Knocked off by a cat

[decca234uk]

A friend of mine took a trip over his handlebars a few days ago on his way to work, because of a cat. He'd approached a part of the road that goes down into a steep dip and is followed by a steep rise. The statergy of cyclists when hitting this stretch of road is to cycle hard down the hill to gain enough momentum to carry you halfway up the other side. He'd built his momentum up and was doing about 26 when a cat ran in front of him. He couldn't avoid the cat so hit it and went over the handlebars, sustaining juries to his elbows and legs. Fortunately nothing too serious. Had to take a few days off work though. The cat apparently just got up, shrugged and ran off. If you live around the Leeds area and your cat has a tyre maek down its back you know what happened.

 

[Simba]

Poor cat

 

[asterix]

Saw a similar thing in the Peak district. Cyclist bruised and bleeding, cat ran off and we couldn't find it.

Unfortunately it doesn't mean the cat was unhurt. Our cat was hit by a car after which he ran off and climbed a 6 foot fence to get home. The car had run over his hind leg and crushed it. 6 months of vet's visits and he was mobile again though, albeit with a limp.

 

[buddha]

Everyday, as I get home I have to face these suicidal cats.
First is my cat, waiting in the street. She darts across the road, inches from the front wheel.
Then it's the turn of next door's cats and a stray. Who zig-zag in front of me as I negotiate the driveway. My first clipless fall was due avoiding to one of them on the driveway. Silly bu99ers

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Usually, if a road user can't avoid something in the road, it's because that road user is going too fast for the conditions ... Hammering down a hill in an area where cats are likely to run out into the road is not sensible.

 

[HJ]

Poor cat

+1

 

[HJ]

A friend of mine took a trip over his handlebars a few days ago on his way to work, because of a cat. He'd approached a part of the road that goes down into a steep dip and is followed by a steep rise. The statergy of cyclists when hitting this stretch of road is to cycle hard down the hill to gain enough momentum to carry you halfway up the other side. He'd built his momentum up and was doing about 26 when a cat ran in front of him. He couldn't avoid the cat so hit it and went over the handlebars, sustaining juries to his elbows and legs. Fortunately nothing too serious. Had to take a few days off work though. The cat apparently just got up, shrugged and ran off. If you live around the Leeds area and your cat has a tyre maek down its back you know what happened.

Good subject for a blog post, defensive cycling how to avoid animal on the road....

 

[Peter10]

Poor cat

Poor cyclist lol.

 

[summerdays]

Usually, if a road user can't avoid something in the road, it's because that road user is going too fast for the conditions ... Hammering down a hill in an area where cats are likely to run out into the road is not sensible.

That sounds like a suggestion for a blanket 20 mph across most of the country.... how many roads do you know without any cats on? I guess his mate will be much more careful in that area now. Hopefully the cat got away with few injuries.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

That sounds like a suggestion for a blanket 20 mph across most of the country.... how many roads do you know without any cats on? I guess his mate will be much more careful in that area now. Hopefully the cat got away with few injuries.

Maybe not the whole country, but certainly on residential roads. I assumed that the incident in the OP happened on a residential road, but reading it back I see that it didn't, necessarily.

 

[summerdays]

Maybe not the whole country, but certainly on residential roads. I assumed that the incident in the OP happened on a residential road, but reading it back I see that it didn't, necessarily.

But as a child I remember several cats on my gran's farm being run over by the lorry's from the local gravel quarry nearby in rural NI.

 

[Davidc]

I've had cats run out, on the bike and in the car. They come out from hidden positions at a speed that makes it impossble to act to avoid them. No difference between urban and country roads with this.

I don't like it but view some collisions with animals as inevitable while we use vehicles which go at more than about 15 mph - and that inludes bikes.

As for decca234's friend - join the club. Plenty of cyclists come off either hitting or avoiding animals. I've come off a couple of times dodging animals, and had a bad fall a few years back when I hit a rat. The only breakage was its back, but I had a good collection of scratches and sprains and ripped clothes, and that's an animal less than 1/10 the size and weight of an adult cat. Didn't harm the bike though.

 

[decca234uk]

Good subject for a blog post, defensive cycling how to avoid animal on the road....



I'm working on it. Thinking about designing some mouse grenades. You carry a couple of mice in a front handlebar bag and if you see a cat approaching throw a mouse at it to divert it. Could be a Dragon's Den job.

The incident occured on a main country road. the kind of road where a cyclist can usually get some speed up without fear of anyone getting in his way. He's taken it well though. I saw him this morning. Told him there's a cat with a tyre mark down its back looking for him.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

The incident occured on a main country road. the kind of road where a cyclist can usually get some speed up without fear of anyone getting in his way.

Fair enough, my mistake. I assumed it took place on a residential street, for some reason.

 

[thomas]

Usually, if a road user can't avoid something in the road, it's because that road user is going too fast for the conditions ... Hammering down a hill in an area where cats are likely to run out into the road is not sensible.

Stuff the cat. I've had a fox run out in front of me and I was doing about 10 mph. It shot out from behind a car, at night. I was lucky I didn't hit it and go a over t.