I am not a fan of snakes. Snakes, sharks and motorcycles scare me.
I was out on one of our trails here south of Dallas and saw not one, not two, but 3 rattlesnakes in a 7 mile loop. The first was coiled in an angry, rattling, ready to strike pose in the center of the trail because another cyclist had stopped and tried to move it off the trail by poking it with a stick. I came flying around the singletrack and nearly hit it (no thanks to the guy with the stick, who I didn't see until I came around the corner). It rattled and hissed at me and I went in reverse Fred Flintstone style with a four letter expletive repeated 10 times fast. My husband at the time nearly collided with my in reverse backside.
My husband and the original poker got him off the trail at last and we went on. The next one was slithering across and I again stopped short of running him over. More expletives and again, the almost crash (why was I leading??). After that, he led. He got a little ahead of me and a third was sunning itself half on/half off. My husband never saw him, but I did!! I was, at that point, done. I just wanted off.
And, snake lovers....slightly off biking...I was called out just a bit ago to a house (no animal control on the weekend) on a snake call. The drain plate was not screwed on and a little moccasin crawled up the drain, knocked the plate off, and joined this lady in the shower....slithering over her foot. AAAAGGGGGHHHHHH. Typical suburban home. Can you imagine???
Ugh.