Author Topic: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?  (Read 19770 times)

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« on: 11 October, 2010, 04:33:25 pm »
Mrs. Wow and I had a front-wheel/squirrel interface on Friday. I'm not certain that we actually ran it over, but I definitely felt it make contact with the wheel. This caused it to squeal a bit before it ran away.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #1 on: 11 October, 2010, 04:34:29 pm »
I've run over rats.

I've also run over squished rats, and had the pleasure of picking their guts out of the spokes later on.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

groucho

  • Humph!!
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #2 on: 11 October, 2010, 04:37:47 pm »
I saw one writhing and twitching after being hit by car on Barry top road. I humanely rode over its neck  :'(
Faith, hope and gluttony.........

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #3 on: 11 October, 2010, 04:41:58 pm »
We clipped a squirrel with the tandem last week.  Just the tail, so it ran off as usual.

For bonus points we had a nice solid feathery impact with a stupid pigeon about 10 minutes later.

Combined with the badger incident of the previous FNRttS, and an earwig I deliberately swerved to run over a few weeks back, I've more than met my quota of wildlife entanglements for this year.

Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #4 on: 11 October, 2010, 04:42:42 pm »
I ran over a baby bunny and broke its back last summer.  :'( :'( :'(
Have you seen my blog? It has words. And pictures! http://ablogofallthingskathy.blogspot.com/

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #5 on: 11 October, 2010, 04:44:04 pm »
We clipped a squirrel with the tandem last week.  Just the tail, so it ran off as usual.

For bonus points we had a nice solid feathery impact with a stupid pigeon about 10 minutes later.

Combined with the badger incident of the previous FNRttS, and an earwig I deliberately swerved to run over a few weeks back, I've more than met my quota of wildlife entanglements for this year.

Did you make contact with meles meles or was it a near miss?
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #6 on: 11 October, 2010, 04:45:25 pm »
Near miss, in an under-the-boom-but-didn't-hit-the-wheel kind of way.

Thor

  • Super-sonnicus idioticus
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #7 on: 11 October, 2010, 04:48:13 pm »
I almost hit a squirrel yesterday.  I swerved to avoid it, it ran in the direction I had swerved, I swerved again, so did it, etc.  I'm sure an onlooker would have thought I was pursuing it. 

On other occasions, I have run over a baby rabbit and once squished a sparrow which flew out from a hedgerow and right under my front wheel.
It was a day like any other in Ireland, only it wasn't raining

Jules

  • Has dropped his aitch!
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #8 on: 11 October, 2010, 04:55:53 pm »
Had a near miss with a badger and a rat through the spokes on the Severn Across - bloody night rides!
Audax on the other hand is almost invisible and thought to be the pastime of Hobbits ....  Fab Foodie

PaulF

  • "World's Scariest Barman"
  • It's only impossible if you stop to think about it
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #9 on: 11 October, 2010, 04:57:31 pm »
Once in Central Park one ran out, froze, then ran into my wheel bounced off and into the rider behind before taking refuge in the bushes. When I passed the same spot I got the feeling that he was watching from a tree plotting his revenge.
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I left the city shortly afterwards.

robbo6

Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #10 on: 11 October, 2010, 04:59:29 pm »
I ran over a terrapin once.

Wascally Weasel

  • Slayer of Dragons and killer of threads.
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #11 on: 11 October, 2010, 05:12:08 pm »
I have come so close on lots of occasions – sometimes the little grey twats have only saved themselves by their ability to suddenly turn and jump backwards mid-run. 

The closest attempts always seem to come at the most dangerous point for me – the worst one being the little git who jumped out on me just as I came off the RAB which is joined by the Hook Road and the M25, on heading back to London you go round a bend and had I had an off would probably been hit by following traffic.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #12 on: 11 October, 2010, 05:56:31 pm »
I ran over a suicidal emo pigeon once - it threw itself out of the bushes and straight under my rear wheel.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Zoidburg

Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #13 on: 11 October, 2010, 06:03:11 pm »
I ran over a Coot.

It got both wheels.

I stopped expecting to have to finsh it off only to see the thing swim off over the canal.

The suspension forks and big foot print/lower down pressure of the MTB tyres must have saved it.

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #14 on: 11 October, 2010, 07:49:15 pm »
Squirrel poem recently sent to me (shrunk for space reasons):

The Night of Claire

A ride in the woods in the dark of the moon
Was no challenge or so it was said
So I mounted my Schwinn and I turned on my lights
And away in the evening I sped.

