A friend is visiting Brittany at the moment and she has been chased by dogs 3 times already in as many weeks. One bit her and she has the bruises to prove it. So thanks, Sarah, for giving me this blog idea!
I think I’ve been pretty lucky on the road so far and have never been bitten by anything bigger than a bee. I’ve had dumb dogs follow me for miles, though, with one of them getting hit by a car because he couldn’t stop running alongside me (remember that, Rich?). I’ve had my way blocked by all manner of domesticated bêtes, including sheep in the Italian Alps…
…horses in the Pyrenees…
…and runaway cows in the Massif Central.
But none of these animals ever gave me much grief, like the cow below is giving the cyclist below. I hope this is photoshopped!
I have a strong suspicion that some of you will have stories to tell. The most exotic wins!
The Vicious Cycle 
We were riding along a farm road on a route we now call “The Deer Loop”. I’m up front, my wife is second bike and my buddy, Mike is third. I see a deer running with us off to my right, matching pace even. The deer sees a minivan approaching (towards us, opposite lane) and decides to make a left turn running directly into my wife who stops almost instantly as the deer hits her. She stays upright but Mike hits her back wheel, and because he was off the back of the saddle to balance for an emergency stop, falls BACKWARDS off his bike and breaks his tailbone. He rode all the way home before figuring out maybe he should go to the doctor… about 20 miles.
The Deer Loop.
Your wife must have the dexterity of Sagan, Jim! Nice work. Mike had a painful fall, if my wife is correct. She broke her tailbone years before we met and said it was excruciating.
Deer: not that exotic, but you win so far because you’re the only one 😉
LOL! Yeah, Mike was off the bike for a bit and he didn’t like it! Not exotic, except who can say they actually got run into by said wildlife?!
Accidentally eating flies while passing cattle farms is my main encounter with the animal kingdom, I don’t recommend it.
Eating flies is nothing new for a cyclist, but there’s an added ‘yuck’ factor when the came from a cow farm, at least to me.
I agree. I would keep my mouth shut but I can’t breathe through my nose well enough to keep pedalling.
As I was doing a wheelie while riding a time trial in Death Valley, in debilitating heat and rain with hurricane strength winds, I was attacked by a jackalope, a werewolf and bigfoot..was terrifying…the Snickers bars I threw at them distracted them long enough for me to make a narrow escape. WHEW!!
Are you just telling this story to win the prize, Stephen!? At least I learned a new animal from you: jackalope.
I was riding uphill (slowly as you can imagine) when a bee started buzzing around my head. It kept harassing me for the next km until I tired of him and decided to turn around and head downhill 50-60kph. Geez how fast do these things fly? I couldn’t shake it! Best I heard though, is a friend was dive bombed by a bird of prey (hawk? falcon?) out in the Rockies. I don’t recall if he was knocked off his bike but he had a huge hole in his jersey and bruise in his back where the bird hit him.
I’m not sure that I’ve ever had a bug stay with me on a descent, but sometimes I wonder if they find a ‘draft’ when buzzing around us? Maybe there’s a bubble of air they can hang in when screaming down a mountain! The bird of prey is a scary story and I’ve had that happen to me, too, in Australia. I was attacked daily by the same neighborhood crow in Kawasaki when I lived there, as well. Birds freak me out!