The Squirrel Incident

I was involved in my first bike hit-and-run accident on my commute yesterday.  Fortunately it was with a crazy squirrel and not a car.  It was weird.

I was only a few blocks from my house and cruising at a solid pace on my road bike when I suddenly felt something hit my right shin.  The road was clear so I assumed I must have kicked up a hidden branch laying in the street.  However when I looked down at my right pedal I saw the psychotic tree rat scurrying away and up the closest pine.

"Did I just get hit by a squirrel?" I asked aloud as I traversed the empty street.

I repeated the question in my head for the next 12 miles of my commute.  When I arrived at work and changed out of my cycling socks I noticed the remnants of my altercation.  I indeed have a small scratch on my shin.

I'm sure the squirrel ran back to his friends and bragged about how he got the guy on the bike.

Perhaps this is karma for those times I let my dog off-leash to chase his friends.

On the way home, in almost the exact same spot, I was chased by a loose wiener dog.  Fun times commuting by bike.