Weird things seen whilst cycling.

Slogger Jogger

Tipping along on a forest trail this evening on my trusty MTB when I spotted a bloke in camouflage gear lying in the prone sniper like position with a rifle pointing down the trail away from me. Must have been lying in wait for deer. I don't know which of us was more surprised, but I ripped past him with a 'hello' and kept going, all the while thinking 'don't shoot'. Not sure what the legal position is as regards hunting in a publicly accessible woods. The odds of seeing people in these woods is fairly small as I live off the beaten track, but that doesn't really excuse it? I've seen it before but in other cases signage was put up to avoid the area, hunting in progress. This was probably something taking liberties.

thebouldwhacker

Next time go prepared.....

cornflakeman

that would freak me out . lucky for him he wasn't on your path

aquanaut

I saw a guy slip streaming in behind a John Deere tractor on the way into Clonmel this morning which was cool

BostonB

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Next time go prepared........

This would be prepared....
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?7383-Unusual-german-small-arms-and-infantry-weapons-of-world-war-ii.&p=134661#post134661

Slogger Jogger

@BostonB. Great!. Hate to think how it would feel trying to cycle that up a hill though

_sheep

Some guy down a back road in the middle of Tipp weeding the area between his front wall and the road... with a spoon.

Pass back half a hour later, still working through the weeds maybe an extra 3 ft from where he was.

BostonB

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

@BostonB. Great!. Hate to think how it would feel trying to cycle that up a hill though

If you think that would be bad...
http://theswissriflesdotcommessageboard.yuku.com/topic/1598

Sorry for off thread posts. I'll stop now.

Brenireland

Once while cycling I came across a yeti smoking weed,this was in the back of the beyond's (Cavan to be precise)

Canis Lupus

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Tipping along on a forest trail this evening on my trusty MTB when I spotted a bloke in camouflage gear lying in the prone sniper like position with a rifle pointing down the trail away from me. Must have been lying in wait for deer. I don't know which of us was more surprised, but I ripped past him with a 'hello' and kept going, all the while thinking 'don't shoot'. Not sure what the legal position is as regards hunting in a publicly accessible woods. The odds of seeing people in these woods is fairly small as I live off the beaten track, but that doesn't really excuse it? I've seen it before but in other cases signage was put up to avoid the area, hunting in progress. This was probably something taking liberties.

Could have been some lads out at airsoft?

Alkers

Saw a couple going at it while on a night ride up in Ticknock, they didn't stop and we went straight passed them, gas!

FISMA

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Tipping along on a forest trail this evening on my trusty MTB when I spotted a bloke in camouflage gear lying in the prone sniper like position with a rifle pointing down the trail away from me. Must have been lying in wait for deer.

As a shooter, hunter, and cyclist, this one bothers me.

Deer season is most definitely closed.

Was this public land? A Coilte area? Should be off limits to shooters.

Deer hunters do not have to use camo, although they may. Deer do not care about colors, they go by motion. Hence blaze orange. Try wearing orange on a turkey hunt and they would spot you at 200ya +.

Back on topic.

I saw a very well endowed woman flash her boyfriend.

I said thanks.

Thank God for Dura Ace Groupos - they are sooooo quiet.

Planet X

A "Fresh" dead deer between Djoiuce Golf Club and Calary last year.
Top road.

Jawgap

A dead otter......

And a lady of certain vintage in the nuddy in her house one morning - admittedly it was very early and it was a back road on the Meath Dublin border so she probably wasn't expecting someone to go by - to make it worse it was on a hill so I got a good eyeful - my eyes have started bleeding again at the remembering of it:)

PS - day off today - off on a spin to Clogherhead now - looks lovely out!

iregk

Was cycling up the sally gap one saturday morning and came across a guy in full army gear big back pack and all with a gun walking aloneside his dog. I must admit I had the same though. "Hello" but please dont shoot me!!!

Wicklowrider

Brenireland wrote: »

Once while smoking weed & cycling I came across a yeti ,this was in the back of the beyond's (Cavan to be precise)

Fixed that for you

on_the_nickel

A few weeks back I saw an old lad beating the bejaysus out of an election poster with a shovel. Actually I think it was the Saturday after.

Didn't see who the unfortunate politician was.

But it was a green poster.

langdang

Simona1986 wrote: »

Saw a couple going at it while on a night ride up in Ticknock, they didn't stop and we went straight passed them, gas!

Have seen couples testing the suspension alright in Coillte car parks....