Slicker than owl snot my drive train did run
As I reached the first tulgey glade
Completely at ease I passed under the trees
Breathing deeply and yet unafraid.

A sudden light clicking then came to my ear
And I wondered if it was the bike.
The volume and frequency seemed to increase
And something just didn't seem right.

My crankset? My pedals? Perhaps the rear wheel?
But my spokes were stress relieved.
I'd checked all the torques and examined the forks
No fault could be conceived.

But then I remembered the horrible squirrels
That run in the woods at night.
More cunning than weasels and faster than bats
My blood ran cold with fright.

My mirror was useless, it bounced up and down
I carefully looked to the back.
Not one running there in the LED glare, not one
But the whole freaking pack!

I knew in an instant the danger I faced
For the squirrels of the East are unreal.
Like furry piranha that scamper like rats
They wanted my brand new wheel!

I knew in the morning they'd find my bones
spread out by the side of the trail.
If I couldn't pull off a quick finesse
I had to deliver the mail.

I spun and I sweated and pulled a huge gear
In the face of imminent death.
The grade was intense and my terror immense
I smelt their squirrelly breath!

Just then I remembered that in my valise
Which I'd strapped to the top of my bars
I had peanuts and trail mix and Gatorade
And a couple of candy bars.

I unzipped the bag and flung out the tools
Which only impeded my hand.
An anvil, a tow chain, a hacksaw and such
And a brand new truing stand.

I hated like fury to throw out that stand
But I needed to get to the food.
I whipped out the trail mix and tossed it back
It halted that Hell spawned brood.

I sat at the top of the hill and wheezed
As the squirrels devouered the nuts.
I'll never again take a ride on that trail
No ifs, no maybes, no buts!

[Posted on the internet by a person who wishes to remain anonymous.]
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

dasmoth

  • Techno-optimist
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #15 on: 11 October, 2010, 07:54:46 pm »
Given some of the horror stories I read here about Wowbadgers and their ilk, I'm surprised that I haven't had more mammalian encounters on the bike.  The only thing I've actually hit was a shoe-pigeon encounter.  The daft thing didn't seem to understand recumbents, but seemed unharmed.

We often seem to find pheasants in our path while on the tandem (rarely while solo, for some reason), but haven't actually bagged one yet.

The skirls keep well away.
Half term's when the traffic becomes mysteriously less bad for a week.

Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #16 on: 11 October, 2010, 08:03:06 pm »
I ran over one just yesterday, riding through Burnham Beeches. It ran out to cross the road, realised I was bearing down, turned back, and thump. I clearly felt a bump under my front wheel. He carried on back into the undergrowth at full speed.

Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #17 on: 11 October, 2010, 08:13:39 pm »
No squirrels, but I witnessed Crustyjuggler run over a defensless bunny.  And I once had a scary badger encounter.

rr

Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #18 on: 11 October, 2010, 10:24:12 pm »
One squirrel run over and one pheasant putting its head through the  spokes of my front wheel, both killed outright

Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #19 on: 03 November, 2010, 01:13:48 pm »
One squirrel under the back wheel, when it tried to run across the road between my front & back wheels, & missed. I heard its spine snap, & stopped with the intention of putting the poor beast out of its misery, but it scrabbled into the roadside undergrowth with its front paws too quickly, & I decided that chasing it in there would be even crueller than leaving it to die.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #20 on: 03 November, 2010, 01:15:57 pm »
I note this thread has positioned itself above "Making burgers" in my recent unread list...

Ray 6701

  • SO @ T
    • Tamworth cycling club
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #21 on: 03 November, 2010, 05:05:49 pm »
I've had a couple of near misses with squirrels however I did hit a cat the other night, felt soft & squidgy & ran like buggery  ;D
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robbo6

Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #22 on: 07 November, 2010, 07:20:19 pm »
You're lucky it could run away, when a cyclist kills a cat it's reincarnated as a puncture fairy.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #23 on: 08 November, 2010, 08:56:52 am »
You're lucky it could run away, when a cyclist kills a cat it's reincarnated as a puncture fairy.

9 times for each claw!
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Who's run over a squirrel while cycling?
« Reply #24 on: 08 November, 2010, 03:41:42 pm »
I ran over a pigeon in Hyde Park once, it flew off.  Got me back by flying into my head when I was skating at speed.  Ouch, it was like a punch to the face.
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