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

[lph]

I pass a tobacco factory sometimes, it smells wonderful!

[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.

[pfunk12]

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

[katluvr]

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.

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

[7rider]

There's a guy on one of the rides I do who has HORRIBLE b.o.! 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!

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!

[andtckrtoo]

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.

[lauraelmore1033]

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.

[KSH]

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

[sundial]

Farm chemicals, road kill, and honeysuckle.