Once came to a clearing in the woods with loads of sheep/goat skulls scattered around???

TinyExplosions

Seems there's a lot of folk with guns out in the dublin mountains

We came by someone firing a semi-automatic pistol up on one of the back roads towards glencree one day (well off the beaten path, but we'd taken some wrong turns that day)

I hope it was just target practice...

Jawgap

FTW.......

I wasn't cycling (somaybe it's not FTW:)) but when I was working in the UK we were trundling across the North York Moors in our Land Rover when all of a sudden up pops two Army Apache Attack Helicopters about 500 m ahead of us!

They hovered for a second, then came straight at us, passing over us at a height of about 30m - thought the Land Rover was going to be flipped!!!

Got back and told the boss who was an officer in the TA. He said, first they were using us for target practice and then the pass over us was just them having a laugh at our expense!!

We also had loads of fun watching Tornadoes, Hawks and Tucanos from RAF Leeming flying very low on their way to a from the airfield.

Cookie_Monster

hiking, not cycling but walking from Glendalough up the Wicklow Gap road we were passed by about 50-60 "boy racers" in their crappy civics and Mitsubishis followed a few mins later by a lone squad car.

Saw a Garda chase start yesterday while fixing the chain on the Sallygap

Rew

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Tipping along on a forest trail this evening on my trusty MTB when I spotted a bloke in camouflage gear lying in the prone sniper like position with a rifle pointing down the trail away from me. Must have been lying in wait for deer. I don't know which of us was more surprised, but I ripped past him with a 'hello' and kept going, all the while thinking 'don't shoot'. Not sure what the legal position is as regards hunting in a publicly accessible woods. The odds of seeing people in these woods is fairly small as I live off the beaten track, but that doesn't really excuse it? I've seen it before but in other cases signage was put up to avoid the area, hunting in progress. This was probably something taking liberties.

I've been playing with my GoPro attached to the stem, great footge but nothing interesting so far (except me nearly being hit by a bus... :eek: )

Possibly a military exercise in which case its legit. If it was public land and it was a hunter or an airsoft player its not legit (unless you see the sign us for a legit cull going on). If you let us know roughly where could narrow it down and military tend to use the same spots. Also the uniform and rifle would would be a dead giveaway for a soldier.

I've been on a few where the public stumble across you or pass you by without realising.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHFM70clZzU

uberwolf

Discarded thongs.

Rew

Not a cycling encounter but this is an amusing story:

Irish Army Rangers swoop on vandals
By Michael O’Toole – The Star

A gang’s orgy of arson in a picturesque part of Ireland came to an abrupt halt after they were confronted by Ireland’s elite Special Forces unit.
Sources have confirmed to The Star more than a dozen members of the ultra-secret Army Ranger Wing intervened when six thugs started torching cars in the Sally Gap in Co. Wicklow late on Thursday. “These soldiers are the last people you would want to mess with”, a source said last night. The Army Rangers had been on a four day exercise in the Sally Gap area and were returning to their base at the Curragh Camp in Co. Kildare when they saw the youths setting a car on fire.
One of the camouflaged ARW troops jumped out of his vehicle to confront the gang while colleagues rang the Gardai. Heavily outnumbered, the mindless vandals remained at the scene until Gardai arrived.
Gardai also recovered a replica firearm and drugs inside one car that was about to be set ablaze. The soldiers – whose unit has recently returned from an arduous tour of duty in war-torn Chad in central Africa – had been using live ammunition during their exercise.
“There was no contest”, said the source, “more than a dozen members of a highly trained Special Forces unit up against six young gurriers.”
All six were arrested and one youth was charged with criminal damage.

Spokes of Glory

In Italy last year......a hardy soul coasting down a mountain descent in 30deg heat clad only in white Y-fronts. :eek: Sir, I salute you.

Spokes

funkyjebus

Saw a the worlds most awesome goat climbing a tree in Enniskerry a few week ago. The tree was going out over the road making it all the more daring.

ROK ON

Climbing Seskin on the Sean Kelly in 2009 I saw a lady jump into the bushes on the left a bit before the first turn.
She dropped her shorts, hunkeed down and scuttered.

I felt defiled, . . . And not in a good way.

I have never climbed so quickly in all my life.

Trekker09

langdang wrote: »

Have seen couples testing the suspension alright in Coillte car parks....

Maybe it has to do with this thread:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056218133

Thargor

Look at the second pic from the left down the bottom, Im sure thats practical

easygoing39

Trekker09 wrote: »

Maybe it has to do with this thread:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056218133

I dont see the connection to the current post???

