What do you smell when you ride?

[Lakerider]

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.

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

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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.

[Biciclista]

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!

[Zen]

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.

[katluvr]

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.

[denda]

Skunks
Road kill
Feed Yards
Russian Olive trees

[KSH]

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

[sundial]

Farm chemicals, road kill, and honeysuckle.

[crazycanuck]

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 blech

[sundial]

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

EWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

[papaver]

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)

[HappyTexasMom]

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.

[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.

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.

[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)

[sundial]

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