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Due to my recent issues with my new clipless pedals, I have been reading several forums about them. I came across one about a Timber club, and I am still laughing. mtkitchn taking down the Christmas Tree in her living room has to be my favorite! I would like to hear everyone's most embarrassing or funny moment on a bike. Oh, I don't want anybody hurt, but I can't help but smile at the ones who are trying to be so cool and impressive, (haven't we all been there?) and then they fall over...
You have already had the pleasure of reading mine...first day, clipless pedals, Aussie dudes in the parking lot...TIMBER!!!! sound familiar...or should I continue.....
" I jumped a log, I jumped a log"
TIMBER!!!!!!!
Ruth
I had a funny moment, MTBing with friends in North Carolina. I dropped behind for some reason, and found a really cool, really big snake. So I'm trying to ride the bike, on a kind of technical trail, without falling, without the snake going through the spokes, trying to wind him somewhere up high, trying to catch up with my friends to show them the cool snake, getting madder and madder that no one seemed to notice I had dropped back so far...Finally had to give up- it's hard to ride with a snake!
What was I thinking...
Nanci
No way. You picked up that serpent? A big one, at that, and he didn't get upset? I'm terrified of snakes--saw a smooshed one on the trail today and it still freaked me out. I ran over one last year (small fella) and almost wiped out. I kept thinking that he somehow got on my bike. haha.
My embarassing moments have to do with my perpertually runny nose in the winter (one example: when one of my poorly launched snot rockets landed on one lens of my specs) and in the summer (when, for some reason, fleas and gnats seem to adhere to the sweat on my face and I end up with little black speckles). Luckily, I'm not too worried about my appearance, especially when I'm out riding!!
Very cool Nanci! I would have done the same - used to be a herpetologist before working with marine shrimp and now catfish... That must have been quite a site! What kind of snake was it???Quote:
Originally Posted by Nanci
I have a neighbor friend that is so terrified of snakes that she actually shot ... yes shot ... one INSIDE of her house with rat shot. That tends to do a number on the laminant floors. :eek:
My embarassing moment- asking a farmer (that I didn't know) to throw me and my bike in his truck and drive me back past the big scary (silent) dog that had just chased me. Turns out it was a good move - the dog was waiting for me on the side of the road. But - as my husband says - what man could turn down a girl in cycling clothes?? ;)
That is hilarious. Makes me think of the tag line somebody here uses about cats not liking to ride bikes, no matter how much duct tape you use! :rolleyes: I'm enjoying the image of you trying to ride and herp-wrangle at the same time! :p L.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nanci
Florida is for herps lovers!!
I think the NC snake was a rat snake or something.
My friends say riding with me is like riding with Steve Irwin (crocodile hunter).
I have four herps right now, a Glass Lizard, (Baby Russell) a Corn Snake (Maizey, getting ready to shed right now, peeked out of her moist hide for the first time in a week today, eyes have gone clear again- I expect her to shed tonight or tomorrow. I got to _see_ her shed last time!) an Eastern Box Turtle, (Fagalo) and a tortoise (Cracker Chicken).
I was talking to a guy I was riding with today, who says his 40 year old sister has a bunch of lizards- geckos, mainly. My daughter has a bunch of obscure geckos, too. I guess we just never grow up.
I wonder why some people grow up with a love of reptiles and amphibians, and others grow up fearing/hating them.
I have two really memorable Florida snake moments: 1. Caught (and released) a Short-Tailed Snake up near Tallahassee. It's classified as rare. 2. Caught a Coral Snake while trail running. This is one of my lifetime dream reptile captures! It was very small, about 10 inches. I wasn't sure right away if it was a Coral or a King, and in the heat of the moment "Red On Black, Friend Of Jack, Red On Yellow, Kill A Fellow" wasn't coming clearly to mind, so I had to capture it before it got away while I could try to remember the saying. So I had this little snake around the neck, safely not biting me, but he had his mouth open and would have _liked_ to gnaw on my fingers, and I for some reason decided that because his snout was black, he was therefore a Coral Snake. So I set him back down in the grass and said goodbye.
