Bike vs Squirrel

We have a hill going down to the local trail hill that is squirrel central. I felt the bones crush below my handlebars once myself. And I have seen dead squirrel on that path at least two other times, with clear signs of bike tire. More common than one would expect.

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Originally Posted by dan_pdx

I was in a fast 3-rider pace line on the asphalt section of a gravel race I did in May and saw a squirrel come to the shoulder in the left side of the road. My telepathic message "don't do it!" had no effect and the little twerp ran right in front of the lead rider. Once he saw that front wheel bearing down, he realized he fucked up and started dodging like a wide receiver. We helped by trying hard to swerve around -- there's a high risk of swerving into a dodge, but we were all lucky and the little punk slipped through unscathed. Most exciting part of the ride for sure.

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And this is why roadies on road rides - gravel or not - resort to dick-ish behavior to alleviate the drudgery. Black diamond singletrack FTW, where the challenge instills camaraderie as opposed to aggro behavior!

I didnt find that ^^ I mean sure they are gona draft but IME roadies will warn the peloton by pointing at danger on the road and in general have camaradrie to go for coffee, I'm not sure why/ where you folks find so many dickheads in America

I dodge those things every day going to work in SC on the bike path. I've only kicked one pedaling. It definitely startled me and took a second to realize what had just happened.

They used to be thick around our local trail system. We called them the Tifosi because they ran alongside us on the trail. Had one jump across the trail from boulder to boulder right in front of me - kind of a “to Infinity and Beyond!” Maneuver.

For some reason their population has declined markedly.

Good thing squirrels don't drive hummers

Attachment 496117
My dog found this on our morning hike. It’s right next to the trail.
WTF

After reading what the participants eat on the CDT race, i think you may have overlooked a protein booster free of charge.

I have a vague memory from years ago of a close call from a marmot running across a rail to trail right in front of me or somebody I was with.

Was it one of those chubby, almost kinda cute eastern fox squirrels like that are in the Bay Area? Because those are introduced/invasive. Tree rats that can carry Lime Disease. Kill them all.

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Originally Posted by NuMexJoe

And this is why roadies on road rides - gravel or not - resort to dick-ish behavior to alleviate the drudgery. Black diamond singletrack FTW, where the challenge instills camaraderie as opposed to aggro behavior!

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The "drudgery" is the fun! It's just type 2 fun.

Going over a pedestrian bridge yesterday a Redtail hawk flew about 10' over my head with a ton of blackbirds behind him squawking. It took a second for me to see with the chaos going on, but he had a squirrel squeezed in his talons. Bad day for the squirrel.