Cycling UK Forum

It appears cats aren't intimidated by a bike. Most cats I pass, even at speed, utterly ignore me. A few stay calm but keep a wary eye out. Almost none flee in panic. The couple of times I've come close to striking something, were cats charging across the road.

If you put yourself at cats eye level there isn't much of s bike that's visible to them.

Cats don't ignore me. A loud ting on the bell and a oral "psss" and they usually rung as fast as they can! Squirrels are a different matter. I've never actually killed one, but some have come very very close.

bogmyrtle wrote:If you put yourself at cats eye level there isn't much of s bike that's visible to them.

Cats eyes just stare back at me!

basingstoke123 wrote:

bogmyrtle wrote:If you put yourself at cats eye level there isn't much of s bike that's visible to them.

Cats eyes just stare back at me!

"is that a 'glassy eyed" stare?

With regard to passing them on a bike I treat cats as I do sheep. I don't assume they have much road sense and I ready myself for them doing the wrong thing. Sheep are the worst for that but cats aren't all that much better.

maxglide wrote:It appears cats aren't intimidated by a bike. Most cats I pass, even at speed, utterly ignore me. A few stay calm but keep a wary eye out. Almost none flee in panic. The couple of times I've come close to striking something, were cats charging across the road.

Our cats find my bikes the most fascinating thing in the world, when one or more of them is sitting in the living room, awaiting some work. They're not thick enough to try to get up on the saddle, but they will rub themselves against the tyres and sniff the pedals intensely.

We used to have a small tabby cat that was very sociable - she even liked to come for a walk. If we were out she used to sit on our front wall but completely hidden in the hedge, waiting for us to come home. When we were on foot she would run some distance down the pavement to welcome us, but if we approached on a bike, she waited till we were abreast then sprang out apparently from nowhere almost straight into the front wheel. Even though we were expecting it there were many near misses. One way or another she used up several of her nine lives but survived to a ripe old age.

pwa wrote:With regard to passing them on a bike I treat cats as I do sheep. I don't assume they have much road sense and I ready myself for them doing the wrong thing. Sheep are the worst for that but cats aren't all that much better.

In Sutherland it's common to see signs saying "Slow Lambs On Road". True enough, the brighter lambs seem to learn to keep off the tarmac when something fast is approaching, but I wouldn't stake their life on it.

I still wince when I remember the time I found myself + dog on the opposite side of the road to my cat, just as a (slow) car came along. The cat seemed to lose his nerve at the last minute and made a break for it, right in front of the car. To this day I don't know how he got across the road unhurt.

My brother went on an advanced motorcycling course on which they discussed animals, the advice he was given was:

Sheep, aim for the rear they always run forwards
Dogs, aim for the middle and cut them in two, they will just stand there stupidly

When he asked about cats the response was "you've got to be really good to get a cat"

I ran over a cat once, it just ran out straight in front of me. Front wheel went up and I just about stayed on (fixed wheel). The cat scampered off into a field and I looked, but didn't find it. There was blood and fur on the chainring
The real danger around these parts is pheasants - they are particularly stupid creatures...... They run to the side (and it's easy to think they are escaping, like most animals would do), however they then come back at you and sometimes repeat this 'movement' several times It's as if they are suicidal.

Rabbits exhibit similar behaviour. In fact most prey species will run in some sort of zig-zag in order to shake off the threat. Unfortunately what works to escape a dog or similar actively chasing them tends to fail with something that's trying to avoid them.

Guy in front of me on a motorcycle had a dog run out in front of him once, it got thrown up by the front wheel and lodged between the front mudguard and the exhaust sizzling away.
I was convinced it was dead, then suddenly it spun round and shot off as fast as its legs would go.

When I was learning to fly and doing emergency landings I was told if there were animals in the fields go for the ones with sheep, they always run out of the way. Cattle otoh don't, they'll just stand there looking stupid.

fastpedaller wrote:The real danger around these parts is pheasants - they are particularly stupid creatures...... They run to the side (and it's easy to think they are escaping, like most animals would do), however they then come back at you and sometimes repeat this 'movement' several times It's as if they are suicidal.

Pheasant brain thinking, at sight of approaching car: I wish I could fly. I wish I could fly. Oh, I can! Too late!

Bmblbzzz wrote:Rabbits exhibit similar behaviour. In fact most prey species will run in some sort of zig-zag in order to shake off the threat. Unfortunately what works to escape a dog or similar actively chasing them tends to fail with something that's trying to avoid them.

IME rabbits will run along in front and to the side of you zig-zagging then when there has been ample opportunity to escape into the grass on the left, they will find thge grass on the right more appealing.
If you encounter a badger you will come off second best, they are big and bear related IIRC. Luckily I've only encountered one the once and heard it before I saw it as this was in a residential area and the noise of the claws on the pavement got my attention then I saw the size of the thing and glad it was going the other way.