Trekker09

Well I ain't going to explain it.

tomasrojo

I can't think of any funny things.

The weirdest thing I saw was in 2008 when I saw a man drive up onto the Luas bridge at Heuston and then jump off into the Liffey in what I assume was a suicide attempt. I don't think he surfaced again. I cycled around looking for a life-belt, but couldn't find one, and I called the cops. The place was milling with emergency service workers about five minutes later.

A few weeks later I saw a dog crushed by a van on the same route to work. That was a pitiful sound to hear.

Well, that was a downer.

Slogger Jogger

Coillte forest. Evidence of recent tree felling around. I was thinking later whether I should have stopped and had a conversation with him but would you feel comfortable having a possibly heated conversation with a chap with a gun. Hmmm.

FISMA wrote: »

As a shooter, hunter, and cyclist, this one bothers me.

Deer season is most definitely closed.

Was this public land? A Coilte area? Should be off limits to shooters.

Deer hunters do not have to use camo, although they may. Deer do not care about colors, they go by motion. Hence blaze orange. Try wearing orange on a turkey hunt and they would spot you at 200ya +.

Back on topic.

I saw a very well endowed woman flash her boyfriend.

I said thanks.

Thank God for Dura Ace Groupos - they are sooooo quiet.

Slogger Jogger

Little red square marks the spot... Nice trails by the way if you are down this way

decrrrrrr

Planet X wrote: »

A "Fresh" dead deer between Djoiuce Golf Club and Calary last year.
Top road.

Was cycling past Djouce woods the day before the Wicklow 200 last year and there was a guy playing the bag pipes in the woods...!!

gmoorewest

An elephant in a car park in Ballybofey, Co. Donegal.

daragh_

Coming home from work a few weeks ago. Met a guy jogging in the bus lane on the Rock Road. In rush hour.

Backwards. :eek:


Looked it up. Retro-running it's called.

Stopped and gave him a light as it was getting dark.

cdaly_

decrrrrrr wrote: »

Was cycling past Djouce woods the day before the Wicklow 200 last year and there was a guy playing the bag pipes in the woods...!!

Obviously a gentleman in training... *




* "Definition of a 'gentleman' - someone who knows how to play the bagpipes but doesn't," - Ronnie Corbett.

Keep_Her_Lit

Maybe not “weird” but certainly unusual. Possibly, it could have turned out badly but thanks to a pure stroke of luck, turned out well …

One morning as I cycled to work, I came round a corner onto a section of “dual-carriageway” cycle lane (Nangor Rd., Clondalkin, eastbound) and was surprised to see another cyclist lying in the cycle lane about 50m ahead, apparently motionless, with his bike on its side nearby.

There was no sign of anybody else around and the cyclist wasn’t lying close to any street furniture, such as a signpost or lamppost. So there was nothing to suggest that a collision had occurred. The cycle lane was raised and separated from the road by a grass verge, so a hit-and-run seemed highly unlikely also.

Within a few seconds, I was at the scene and immediately dismounted. It then became obvious that the unfortunate chap was suffering a seizure or a fit of some kind. He was twitching but showed no signs of awareness or ability to communicate. Thankfully, there was no sign of any obvious injury – maybe the guy had time to recognise the signs and get himself off the bike in time, before he lost control – just speculation on my part, as I didn’t see how it unfolded. Thankfully, again, he was a normal colour and didn’t seem to be experiencing any breathing difficulty.

Within moments of my arrival at the scene, a passing motorist realised something was amiss and pulled over. I asked him to call 999 immediately, as I wasn’t carrying a phone at the time. His call was answered very quickly.

Then, just as the motorist was starting to talk to the operator, another cyclist arrived. He very quickly established what was going on and then, without a moment’s delay, requisitioned the phone from the motorist. He was on first name terms with the operator and gave her all the necessary information in a very concise and efficient manner.

Then he pulled a small medical kit out of his bag, donned a pair a latex gloves and set about checking the guy’s eyes and mouth and placing him in an appropriate recovery position. It turned out that this cyclist was a paramedic who always travelled equipped for a “nixer”! The ambulance arrived shortly afterwards and the lad who was out on the ground got the care he needed.