Nanci
I ran across this on bikeforums.net while I was looking around for a mountain bike.
So there I was, cruising down some narrow winding singletrack, enjoying the sunny day. A sizeable rattlesnake was also enjoying the sun, in the middle of the trail as luck would have it. I came out of a blind turn and before I knew it the snake was under my front wheel. It sure was mad...striking and rattling and everything. I could see the white inside of its mouth the several times it struck, fortunately it was tangled in the front wheel. I leapt off of the bike in a panic, and jumped back about 15 feet. Fastest dismount I've ever done. The snake retreated to the dense brush, out of sight. It stopped rattling after a little while. I stood there, heart pounding, keeping my eye on the bushes. I tossed a pebble in the general direction of the snake, and it was met with furious rattling. Not good. I tossed a few more pebbles, hoping to drive the snake away, and eventually no rattle was heard. I slowly walked over to the bike, carefully picked it up, and rode on.
About two months ago, I almost ran over a huge rattlesnake, much bigger than the one today. I was able to stop in time though.
I feel pretty lucky to have gotten out of that with no injuries. Too close for comfort!
Very cool catch on the coral snake! It would have to chew on you for a while to do any harm (rear-fanged and small head). I've never seen one in the wild - always have wanted to. I spent a good bit of time in south Louisiana (grad school) and was able to see some nice snakes down there. Nothing too exciting around here (MS) - garter snakes, garter snakes, garter snakes.
I agree with you - you're either a herp person or you're really really not. There's not much in between. My daughter (age 4) is showing a lot of curiosity about frogs and snakes - I'm doing my best to encourage it.
I like your collection of herps - very nice. What kind of tortoise? I had a 6 foot boa once. I turned a closet into a habitat for it. Very cool until it escaped and ended up in the rafters in the basement :eek: I donated it to the local DNR for them to use in environmental programs (in MD).
It's funny about me and herps. I like lizards a lot. I was working in semi-rural Jamaica for a couple of months in '01, and lizards are everywhere. The Jamaicans were freaked out by them, but I like them. They're interesting to look at, fun to watch, and they eat bugs. What's not to like? Similarly, I like turtles very much.
Snakes, on the other hand, still give me the willies. Something about the no limbs bothers me. Isn't that silly? But I respect them, and would just try to stay out of their way in their world. I don't go into the snake house at the zoo. Just the words, "snake house"...shiver. :rolleyes: Glad you guys are friends to the snakes. They don't have too many of those amongst the humans. L.
but I'm not afraid of them either. I grew up in Thomasville, GA, just north of Tallahassee. I went to school at Valdosta State University. My favorite course was Herpetology. We collected lots of different specimens. My mom loved it when I was able to capture the red headed skink that had been plaguing her bird feeder for a while. The coolest thing was making a hognosed snake go through it defense mechanisms. First it looks like a cobra, even to the spread out ribs, then it will act like a rattle snake, finally it will turn over and play dead. Even if you turn it back over it will turn over and show it's white belly. Funny as heck!!
My professor had a highly endangered indigo snake in her office. Picky eater!! Only liked live gerbils and it was fairly mean. Got a few bites from her.
We also saw endandered species like the gopher tortise and bull snake( a 6 footer!). This and the ornithology course were great summer classes I took as a Biology major.
My daughters freak at the sight of a snake or lizard, or the little Mediterranean geckos that have become dominant in N.TX. My cat likes to play with snakes and lizards.
Nanci, guess I would never pick up a coral snake but I have seen a couple in my life time.
Some of y'all would love the Herpetarium at the Fort Worth(TX) Zoo. It's ranked as one of the best in the world. Even have a couple of Kamodo dragons!!
Believe or not, you will pass by about 85% of the reptiles in the forest and never know they are there. Most people get into trouble when they step over logs in the pathways and get struck by a snake on the other side. Always look over the log before you step!!
Well, there's my advice for the day.
BTW, the knee surgery went well and the daughter's eye surgery also went great. It may be a couple more weeks before I can get on the bike but I'm working towards that end.
Donna :)
Probably my most embarressing time riding was with my first set of clipless pedals. It was my first time going on a trail and I was conviced to go clipless right from the start. Well, the pedals that came with the bike were terrible!!! The trail my friend introduced me to was very tight twisting single track and I couldn't even keep track of the number of times I fell. The pedals were complete death traps. Two times that ride I and had to remove my shoes to get my feet out of the pedals!!!! That was one long, painful ride. I quickly purchased a used pair of higher end pedals after that ride.
Oh, and also one time I was getting ready for a ride and I had to use the port-o-potty before going out (it's a nervous thing, I always have to pee before I ride). Well, I was wearing a new pair of bike shorts that I purchased from a store online in their clearance dept. Apparently these shorts sat on the shelf for a while because when I pulled them up, my fingers went right through them!!!! They tore like paper. Luckily, the car was near the toilet and I had a pair of regular shorts to toss over them for the ride. I called the manufacturer and they said they hadn't made that style for a few years and something about how the material can break down after a while. The store I purchased them from was nice about it and gave me a refund.
Hognose is one of my favorite snakes - they are so cool!Quote:
Originally Posted by bentforlife
Once bitten by the herp bug, there's no turning back. I find that I am perpetually curious about what is under [I]that log over there[I] Who was your herp professor?
If it weren't for Garter snakes, a billion kids (adults, too) wouldn't be snake-lovers. When I was a kid, in Minnesota, what a joy it was to go out collecting plain old Garter snakes for a day, to see how many I could get. And what a wonder to finally find something different, a Redbelly, or a Bullsnake. I always wanted to find a Hognose, but never did.
OOOOHHH!!! I hatched a clutch of Redbellies on my gas stove once. I released them as soon as they hatched, though- they were _so_ small, like worms.
I was also an expert skink/swift catcher as a child, and at one time held the record for the largest Blandings Turtle found in MN.
Herps are so easy compared to cats and dogs.
I found a snake out in my backyard last summer. It was grey and black patterned. After finding Maizey, the Perfect Snake, in my yard only a few months previously, I was excited, and hoped it was a baby Corn. Picked it up, and proceeded to get bit about a million times. Brought it in the house, in a container, and looked it up. Baby Black Racer, known for a vile temperment. Photographed and released. Don't want any pets that don't want to be pets!
Nanci
My herp professor was Bette Bechtel. Her husband was the dermatologist in town. They had a whole wing in their house dedicated to studying albinism in corn snakes. They had over 100 snakes in that place, a few exotic species as well. Mrs. Bechtel taught the nursing students Anatomy and Physiology, she was a nurse herself. But Herpetology was her passion. She had several degrees as well as her nursing degree. She was also my advisor. She helped me through some tough times in my college career. She was more than just an advisor.
Since I graduated in '79, alot of things have changed at that school. It is now a university and the Biology department is huge! And they have a football team!!!
That's right about the herp bug...once bitten you can never really give it up. I love going through the herpetatium at the Fort Worth Zoo. They have some of the most unusual amphibians in the world. Like the tomatoe frog and poison dart frogs. I try to go once a year just to see what they've gotten.
Donna :)
I had an iguana named Stimpy when I was in college. He grew to be huge! And he was a horny bugger in the summer. He'd chase you around the house and try to bite your toes. Then he'd hump one of my mom's green pillows. I'm not kidding. That'd take some of the energy out of him for a little while at least :D
As for my funny moment on a bike, it'd have to be before I knew how to blow my nose "properly" while riding. I was doing my first RAGBRAI and a bug flew into my nose. I thought I'd be able to blow it out, so I turned my head and blew it out alright. That and a bunch of snot all over my right sleeve/arm. The guy riding next to me saw it and laughed. Oops. :D