What do you smell when you ride?

I've asked, "What do you see when you ride?" and "What do you hear when you ride?" How about, "What do you smell when you ride?"

There are pleasant smells like flowers, freshly cut grass, and food cooking or being grilled (makes me so hungry!):)

When I ride past people sometimes there is a soapy smell or the smell of aftershave or perfume. When passing houses I sometimes smell detergent from a washing machine or dish washer.:rolleyes:

There are unpleasant smells like garbage, dead fish (by the lake), smoke, or fumes from vehicles. :eek:

I often smell road kill, we have a lot of it in our area. :(
I hold my breath.

Also lots of dairy and horse farm smells. :)
I notice the smaller farms usually smell good and the bigger dairy farms sometimes have more chemical smells.

I smell honeysuckle, lilacs, and wild roses when they are in bloom by the roadsides.
It always smells good when the road goes through woodland.

car exhaust, whatever the drivers are smoking (not always what you would expect!!)

different flowers in bloom, dead stuff, mowed grass..

Riding at breakfast time I smell bacon. At dinner time. OH MY GOODNESS, it's a wonder we haven't invited ourselves in to more than one incredibly delicious smelling meal!

I smell pretty much the same thing as Lisa.
I remember once smelling laundry; the exhaust from a clothes dryer.

Right now I mostly smell me.

Rain....from those "sun showers"
Breakfast.....early in the morning wafting from houses or small restaurants
Skunk....on occasion
Farms....ok, actually manure....especially on a day they get a pile of it to fertilize the fields!
Reclaimed water....we have plants in town that do that...mighty stinky w/ a sulfur smell, too.

Skunks
Road kill
Feed Yards
Russian Olive trees

I pass a tobacco factory sometimes, it smells wonderful!

All the rural smells described above
Roadkill
Magnolias
Orange Blossoms during certain times of the year
and if I'm lucky - the really nice smell of one of the guy's in the group - I think it is his sunscreen.

Exhaust
Dead fish from the Washington, DC fish market (not so nice on a hot, humid summer day)
Sometimes flowers

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Originally Posted by nolemom

All the rural smells described above
Roadkill
Magnolias
Orange Blossoms during certain times of the year
and if I'm lucky - the really nice smell of one of the guy's in the group - I think it is his sunscreen.

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I almost forgot the Orange Blossoms...and Jassmine, too at the right time of year!

There's a guy on one of the rides I do who has HORRIBLE b.o.! :mad: I cringe everytime I see him, as he's a wee bit stronger than I, so he's usually in front of me, and I can't drop him! :mad:

I love springtime rides when lilacs are in bloom. Now, the honeysuckle are blooming (actually, they may be past), and a bit ago there was something blooming that I swear smells like a wet sponge!

Interesting question! I'm enjoying reading the responses.

I've smelled much of what others have - including bacon, and other foods (and ITA that it's tempting to knock on doors!) all of the wonderful flora and fauna. And the occasional dead thing, including roadkill

But, what stuck out in my mind when reading the question when when DH and I would go mountain biking and I would pass what smelled like cilantro. DH is Eastern Indian and uses a lot of cilantro when he makes his curries (chicken or chick pea) which are so much better than anything in any Indian restaurant, so every time we would go mountain biking, I would crave his cooking. I think that's why he stopped going. :rolleyes:

I smell a wide variety of things from road kill to roses, but one of my favorites is the smell of beer being made at Redhook brewery which is across the river from the Sammamish River trail. There's also a BBQ place along there that produces some pretty enticing smells.

On another forum I was just reading how the smell of portapotties reminds someone of the STP. Yeah, Something like that.

Bus fumes. Car fumes. That is 90% of the time.

Farm chemicals, road kill, and honeysuckle.

Funny you bring this up, because I was just recently thinking that one of the things I find interesting about cycling is being more in tune with what's around me based on smell (even though not all of those smells are pleasant).

I don't know that I've smelled anything that hasn't been mentioned. Stale water when I ride by the canals. Fast food when I ride near restaurants. I stay off the main roads, so don't smell a lot of exhaust. Sometimes I smell cologne but can't see anyone, which kind of creeps me out. Laundry, flowers/trees in bloom. When it's really hot the pavement has a smell...I think it's melting. :p

I smell a lot of what has already been posted as well. Lately, I keep smelling this weird but pleasant woody cinnamon smell. It reminds of the taste of cinnamon flavored toothpicks. I have no idea what plant it is, but I've smelled it in a ton of different rural locations, so I think it's some type of wild plant.

When I lived in NC, I'd smell McDonalds 4 different times on my commute in to work. ICK!

I hate smelling cigarette smoke more than I hate the smell of exhaust.

You haven't lived until you ride by 4 of these in a row, all sitting out there baking in the hot sunshine.

Karen (lives by Tyson)

That reminds me....I do ride by a chicken house on one of my routes. Peee-YEW!

I sometimes ride by the Coors plant and smell the yeast from making beer.

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Originally Posted by Tuckervill

You haven't lived until you ride by 4 of these in a row, all sitting out there baking in the hot sunshine.

Karen (lives by Tyson)

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*shudder* And THAT my friends is why I no longer buy chicken from a grocery store!

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

I smell a lot of what has already been posted as well. Lately, I keep smelling this weird but pleasant woody cinnamon smell. It reminds of the taste of cinnamon flavored toothpicks. I have no idea what plant it is, but I've smelled it in a ton of different rural locations, so I think it's some type of wild plant.

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If you lived here in the Northeast, I would guess you were smelling Sweet Fern, Comptonia peregrina. This time of year that is what I smell on my way home from work.

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

*shudder* And THAT my friends is why I no longer buy chicken from a grocery store!

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Yep, those are those "cage-free" hens that you pay double for their eggs in the grocery store. :rolleyes:

I never rode by the egg farm until this year, after the EPA finally shut it down.

I smell a lot of multiflora rose in season, which is as pernicious as many of the nasties that have been mentioned in this thread, but it smells so wonderful. :(

Those chickens are for eatin', not layin'.

Karen

We often pass a chicken feed or pet food manufacturer if we ride a certain to work.

The worst thing I've ever smelt on a dirt ride was a very old rotting Kangaroo...uuuugghghgh :eek: blech

hay
manure
woods
rain
the sea (but i don't live nearby the sea), farmers use algae on their land
blossoms in the spring
caramel (i live close by a sugar factory)
beer (when I pass Hoegaarden or Stella Artois)
fries and steak (on a Sunday noon)

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Originally Posted by crazycanuck

The worst thing I've ever smelt on a dirt ride was a very old rotting Kangaroo...uuuugghghgh :eek: blech

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EWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

I would love to say I smelled lovely flowers on my rides but more often than naught I smell roadkill and skunk. :(

people grilling stuff for dinner. Why wasn't I invited-I'm hungry! The smells of summer= Americana!

I smell the willows growing along the Mississippi River on the flood side of the levee. Willows (and cottonwoods) smell different to me than other trees - more of a musty smell.

BEER! The levee path goes under two graineries.

There's a funny smell that sometimes drifts over from the shipyards where a Navy ship is currently under construction. Not really a paint smell, not sure what it is - I can see them welding. Does welding metal give off a smell?

Our new hill route has been dubbed "road kill" road. Our new game is (I can't believe I'm saying this) name the road kill...............snake, racoon, squirrel, and once A WHOLE DEER across the bike path. Unfortunately, it was an out and back :eek: