Most Unsual thing you've seen on a ride?

Once saw a man walking a goat on a leash.

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Do bears count? Fortunately, I was able to give them a wide berth (one time I turned around fast, the other time I just stopped and waited).

Another time while on a run (which technically doesn’t count, I guess) in Chile a tarantula crossed my path. I almost stepped on her.

In the Central Valley of California, unbeknown to me, apparently there is a mass tarantula migration lower down out of the foothills in the fall. I turned on to a rd that ran parallel to the hills, actually in the hills and found it covered with tarantulas. I couldn’t avoid hitting them as I rode down the road.

:scream:
That’d freak me out big time. Probably more than coming across a rattle snake (which is objectively more dangerous).

About half-way through a 170k mixed terrain ride I was treated to the sight of three nude Norwegians shouting and dancing across a farm field. Certainly broke up the monotony of that particular section.

Hard pass.

Couple of years back I started on a very early commute (maybe 06:00am) through the woods and about a kilometer in from the nearest residential area, I come across a burnt out car still smoldering in the middle of the gravel road (road not open to traffic, normally a XC ski track in the winter (for other norwegians: lysløype)). Had to wait for the fire department to put out the rest to be able to pass. Definitely a break from the moose, deer and rabbits I usually see in those woods (which is weekly).

There is a reason they call it Mt Diablo!

A big, big brown bear. :bear:

Commuting home in the dark, going up a climb, had a deer jump out right in front of me and get hit by an SUV going the opposite direction. Deer turned around and crossed behind me. I stopped and waited with the driver until her dad came to pick her up (high school age driver). Found out when I got home that my left side was covered in blood splatter from the accident being so close to me. She was pretty traumatized, but I’m not sure if it was from hitting the deer or my appearance

I totally get that, and we have the same issue where I live, but I also can appreciate there are those who don’t want to see dead animals on their cycling forum.

Ill just delete it

Was riding mountain bikes in a heavily wooded park, came around the corner and I found myself in the middle of a movie set. We have a pretty well regarded school of the arts nearby and it was a crew from there filming some sort of medieval/fantasy scene (this was early 2000s, pre-Game of Thrones). Fortunately shooting wasn’t actively in progress when I bumbled through- between cast and crew there were probably 10-15 people, and they had a legit setup with microphones, lights and elaborate costumes. I was a skinny teenager on a Cannondale with a Lefty, so they probably though I was the weird one.

man…this would have impacted me greatly. Probably had me switch to MTB permanently. Terrible :face_with_spiral_eyes:

I do get your fascination with them. We have whole packs of them in our woods and it’s amazing when you ride up on them and suddenly there is a pack of huge black bumps running through the woods. Unfortunately, they also wander into neighborhoods and can destroy several entire yards in a single night from rooting, and that leads to traps and hunts.

I rode Reading to Bath on the Avon Canal route a few years back and towards the end of the route I saw a chap standing on a little bridge not more than 5 metres over the canal we were following via the tow paths and there a was a barge passing underneath this bridge.

My buddy shouted jump at the guy, to wihch he did, trying to land on the barge below. He got one foot on, the other completely missed and he sorta flipped as he fell.

We thought the guy was part of the group on the barge, turns out he was just drunk. He could’ve broke his back so we were relieved when he stood u in the water and started wooping.

The barge owner was fuming. Never heard so many swear words exhumed in a single breath.

I hope he didn’t try to draft without asking first.

This morning I saw a head on collision and then one of the cars veered off. Almost crashing into somebody’s home! Can’t say I’ve seen that before, very unusual indeed.

Most unusual: In the late ‘70s on a Hill Country ride west of Austin, I saw two horses copulating. The length of a stallion’s penis was surreal!

Saddest: On weekends, I ride a lot on the backroads of Montgomery and Frederick Counties (MD). Often streams of motorcycle riders on their club outings (mostly on Harleys) wave to me as they pass by. A few years back, as I was riding up a small crest, I saw about 6 or 7 Harleys pulled off the side of the road and the riders standing together, some crying. I craned my neck 90° left and saw a mangled motorbike in the middle of a soybean field and a rider crouched over (presumably attending to the injured comrade I couldn’t see). Even recounting this still gives me the shudders.