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Craziest thing you’ve seen
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June 30, 2009 at 3:09 am #3097ranetteParticipant
I was browsing through More Proficient Motorcycling the other day and reread a section where the author’s friend is startled by an escaped elephant crossing the highway. Led me to think of the craziest thing I’ve seen on my bike. Keep in mind that I’m in Vermont, so seeing a moose(which I have) or a black bear(not yet) or a couple of 65 year old stoned, naked hippies(too many to count) would hardly be considered odd.
The other day I was riding near the town of Richmond, passing a farm that I’ve been by on numerous occasions. There’s a circular pen near the road where I’ve often seen donkeys, which are not common in Vermont-though not a sight worthy of starting a thread, and Alpaca, which are becoming more commonplace. As I was passing the pen I spotted what at first glance appeared to be a large Alpaca. However as I looked closer I saw that the “Alpaca” had a hump. That’s right, in the middle of Vermont I saw a camel. I really thought my eyes might be playing tricks on me, though I couldn’t stop on my way through, on my way back I made sure to ride slowly and take a good look and sure enough it was definitely a camel. Got home and Googled Camel +Vermont and saw that I was not hallucinating. http://siciliandonkey.com/2008/12/24/most-popular-camel-in-vermont.aspx Can’t believe I’ve lived here for 10 years and this was the first I seen or heard of him.
June 30, 2009 at 3:26 am #20332MunchParticipantUmmm let’s see……seen an eagle , constant deer, couple of turkeys, had a beaver give me a WTF look, wild pig……. Alpacas, donkeys and horses are just as common as the deer oh yea and emu’s …..
I think the one qualifier I had I saw today… A black man…that’s right… a MAN…riding a red Ninja looked to be a 500 pimping a Pink sport jacket and riding pants complete with Hello Kitty patches. Now after wiping the tears from my eyes from the laughter I did a u-turn and yep sure as shit… it was a man…. or the woman had a damn good (or bad) plastic surgeon, depending on what the outcome was supposed to be. I truly hope it was some horrible frat initiation thing or a bet gone bad.June 30, 2009 at 12:37 pm #20338CandiceParticipantSeen some birds, has anyone collided with a bird? That can’t feel good. Otherwise, haven’t seen anything too spectacular, city living you know. I see more wildlife in my backyard though – coyote, fox, deer, screech owl, whistle pig, squirrels, etc. Nothing as exciting as up above.
June 30, 2009 at 1:37 pm #20340WeaponZeroParticipantWildlife-wise, only things I’ve seen up here in Pittsburgh were deer and turkeys, and down in FL I had a few close encounters of the gator kind.
Most wild thing I’ve seen though on my bike was a mercedes driving the wrong way down a one way street.
Most wild thing I’ve seen involving a bike was in 1998 in Boca Raton, FL. A man on a brand new Yamaha R1 was killed crossing an intersection by an elderly woman driving a Ford Expedition who ran a red light. She didn’t stop after she hit him either, she just kept going like nothing had happened. It was in the newspaper the next day and in the article it stated he has just bought the bike brand new from the dealership and was riding it home from picking it up. I remember the year because it was the first year of the R1.
June 30, 2009 at 2:08 pm #20342stuParticipant(car driving since I dont have a bike yet), black bear the size of a small truck, an ostrich escaped from someones farm (that was bizarre!). we hit a turkey vulture that was in flight (those things are so slooooow to take off). run over snakes (they make a surprising POP sound), hit a skunk, close called several thousand deer and hundered odd hunting hounds with gps collars running everywhere on the roadway.
June 30, 2009 at 3:09 pm #20344eonParticipantDon’t have any unusual animal sightings but in the category of unexpected obstacles my best so far is a lot of toilet paper! A truck had dumped a load of toilet paper over a half mile stretch on the highway so I got to practice my high speed (well, 40mph) weaving around them. But the cars were just hitting them and sending them flying through the air like little comets. I had to duck to avoid some of these missiles as I didn’t want one wrapping itself around my helmet. But I couldn’t stop laughing as ducked and weaved my way through this. Was kind of sad when it finished!
June 30, 2009 at 3:35 pm #20348Clay DowlingParticipantI think I’ve posted that here before. A buffalo which had escaped from somebody’s farm and was running next to the road. A definite WTF moments.
The steer being herded around somebody’s garden by the farm dogs was good too. I finally figured out where that came from, too. That farmer has a small cattle pen behind his barn, on the other side of the road. First time I saw any cattle associated with it though, in the three years I’ve been riding that route. Figured it was a remnant from more prosperous days.
July 1, 2009 at 11:32 pm #20368ranetteParticipant…we have a winner. Flying toilet paper missiles definitely qualifies as a crazy thing to encounter on a ride.
July 2, 2009 at 5:58 am #20372gsmurfetteParticipantnothing too exciting on the bike yet…..when I lived in AK, a hefty sized Kodiak bear surprised the hell out of me pulling out of my neighborhood. Thank the maker I wasn’t on a bike, I’d have gotten a ticket for speeding (the speed limit on that road is 25). The guy was bigger than my subaru. That’s craziness down here, but no biggie up there. I over heard a nasty conversation on speaker phone waiting for a train to go by in Seattle, uhm, yeah, they have this thing called blue tooth….so people don’t have to listen to you jacking off in the car……
The TP is awesome!!!!!!!
July 3, 2009 at 6:29 pm #20403Speedy RodriguezParticipant…crossed the road 100 yards away from me about three weeks ago, while riding up the side of–you guessed it–Bear Mountain in NYS.
There were also a lot of deer out there that day–and they were absolutely unafraid of people in cars, bikes, or on foot while they were eating.
July 6, 2009 at 7:29 pm #20423spiccnspamParticipantOnce i was riding home at night and something like a barn swallow smacked me right in the chest. Hurt so bad! it was like getting hit with a lacrosse ball at 40 mph! Even with my jacket on it left a big bruise.
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