Animals!

[Gone in 60]

I fell in love with the CG125 when I worked in Mexico at a race. Wanted to smuggle one back to California but would have no way to make it road legal.

 

[pdedse]

I fell in love with the CG125 when I worked in Mexico at a race. Wanted to smuggle one back to California but would have no way to make it road legal.

I thought about it--getting mine back to the U.S. Even thought about riding it back, but the better part of valor or something like that. Such a fun bike, easy to kick start, will run on cooking oil I'm told, so light and nimble, sips gas... just perfect for where I was at--that is, not needing to exceed 80kph.

 

[the Ferret]

New critter on today's ride, although someone drilled it before I got there

Beaver

 

[Cormanus]

I ran over a snake's tail one day. When I looked in the mirror it was dancing around on the road and, if it had had one, would have been shaking its fist at me.

Wild horses

You might remember that I took out a cockatoo while we were riding together. Huge explosion of white feathers and a dent in the aluminum pannier. I felt really bad about the bird.

I do. Sad to hit a bird.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

My riding route is common to see (in frequent most order)
1) Cows roaming and sleeping on road. Cow accident which kill driver and the cow involved is quite common.
2) snakes crossing road (Once tried to bite me thru boot, luckily boot is thicker than its fang)
3) monkeys. (mostly asking for food)
4) lizard the size of crocodile.
Once i rode over a lizard and the bike fork bottom out and go into tank slap due to the lizard size. But luckily the bike keep rolling after the tank slap.
Nothing exotic as most road I rode are near to civilization.

Oh! Snakes! Thanks for the reminder, I forgot a couple...

1. on my honda cgl125 in Costa Rica... a house I stay at from time to time is about 1km off the paved road, and the dirt/rock road quickly takes one into the thick of the jungle. I surprised a 2' long fer-de-lance coming around a curve and he lept up at my my right foot and bare leg (nope, no ATGATT, way too hot, way too humid), and took a swipe, but I kinda felt/saw it coming and had lifted my foot off the peg, raised in the air. A quick hit on the gas and I was by him, but that woke me up.

2. Army Ants!! On the same road as above. I'm told when these guys visit your house, leave for a day or two, come back to bug-free house...and free of anything else you leave out. I followed their trail about 10meters each side of the forest road, maybe 5-8" wide...frenetic, crazy, boiling river of ants!

This is my video from time, see if the link still works: ANTS!

David Janzen's Costa Rican Natural History says....

"Colonies are large...thirty thousand to to more than one million...soldiers are 9-14 mm long and possess large hook-shaped mandibles...almost exclusively carnivorous...forage in columns...entire colonies migrate...one queen is found in each colony...spectacular raids...starting at dawn, the ants pour out of their bivouac but soon concentrate in one direction...comparable to a wolf pack, an army ant swarm raid is the epitome of group predation...emigrations may continue for 3-9 hours...most emigrations are 50-70 meters long..."

Love those guys!

And I miss my little tropical ride, the cgl...

Echidna, lizards, cattle, deer, sheep, a wombat, goats, kangaroo, emu, snakes


I ran over a snake's tail one day. When I looked in the mirror it was dancing around on the road and, if it had had one, would have been shaking its fist at me.

Wild horses

Had to look it up! What a cutie.

Fascinating pdedse, and gross.

 

[KiowaEagle_imp]

I've had to lay a bike down (550 four) because I came around a curve and there was a herd of deer in the middle of the road. But my most interesting encounter was with a black bear on the way to the rally last year. It was at night in the mountains of Virginia and I came around a curve and there he was in the middle of the lane running away from me. All I could think of as I was trying to avoid hitting him was "That's an awfully big dog, I wonder what kind it is?" It had moved into the left oncoming lane as I got up next to him and it was only then that I realized it was a bear. It gave me a glance and then veered off into the woods and we both went on our merry way. I'm just glad I didn't hit him.

 

[suhawk305]

I've had to lay a bike down (550 four) because I came around a curve and there was a herd of deer in the middle of the road. But my most interesting encounter was with a black bear on the way to the rally last year. It was at night in the mountains of Virginia and I came around a curve and there he was in the middle of the lane running away from me. All I could think of as I was trying to avoid hitting him was "That's an awfully big dog, I wonder what kind it is?" It had moved into the left oncoming lane as I got up next to him and it was only then that I realized it was a bear. It gave me a glance and then veered off into the woods and we both went on our merry way. I'm just glad I didn't hit him.

That was not a bear KE! When I passed, it was this guy who wanted to be seen!

RE: From a TV commercial for Progressive Insurance Corp (USA).

