and so we continued on. A few minutes later, I could feel it was no leaf. It was a freaking bug and it was moving inside my ear canal! You could not see it from the outside, but it was definitely there. It was getting angry and buzzing it's wings, and I was pretty worried at this point. We stopped again, and I tilted my head to one side hoping gravity would do the trick, but no luck. Fortunately, my friend - having a better angle of view - was able to pull my earlobe to maximize the opening of the ear canal and the bug came out. I think I was also fortunate as I felt the bug turn around when it was inside so that it would be facing towards the outside again, can't imagine what I might have been in for if it thought that "out" was actually further in :shock:

Anyhow, that is my freaky road riding story. It makes me think I should wear earplugs from now on...

Anyone else have fun stories to share?
Wilier Zero7 (1st gen) Fluoro
RIP Cervelo R3 2012 White on Black

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HammerTime2
Posts: 5813
Joined: Thu May 04, 2006 4:43 pm
Location: Wherever there's a mountain beckoning to be climbed

by HammerTime2

HammerTime2 wrote:
In viewtopic.php?f=14&t=92780&p=796997#p796997" , HammerTime2 wrote:
On July 19, 2008 in any bike grief/injuries over a poor choice of WW component?, HammerTime2 wrote:
HammerTime2 wrote:I don't have regret over using inadequately performing WW components, but I do not regret having DA brakes when I narrowly averted a deer which ran across the road from nearby woods when I was descending a 6% grade the other day. With WW brakes, don't know if I would be able to make this posting now.

One again, today I was glad I had the DA brakes. This time I was descending the other side of the same mountain, just a few km away from the deer incident, and I got the closest I've ever been to a bear (a cub, actually) who had a somewhat unpredictable walk/trot across the road - fortunately it decided to get moving just in time - perhaps less than 20 cm separated us. The good news is that it was smaller than the deer, the bad news had I hit it would have been that it was still a lot bigger than the LW dog, and I suppose the mother bear was just out of sight in the brush and would have finished me off if I hit her cub and crashed.

As I explained in a later posting, this was a black bear (in the Shenandoah mountains of Virginia).

In viewtopic.php?f=14&t=92780&p=797815#p797815" , HammerTime2 wrote:
taina wrote:... but if a cyclist collides with a <black bear> cub in the mother's presence, it's unlikely that the mother will attack.
Fortunately, despite the close call, I did not produce a data point pertaining to this assertion.

So I guess it's not obvious how close a call it was after all, at least insofar as the mother bear finishing me off.

by Weenie


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F45
Posts: 1077
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 6:08 am

by F45

I had just pulled onto the road from my house when a beautiful young female passed me on a tt bike. "Did you just come out of that driveway?" she asked. We rode together for a few miles, and she complimented my bike. When we parted ways, she told me her name and said to contact her through facebook about riding again.

By the time I got home, I had forgotten her name, and have never been able to recall it well enough to find her on facebook. :(

That's pretty freaky because I'm usually good with names.

L3X
Posts: 348
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:39 pm

by L3X

During summer time went for a long MTB ride. At some point riding from one trail to the other some bug hit me in the face and it stinged me. Almost instantly I felt really really horrible and lightheaded... somehow managed to get home (can't remember how, must have been the slowest 10k of my life) and had some people take me to the hospital.

So never leaving without a phone if I'm training on my own now.

mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

F45 wrote:That's pretty freaky because I'm usually good with names.
Probably stored the name in the little brain by mistake.


peted76
Posts: 433
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2014 10:30 pm

by peted76

Last Monday evening it was pitch black outside and I was riding it the front of a pace line when a badger ran across the road in front of me no more than two feet off my wheel, close enough for me to wobble and nearly wipe out, that was pretty freaky :)


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mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

We've been ambushed by a Owl on one of our local MTB loops. Having a mid day nap on a tree stump in a "quiet" little valley.
Didn't look too impressed to realize that its tree stump was right next to the trail.

About a 130-140cm wingspan when it eventually decided to fly off, to another stump about 10 metres away......... where it sat and glared at us until we buggered off.

Geoff
Posts: 5395
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2003 2:25 am
Location: Canada

by Geoff

Funny. I can't imagine the number of 'wildlife' stories you guys have. Personally, I have: had a family of grizzly bears running along side me; run-into a herd of Dall sheep so thick I had to unclip; swarmed by some weird bug cloud (hundreds of thousands); and cetera, and cetera. I'll bet there are really good ones out there...

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kbbpll
Posts: 494
Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:56 am

by kbbpll

I was touring in Australia, fully loaded with gear, cruising at a good clip, came upon a huge black snake sunning itself, stretched across almost the entire road. Decided in a split second that I wouldn't be able to stop or swerve around it, so I hit the gas and hopped my front wheel over it, thudded my rear wheel on it, and kept going like a bat out of hell. Pretty sure it was a coastal taipan, considered the third deadliest snake in the world. That thing was about 10 feet long. I've had other wildlife encounters, but that stands out as "freakiest".

efeballi
Posts: 492
Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2013 2:50 pm
Location: Istanbul, hopefully not for long

by efeballi

Riding along in a street, was filtering through cars at a red light. One of the car drivers I passed got pissed at me, then started following me and tried to cut me off. Twice. He was coming for a third, this time I thought he could take me down, pulled over and stopped. The guy got off the car, leaving the door wide open and walked toward me clenching his fist. I jumped onto the sidewalk and rode the other way. I was TTing away with an adrenaline rush as he was struggling to turn the car around.
Am still amazed how I thought of turning around and leaving the b**ch behind. Fight or flight at work...


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mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

Geoff wrote:Funny. I can't imagine the number of 'wildlife' stories you guys have. Personally, I have: had a family of grizzly bears running along side me; run-into a herd of Dall sheep so thick I had to unclip; swarmed by some weird bug cloud (hundreds of thousands); and cetera, and cetera. I'll bet there are really good ones out there...
nah, just the usual "domestic" wildlife round here. Deer, elk, boar, owls, lynx, badgers, fox, beavers, otters and the (very) occasional wolf. (That's not what I've seen, out riding, just what's been spotted round here)

mimason
Posts: 654
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:43 pm
Location: Florida

by mimason

While on vacation in New Mexico near Santa Fe doing some high altitude stuff I was out in no cell phone service area. At first a glorious morning ride before family stuff but was later chased by two pit bulls off leash up the narrow single lane road. I was able to get past them and kept riding up up up until the road dead ended into a forrest range. Had to go back the way I came to get back but those *f##k* dogs were waiting for me. I was screwed. I tried to climb the mountain over them but was too steep..waited 10 minutes or so trying to get a text off to the wife to find me. Half the texts work and half didn't so she didn't know where I was(she was freaking out). I ended up getting lucky that a guy in a Subi came by who was nice enough to drive me past those M'Fers. I was getting licked by his dog in the back seat and held my bike on the roof of his car with my arm out the window.

Bear spray next time!

newforker
Posts: 128
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 3:24 am

by newforker

riding home from work one day, truck turns right on the the street im riding on, but on the opposite, veers across 4 lanes and knocks out a light standard..50 feet in front of me..good thing im fat

AJS914
Posts: 5397
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:52 pm

by AJS914

I was descending at 30mph when out of the corner of my eye to the right I see something coming down the steep cliff wall. A split-second later this deer jumps over my rear wheel and lands on the other side of the road and then continues down the mountain. If he timed it a fraction of a second earlier he would have hit my head.

by Weenie


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