So, one minute it was, “what the hell has happened to this poor lad? … is he going to be OK? … what should I do? … I don’t have a clue!!”. The next minute, the situation was completely under control and in the hands of a professional. That was some relief. And a happy ending!

xz

Had a stag jump through a hedge up that draggy road between Rathdrum and Moneystown, right behind the last man, he ran up alongside us,passed us by, then jumped back through the same hedge just in front of us.

smacl

@Keep_Her_Lit, quite possibly an epileptic. Its common with the condition that they can sense a seizure coming on and the best course of action is to lie down out of harms way. Not that a cycle track is out of harms way, but it could well have been the only option. Well done anyway in getting it sorted.

dquirke1

About half five this morning, came across a middle aged guy in a speedo skipping at the end of a pier.
I can understand going for a swim, but skipping???

Cookie_Monster

dquirke1 wrote: »

About half five this morning, came across a middle aged guy in a speedo skipping at the end of a pier.
I can understand going for a swim, but skipping???

warming up afterwards? :pac:

BostonB

Dunno about weird, but if you are cycling in the phoenix park on the cycling path you often can't see beyond the fall of the street lights, or your own light. Deer have a habit of standing just off the path, where you can't see them then snorting as you pass. Scares the pants off you the first time you here it.

cdaly_

Keep_Her_Lit wrote: »

Then he pulled a small medical kit out of his bag, donned a pair a latex gloves and set about checking the guy’s eyes and mouth and placing him in an appropriate recovery position. It turned out that this cyclist was a paramedic who always travelled equipped for a “nixer”! The ambulance arrived shortly afterwards and the lad who was out on the ground got the care he needed.

So, one minute it was, “what the hell has happened to this poor lad? … is he going to be OK? … what should I do? … I don’t have a clue!!”. The next minute, the situation was completely under control and in the hands of a professional. That was some relief. And a happy ending!

smacl wrote: »

@Keep_Her_Lit, quite possibly an epileptic. Its common with the condition that they can sense a seizure coming on and the best course of action is to lie down out of harms way. Not that a cycle track is out of harms way, but it could well have been the only option. Well done anyway in getting it sorted.

Plus one on the well done.

Incidentally, it's well worth taking a first aid course and getting familiar with the stuff you can do to help. St John's Ambulance and the Order of Malta run courses from time to time. Actually, St John's Ambulance are running an evening first aid course starting on Tuesday 5th April. Cost is €100.

Alternatively, volunteer at work and get trained with an occupational first aid course.

I've used my training twice in the last few years, once on myself, once on somebody else. I also carry a basic first aid kit when I'm out on the bike...

poochiem

dquirke1 wrote: »

About half five this morning, came across a middle aged guy in a speedo skipping at the end of a pier.
I can understand going for a swim, but skipping???

yeah and on the skipping forum speedoking7 is relating the funny story of seeing a cyclist at the end of the pier at half five this morning!

Keep_Her_Lit

cdaly_ wrote: »

Incidentally, it's well worth taking a first aid course and getting familiar with the stuff you can do to help. St John's Ambulance and the Order of Malta run courses from time to time. Actually, St John's Ambulance are running an evening first aid course starting on Tuesday 5th April. Cost is €100.

@cdaly_, thanks. That's sound advice alright. I knew the ABC of resuscitation but didn't know the recommended course of action for someone having a seizure. So, yes, there's room for improvement.

The fact that the lad was breathing OK was a big plus and bought some time. But boy was I glad to see that paramedic coming along.

FISMA

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Coillte forest. Evidence of recent tree felling around. I was thinking later whether I should have stopped and had a conversation with him but would you feel comfortable having a possibly heated conversation with a chap with a gun. Hmmm.

Slogger,
Hunters can buy Coilte leases and obtain shooting rights for the season over the land.

Were you on a public trail or off the beaten path?

Slogger Jogger

FISMA wrote: »

Slogger,
Hunters can buy Coilte leases and obtain shooting rights for the season over the land.

Were you on a public trail or off the beaten path?

On the main public trail. Wouldn't hunters not have to put signage up to warn off anyone you might wander onto the land? A previous poster said this is not hunting season?

Rew

Keep_Her_Lit wrote: »

@cdaly_, thanks. That's sound advice alright. I knew the ABC of resuscitation but didn't know the recommended course of action for someone having a seizure. So, yes, there's room for improvement.

There is nothing you can do for a seizure except clear the area around them to try prevent injury during it. Everything you did was spot on and the paramedic did nothing more then relay basic vitals id say.

on_the_nickel

Yesterday in Galway, something I'd never seen before - a hearse overtaking another car.