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Snake encounters of the Appin kind
Buck and I were riding in Appin on Sunday. I was heading up this section of fast switchback singletrack and I've come across a snake on the trail! Not sure what it was (black/grey, 1m long, 5cm diamter) but I pretty much spooked it and it shot off to the left. I was pinning it at the time and took a while to haul up after I spooked it, and it spooked me. I screamed out to Buck SNAKE!! who also pulled up a safe distance behind me with no issue.
Now when I've finally hauled up after the snake shot off to the left, unfortunately for me, I was pulling up on a left switchback and I've come to a stop right back in front of the snake's escape path. At this point I've frozen up with the exception of my lungs which are screaming and grunting in fear! Despite the snake being scared by me and slithering away from me initially, it now had no issues ploughing on towards me 2nd time around!
As such the snake came right at me and slithered right THROUGH my front wheel and then escaped off to the right.
After my screaming had subsided I am able to hear my surroundings again I hear buck asking me how my brown pants were. VERY was the answer!
It is times like this where a helmut cam would've been priceless.
Let me re-iterate, the bastard slithered THROUGH my Crossmax ST's!
*phew*!
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Oh yeah I do recall hearing some girl screaming
It was very amusing watching from a few metres back hahaha.
But for real fun , come out to Mt Annan Botanic gardens on a hot day and meet some Browns ( as well as a monster Black ) ......They are quicker , more agressive and not much fun to be around .........Still , better than that bloody magpie ...
Nice little article in the BA site today
http://bicyclingaustralia.com/node/145
i've got a crepe bandage in my camelback but better refresh myself on how to use it on snake bites. Fingers crossed i don't need to use it!
my encounters with snakes always seem to be in slow motion - it looks like a snake, Is it a snake or is it a stick? No it's snake, too late i've just ridden past it or on one occassion over it (sorry).
I can just see it now... the next meeting we attend some anti-mountain bike campaigner waving a printout of this thread and shouting, "Bike riders admit they kill wildlife!"
To Mr. Printout: please remember that these occurrences are incredibly rare, you don't even know if the snake in this story was injured or was tough as nails or protected by being in a dip in the trail. Think about how many animals are seen gruesomely splattered all over the roads by cars and other vehicles in and around National Parks - roads you need to visit your favourite walking spots. Sad as it is, accidents are a fact of life for everyone, that's all this was, an unfortunate, very rare, accident.
Note: Man... political correctness gone berserk - that we have to pre-empt the actions of a few idiots with printers! Ooops... that wasn't very politically correct, was it?
feel free to edit my post Rob
it could have been a stick though?
or what about the time i was riding at Ourimbah and came across an injured tawny frog mouth and we picked it up and carefully put it into a box. we called several wildlife agencies before we got onto one that were interested and then waited for 2hrs for someone to meet us at the local service station to pick it up.
Rob. I once trod on a blacksnake while walking. Not sure who was most scared it (not not the lightest guy int he world) or me.
To Mr Printout: Feel free to use my admission in your campaign to ban bushwalkers from NPs. I'm a sharing caring type of guy
Censorship isn't the way, but you know what I'm saying - people try and bend the truth or take things out of context to make their point.
It's cool... I was kindof joking - not about the idiot part though
Oops - joke!
... any running over of wildlife is unintended, never done intentionally or if it can be avoided, always regretted if by some accident it is done, and extremely rare.
The way that tool from the Colong Foundation was carrying on with "you don't give a s**t about the environment" despite never having laid eyes on me before that NPWS meeting at Turramurra, you'd think we went looking for wildlife to kill so we could brag to our mates about it...