Conference noted::bicycle

    My parents used to own land in Cold Springs, PA, a very remote spot. 
    I was out running early one morning, and had just crested this 2.3 mile
    hill and was really strung.  As I'm running I'm watching this big
    black mound up ahead to my left, but like, I'm seeing it, but with only
    one part of my mind, and the rest of me is way off somewhere.  Anyway,
    it had it's back to me and it's head down and was rooting around, so I
    could sort of see it's head popping out on one side and then the other,
    but it doesn't all come together in my mind until I'm just about on
    top of him/her.  I guess I have a fairly light foot fall, 'cause we
    couldn't have been more than 15 feet apart when it hears me, & turns
    around, does a double take, and goes hauling off into the woods. 
    Needless to say, at the moment of recognition, all knowledge of the
    timid nature of these beasts was forgotten & I did a 180 & headed back
    the way I had come at a VERY rapid clip.

    A couple of years ago I had left the previous night's campsite in
    Franconia, rode along rte 116 to rte 112 over to the Kancamagus Hwy.
    Riding with a full load of gear past Loon Mtn, I was the only traffic
    on the road, which is kind of unusual in itself.  About 2 miles past
    Loon towards Conway I noticed some movement off to the right.  A young
    bull moose came trotting out on a direct collision course with me.
    As often is the case, we were both quite surprised.  I kept going 
    straight, the moose turned and trotted parallel with me for about 25
    yards while maintaining a distance of roughly 30 feet away, finally
    veering off and heading back to the woods along the river.  I stopped,
    rummaged through the handlebar bag for the camera and took a couple of
    slides of a moose in the woods.  
    A great ride if you like climbing with a fully loaded bike...Crawford
    Notch, Kinsman Notch, the "Kanc"....
    Tom
    

    As far as I'm concerned that's just one more reason for always
    wearing dark shorts.  :-)
    
    ed

Not quite wildlife, but we were out toward Peterborough/Greenfield NH 
the other day, and found a kind of pleasant reddish-colored Huskie-style 
dog who wanted to join us. Ran along for several miles, waited for us 
occasionally, we all had a nice time. I think it was training for the 
Iditarod :-).
                        ken

    	Well, this is neither wild life nor cycling, but last winter, 
    	3 of us in LJO2 went up to Tophet Chasm for some XC skiing.
    	As we were putting on our skis, this enormouse reddish-
    	colored dog came up and started playing with us. He also
    	wanted to bite our skis, which, of course, made any progress
    	somewhat difficult.
    
    	Very friendly, ski-chewing dog.
    
    	Scott

    The most memorable encounter was mnt. biking about three summers ago.
    I was living in Henniker, NH at the time, working in a saw mill.  I
    usually ended work around 2pm.
    
    It was a real humid day, no wind... I start up on side of Colby Hill.
    This was quite the "bone yard"...real technical uphill.  I was really
    getting into it when something caught my eye.  I looked up and there
    were two coyotes sunning themselves on a big flat rock in the middle of
    the trail.  We surprised the sh*t out of each other.  They started
    running up the trail with me following them.  Finally they cut into the
    woods.
    
    On my way down Colby Hill (off the other side) I cuaght them off guard
    once again.  Except this time I was BARRELLING down the trail and
    nearing ended up in the trees.  There they were lying on their backs,
    jusr like a dog would, when this crazy SOB trys to flatten them on 
    a yellow Rock Hopper!
    
    Nothing quite like coyote hunting with Farmer Johns!
    
    jim

    This past Sunday, while cycling in Sunderland, MA (near the Connecticut
    River) I saw a bald eagle soaring.
    
    Rich

    
    Any of you mountain bikers ever encountered a skunk? what is the 
    best way to deal with the situation to aviod freaking it out and
    end up smelling like one?
    
    Shaw

>    Any of you mountain bikers ever encountered a skunk? what is the 
>    best way to deal with the situation to aviod freaking it out and
>    end up smelling like one?
 
Stop fast, turn around and sprint like hell.

Tom -Who is one person that *did* end up smelling like one once, so don't take 
     my advise.

I had an odd incident while riding into work a couple of mornings ago. While
riding down a small hill on a narrow, curved road, a bird popped out of the
woods at the side and flew under my bike -- between the wheels under the bottom
bracket. I felt a touch of contact (with the big chainring I suppose), but the
bird kept going thankfully. I would have felt lousy if I had killed a bird
while riding my bike! 
						-- Tom