 

[pdedse]

Haha... now that one I have not seen, and I live in the NW.

 

[peterbaron]

Haha... now that one I have not seen, and I live in the NW.

did you mean her?

 

[the Ferret]

remember the black headed vultures I told you about that don't fly but hop out of the way? (from today's ride). Dead possum on the double yellow line were their feast today.They just have to dodge the cars and 1 motorcycle

 

[KiowaEagle_imp]

They were different ones Suhawk. They saw the way you were riding and figured they'd better sell you some insurance

 

[Haystack_imp]

It was a dark and stormy night (no kidding) - actually the rain hadn't begun yet and I was in a hurry to get home on Highway 20 before the deluge began. Pretty breezy and I was riding too fast in my rush to stay out of the thunderstorm. I must've been going 75 when suddenly a nearby lightning flash illuminated 2,000 lbs of black angus bull inches from my right handlebar. Lucky for me he was not crossing the road.

Absolutely impossible to see a light-sucking black-haired bovine with it's tail toward you in the dark of night. Even with the forest fire-starting bright headlight of the CB he was invisible. That snapshot image is one that I'll never forget!

I rarely ride at night anymore in rural cattle country.

 

[pdedse]

It was a dark and stormy night (no kidding) - actually the rain hadn't begun yet and I was in a hurry to get home on Highway 20 before the deluge began. Pretty breezy and I was riding too fast in my rush to stay out of the thunderstorm. I must've been going 75 when suddenly a nearby lightning flash illuminated 2,000 lbs of black angus bull inches from my right handlebar. Lucky for me he was not crossing the road.

Absolutely impossible to see a light-sucking black-haired bovine with it's tail toward you in the dark of night. Even with the forest fire-starting bright headlight of the CB he was invisible. That snapshot image is one that I'll never forget!

I rarely ride at night anymore in rural cattle country.

Wow. That image is fixed in MY brain now. Zero to sheer terror in in a blink of an eye

 

[LongRanger_imp]

Wow is right! Unnerving!

Years ago, I was driving nonstop to Denver from San Francisco in my car, about 1200 miles straight. At about the 21-hour mark, somewhere in Wyoming, 2:00 AM, I glanced over and noticed a deer on the shoulder with a shotgun taking aim at me. Of course I was hallucinating. That woke me up!

 

[Cormanus]

I don't even want to contemplate that image, Haystack.

 

[chync_imp]

Interesting hallucination. I made a similarly long trip once from upstate New York to Ga in one day and I knew it was time to pull over when I hallucinated goats and sheep chasing the car and running into the road at 3 am. Luckily they were unarmed. And unharmed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Stichill]

Chilling incident, Haystack! Zoinks!

 

[Tezza_imp]

I have hit multiple critters over the years. 2 kangaroos,a wombat,a couple of cats,a dog, rabbit and multiple birds. Once I had a green frog appear in the front of my fairing but he bailed before I had time to stop.
Here is a funny story.....
The Calif D.O.T found over 200 dead crows on on Calif hwys recently, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone's relief, confirmed the problem was NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be from vehicular impacts. However, during analysis it was noted that varying colours of paints appeared on the ...bird's beaks and claws. By analysing these paint residues it was found that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with motorbikes, while only 2% were killed by cars.
The Agency then hired an Ornithological Behaviorist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of motorbike kills versus car kills. The Ornithological Behaviorist quickly concluded that when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow to warn of danger. They discovered that while all the lookout crows could shout "Cah", not a single one could shout "bike"

 

[Ben70_imp]

Ouch, Tezza :rofl:
I thought maybe it was crownavirus.

Ben

 

[pdedse]

I have hit multiple critters over the years. 2 kangaroos,a wombat,a couple of cats,a dog, rabbit and multiple birds. Once I had a green frog appear in the front of my fairing but he bailed before I had time to stop.
Here is a funny story.....
The Calif D.O.T found over 200 dead crows on on Calif hwys recently, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone's relief, confirmed the problem was NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be from vehicular impacts. However, during analysis it was noted that varying colours of paints appeared on the ...bird's beaks and claws. By analysing these paint residues it was found that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with motorbikes, while only 2% were killed by cars.
The Agency then hired an Ornithological Behaviorist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of motorbike kills versus car kills. The Ornithological Behaviorist quickly concluded that when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow to warn of danger. They discovered that while all the lookout crows could shout "Cah", not a single one could shout "bike"

Oh my, that made me laugh...you got me! And I was readin' it all serious like.

Ouch, Tezza :rofl:
I thought maybe it was crownavirus.

Ben

Would have worked!!