I never would have thought this would be an issue for me until last Friday. I was riding with my dad in front of me and my sister behind when a large brown dog came flying toward me with no owners in sight. When I first sensed the movement I thought it was a bear cub. He started galloping along side us until we came around a bend and found its owners. If I’d been alone I probably would have had words with the owners.
Weirdly, two people in the last month or so have thought that Loki was a bear. Even when wearing an orange bandana. I have no idea ...
I hate rattles snakes when mountain biking. I notice that when I do see one on the trail that startles me ( sometimes I see then far enough in advance that they don't ), every stick or twig on the trail after that looks like a snake.
I have an involuntary freak out reaction to snakes, so I already think every stick or twig looks like a snake. There are TONS of rattlesnakes in the front range - one was crossing the trail at Picture Rock last week. I stopped to let it pass, hoping it would in fact keeping going and not pause to sun itself on the trail. And was able to warn the oncoming father and young daughter of the danger.
I got involved in a rattlesnake bite victim search and rescue on Green Mountain in Lakewood last year. It’s got me too freaked out to return there and I hear North Table Mountain is bad as well. I think it was Apex that got closed for too many rattlers last year. People on the local FB trail conditions page have taken to calling them Danger Noodles.
Might as well avoid all front range trails in that case, I think. They're everywhere; have been as long as I've been riding. That's one nice thing about high alpine hikes - no snakes!
I won't disagree with you on that one.
I often wonder, if you're skiing or riding somewhere and an animal appears, do you continue on your route or stop and assess? I guess it depends on the animal.
Hm. There's no way I'm faster than any such animal, and some (ie, mountain lions) will definitely chase if you're fleeing from them. So, stop, I guess. Maybe back away after.
I would have voted mountain lions because deep down that is the animal that I really fear the most, mainly because the likelihood of surviving an attack is low and I certainly ride a lot in mountain lion country. The reason I did not choose mountain lions is for the fact that the odds of actually being attacked are extremely unlikely.
The renaissance festival had a big cat display for some reason. They brought out various animals and taught us about them. They had a tiger, but I had no visceral reaction. Then the mountain lion - THAT freaked me out. Same reason, I think - the risk from mountain lions feels very real.
I think we as humans are incredibly bad at overall risk assessment - we stop our kids walking or cycling to school because of (remote )fear of paedophiles and traffic and as a result create more traffic and chances of RTAs, we worry about the extreme: air crashes, terrorists etc but not the more common -drunk drivers, speeding.
I heard some sort of risk expert recently comment that parents will keep their kids from visiting a house with a gun, but no one thinks twice about sending their kids to a pool party. But the chance of a child dying in a pool is faaaaaaaar higher than getting shot.
Lyme is no joke but usually managable if treated quickly. Two immediate family members and two best friends all have had it. One let it fester for a while and is now paying the price.
A friend of mine went undiagnosed for years. She is living with severe, severe consequences.
And another thing missing from this list - mountain goats. I've posted about my dogs' encounter with a mama and her baby. I'm shocked my dogs are still alive - and I wouldn't have blamed the goat if she'd killed them to protect her baby.
