I have never been afraid of rattlesnakes. I see them all the time here. You've proably seen my pictures. I get quite close when I take those pictures, because they are quite slow as animals go. Rattlers are short and fat and can only strike a short distance compared to other snakes. Nothing to worry about as long as you are aware of your surroundings and watch where you step or ride.
After well over 40 years of being a cyclist, I feel like The Terminator while I am riding. I am constantly scanning the road or trail for dangers great and small. Much of this behavior probably comes from road riding in the old days when our tiny tires seemed to be made of rice paper, and any small, sharp object had the potential to greatly delay a ride because of a puncture. Patching or changing a tube on the side of the road in those days was a long and labor intensive process. I still go into red alert when I see broken glass even though my huge tubeless tires are completely immune to it.
Yesterday Jennifer and I were riding on the bike trail. Jenn isn't quite as aware of her surroundings as I am. She doesn't have as much riding experience, nor has she endured the flat-tire trauma I have. You can't learn to anticipate the gunfire if you've never been shot. Without the PTSD of riding in olden times, she runs over things on occasion, including the odd animal.
We were riding along and going from full sun to shade under some trees. That dappled sunlight that makes light and dark patches is the very situation that many animals' coloration is designed to imitate as camouflage. I was about eight feet behind Jenn and to her right. Up ahead I saw the rattler right in front of her, but I didn't have time to issue a warning. She ran right over it.
The next two seconds slowed down like a movie. I heard the rattling start almost immediately. Hell, the snake probably started rattling right before impact when it realized something very bad was about to happen.
As I kept rolling, a very pissed off and probably injured rattlesnake started looking to defend itself. The nearest threat was me. It struck as I passed to the right of it. I shifted my weight to my right pedal as I also tilted the bike to the right. I lifted my left foot (thank you flat pedals!) up and to the right as the snake's head passed right by my ankle. I could see the wide-open mouth as I passed by. I exclaimed "holy shit!" as I looked back to see the writhing snake on the trail. We both slowed almost to a stop and turned around to see if the snake was OK. By the time we reached the impact point it was gone.
Like the shards of glass in the '80s, I am now the tiniest bit afraid of rattlesnakes. I have added them to my Terminator database. Future scans will pick up rattlers earlier and identify them at a higher threat level than before.
I'll be back.
Later.
