 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I was out on my bike last week on a country road and then next minute I hear snarling, feel the back of my bike get clattered and something scampering close to my wheel. Can only assume it was either a Grizzly bear or a Badger. Given it was pitch black and my light was only illuminating in front and turning around just revealed a dark void I sprinted up the unlight country road as fast as my little legs could carry me. After about a mile I kept thinking to myself that I must have out run it!
Interested to hear any other tails as I am about to go out again, but think I will do a different route tonight. Bigs girls blouse I hear you say, you will encounter bigger furry creatures on the Tour Divide:-O
My mate sort-of was. It ran out from the side, head-butted his leg and then charged on right in front of me. They're brave. And big.
It does freak you out though!
They are known to attack people, I used to have to fill out a section on our site risk assessments relating to whether badgers were present or not as they can be vicious things, closest we have to bears!
MTFU it's just an over sized member of the weasel family. 😉
Riding with the lads one night I glanced a badger sideways on. Somehow I managed to keep the bike and myself upright. However the feeling of soft fur on my leg in the pitch black is one I won't forget.
At the bottom of the track all the guys had managed to dodge it as it wibbled along the track.
Was this around your local Blandford flanagaj? We saw three on Monday night.
Yes [not attacked] but ran alongside on the right got under the pedals, it then got in front and went to left in front of me and then veered into hedges and doom forest.
Bit scarey at first it seemed like rhino was attacking, but South Glos isn't known for it's Rhino population.
Yep, night riding on my own on the South Downs. I heard what I could only assume was a lion or werewolf in the long grass next to me, I let out a girly scream as the savage beast lept out and ran between my wheels taking a chunk of my ankle with it..
The next climb was done so fast, shame strava hadn't been invented then.
Not been attacked, but had run ins with two of them in Richmond park of all places.
The first one was sitting by the track in the ferns and the first I knew about it was when it jumped back into the ferns right alongside me. all I saw was it's back legs disappearing.
The second on the same ride was on the track when I came round the corner. Caught it in the lights, it just carried on doing what it was doing. It then turned and looked at me. A small voice in the back of my head said sh*t...I was only about fifteen feet away. It then trotted off into the bushes.
Badgers are nasty bastards. I'd of soiled myself if that happened to me. I say cull away!
I have seen lots of different animals when out and about, but I have never come across a badger.
"Was this around your local Blandford flanagaj? We saw three on Monday night." - Yep. Between Wimborne and Holt.
I have never come across a badger.
They don't like it, it gets stuck in their fur.
IGMC
MTFU it's just an over sized member of the weasel family
So's a wolverine...
I cycled over a badgers nose once on a night ride.
Horrible crunching noise it made.
It was only after I went back to check I realised it was a dead one in some longish grass
Been chased by one on a solo night ride in a Swedish forest. Like previous poster it was the one time I was in with a chance of a KOM. Pedalled like fury to get away...
Not been attacked, but had run ins with two of them in Richmond park of all places.
Were they being chased by a dog?
Fenton!!! Jesus Christ....
Glad I only read this now. I saw one a couple of weeks ago when running in my local woods. Was about 6 foot away and we just looked at each other for a while, then it casually strolled away. From all the above I would have expected it to jump up and bite my throat! Perhaps they just get spooked when a bike silently zooms up to them?
Another southdowns encounter near cissbury ring. A badger ran out of the hedgerow in front of me, then turned and ran directly at me. Before i could really react it had head butted the front wheel. Strange thing is we kind of bounced/glanced off each other, then it went between the wheels back off into the hedgerow. Not scarey as such because it happened all too quick but a very odd moment.
Were they being chased by a dog?Fenton!!! Jesus Christ....
If only. It would have made short work of the dog and the owner.
luckily not yet.but i did scare one when coming back at the end of a night ride (wasn't my ugly mug 😆 the badger took off down the road at high speed (it was a big badger too) due to my hugely powerful mark 1 hope 2 leds 😆
have had another badger cross the road and run past me on the pavement before (as i was walking back from my local 24 hour garage).beautiful animals,but big also 🙂
Theres loads of the buggers round my way. I had a collision with a rather large one - it came out of nowhere and I hit it head on... Over the the bars I went, followed by a bloody quick ninja-style back on my feet move as I though he may try to finish me off. He'd scarpered though. Coward.
What aggressive Badgers you all seem to have encountered ! My only 'whilst riding' experience resulted in me rounding corner, Badger standing in the middle of the trail. I stopped, amazed " it's a Badger" etc ... Badger sighed, turned away and wandered off unimpressed !
Are they really that aggressive? 😯
Serious question- if one attacks you, are you actually in a spot of bother? Always thought they were just like hedgehogs or something.
[b]Bunnyhop[/b]
However the feeling of soft fur on my leg in the pitch black is one I won't forget
Thanks for sharing but the thread is about badgers not beavers
There is a badger family in my neighbours garden, in the middle of the town. They've never attacked anyone or anything.
[b]Duggan[/b] - Member
Are they really that aggressive?Serious question- if one attacks you, are you actually in a spot of bother? Always thought they were just like hedgehogs or something.
No, they are not aggressive. However once provoked they are pretty fearsome fighters, illegal pursuit of fighting badgers and dogs. If one did attack you (you'd really have to p1ss it off) then yes you might be in a spot of bother
Got badgers that forage in my garden and I sometimes sit on the grass by our decking waiting for them, they come quite close but when they realise I'm there they scarper. Proper playful characters and like to chase one and other and any neighbourhood cats.
I see loads of wild life on my night rides, badgers dears owls etc. i usually stop and watch them if they hang around.
Badgers can be aggressive but wouldn't usually go for you unless provoked and in answer to one comment above yes if one did attack you you would be in trouble a they bite real bad. Badger baiters used to wear bags of ashes around their ankles in case they got bitten as (apparently) don't stop until they feel/hear a crunch?
I was doing about 20mph chatting to a mate on the way to Cissbury (south downs again - badger hotspot!) one jumped out the hedge, took out my front wheel. I thought I'd broken my collarbone, luckily it was OK though. My exposure light however was killed, it had to go back. I put a note in the box to say it was victim of a badger attack and they fixed it for free 🙂
Not a badger, but I was maliciously taken out by a sheep in broad daylight in the Berkshire downs. It ran out in front of me, stopped, and took a step back to make sure I couldn't avoid it. I'd liken it to running into a brick wall 3ft high, I flew over the bars and got a concussion and 6 stitches for my troubles.
The sheep just baa'ed its amusement as it strolled off unharmed!
Have seen plenty of badgers in the peak though, and they usually just run
off, never struck me as the slightest bit aggressive.
Yes I have been whacked in the side by a badger coming home from a solo night ride- he just came bowling out of a hedge and straight into my leg. Hard to say which of us was most surprised. Pretty sure he went under my wheels, but he loped off, seemingly without injury. Apparently they have pretty poor eyesight. Well he would have to have, I was lit up like a Christmas tree..
Maybe next time he'll listen to this guy;
[img] 
[/img]
I also got taken out by a Dartmoor pony about 8 years ago. Bottom of widowmaker, in the mist. Now they are solid..
No, but I've been ravaged by a beaver, a filthy night it twas.
Yeah badgers are vicious - but they're not the only ones. Squirrels will go for you if they get a chance - and rabbits are vicious if you corner them. Oh and watch out for weasels as well - they can easily take your leg off. I went out the other day and there was a robin sitting on a fence post. It was looking at me like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. It would definitely have gone for me - but I think the smell as I soiled my shorts put it off!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀
Saw a couple of angry beavers once coming down off the pike into horwich....although i wasnt afraid as they were safely contained in a car and guarded by a load of friendly chaps.
This is my only angry badger encounter
[img] 
[/img]
i've hit three of them. fairly sure it wasn't the same one 3 times. same bit of trail though, at speed. on the night ride unsurprisingly. hard bu66ers. hit one in my car once and he shimmied off by the time i got back.
Almost ran over one last night by coincidence. I often encounter them and they always run as fast as their wee legs can carry them. The chances of finding yourself in an aggressive Badger situation whilst out on your bike must be next to nothing.
OP - more likely a dog?
It took 2 pages for someone to tell the OP they were chased by a dog... 🙄
Badgers can be defensive if cornered but aren't going to chase after you. They have poor eyesight though hence all the accounts of collisions with them - note "collisions" not "attacks"!!
A badger on the attack, yesterday.
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
They are preparing themsleves fot the battle to come next year... "You wanna try and cull me, d'ya?..."
came home one night to an unusual squealing in the garden (titter ye not) - thought fox at the guinea pigs - but no two badgers fighting like Bruce Lee was actually Ghandi - turned hose on them and that calmed them down a bit - but neighbour found one of them dead the next day
mrs antigee casually mentioned the event to someone who worked for defra - great response " could have had your arm off!" - for statistical purposes "could have" = zero reported incidences
I spooked quite a young small badger on a drove descent on one of my local routes.
It ran alongside me for 10-20 yards before passing in front of me.
Hate to think what would have happened if I'd hit him as he did that.
A small fox ran out of some woods and then straight under my rear wheel - quite a bump it made - poor bugger, I don't think it would have survived.
There is a badger family in my neighbours garden, in the middle of the town. They've never attacked anyone or anything.
Yes, but have you ever noticed how your town has non-existent homeless population? Most animals are fairly placid when they're digesting.
An acquaintance of mine ended up in hospital after hitting a badger on a night time road ride - A38 south of Gloucester!
Same here, although we only get to see them if our security light pops on.Got badgers that forage in my garden and I sometimes sit on the grass by our decking waiting for them, they come quite close but when they realise I'm there they scarper. Proper playful characters and like to chase one and other and any neighbourhood cats.
They have an amazing sense of smell and hearing, however eyesight is pretty bad.
Badgers are ace. We've loads around our way, but unfortunately they seem to keep losing battles with cars and lorries.
Badgers are the only creature that insist I give way to them on the trail...
As for culling them, I'd far rather solve the problem by electing them to stand for parliament instead. I suspect they'd be better at running the constituency than my local MP.
I must see about 20 a year. I night ride where there are many of them. Side ways on tends to be the worse where they run out into your path. They just want to get out of the way. Never had one attack. Only if cornered would they do so. Closest was at the bottom of a descent down a hill in delamere forest. Two jumped out and the two of us nearly hit them. For sure they are big creatures. But not agressive at all.
I camped out in a forest and it was dark when I pitched up. Right next to a badger den! I wondered what they sounds were in the night!
Hummerlicious and fisherboy, my attack was at the bottom of cissbury too. Must be the same serial killer badger. I'll make sure I don't ride there alone again, it may drag me down its hole to nibble my bones.
was out on my bike last week on a country road and then next minute I hear snarling, feel the back of my bike get clattered and something scampering close to my wheel. Can only assume it was either a Grizzly bear or a Badger. Given it was pitch black and my light was only illuminating in front and turning around just revealed a dark void I sprinted up the unlight country road as fast as my little legs could carry me. After about a mile I kept thinking to myself that I must have out run it!Interested to hear any other tails as I am about to go out again, but think I will do a different route tonight. Bigs girls blouse I hear you say, you will encounter bigger furry creatures on the Tour Divide:-O
The Rutland Panther?
Seriously, I've seen it and I wasn't on drugs. 
I'm not doing night rides at Wakerly any more lol!
Have been chased by escaped scrapyard dogs. They released my inner sprinter!
have been riding in the woods in a couple of different locations and small groups of deer
have emerged out of the gloom, running silently along side me. Not that scary but eery nonetheless.
most scarily, I was doin an over-nighter ride with the dog-we were camped out next to a flinty beach.
Around midnight there was a deep phlegmy cough and the sound of flints being scuffed. The dog and I both froze but saw nothing. Upon relaying the story I was assured that it was a badger and not a velocipedophile.
There suddenly seem to be loads more badgers around at the moment... I hadn't seen one in years and we have seen about 4 in the last few months. Not sure what's going on in the New Forest, but whatever it is the badgers obviously like it!!
See them quite often too, two or three very close encounters but they just seem to be doing their best to get away.
They're often in our street the night before the bins are collected, I'm usually coming home from riding and once went to corner one before thinking better of it.
[img] 
[/img]
THanks to Bunnyhop for thsi moment of genius.
However the feeling of soft fur on my leg in the pitch black is one I won't forget.
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
A mate of mine got a bit battered after hitting a badger at some speed whilst out on a night time road ride
I've had one manage to get hold of my foot (as I cycled uphill very slowly - it ran out from the verge) and growl and shake it like a dog with a toy. I was too shocked to do anything for a couple of seconds but then I screamed and fell off which seemed to scare it away!
Coming down off Old Pale in Delamere about 12 months ago, night ride with mates. Lead rider hit a badger at full pelt, I would say 25mph, and went head over heels into the dark - not a pretty sight and I was sure he would require the helicopter ambulance! Miraculously, he got up, dusted himself off and carried on the ride - the badger was nowhere to be seen.
My mate didn't come out on a night ride for 6 weeks - not injured, just sh1771ng himself!!
See them every night in Delamere but keep well away....and keep the brakes well covered on decents!!!
I hear snarling, feel the back of my bike get clattered and something scampering close to my wheel. Can only assume it was either a Grizzly bear or a Badger [b]or dog[/b]
maybe..?