Acorn No. 5 for the bike

Alan and I were wrapping up a two-hour ride early this morning along Bolin Creek when he darted out of the brush from greenway left. Confused by his surroundings but apparently taken by the front tire of my road bike, he pulled in behind, darted in front, the dropped back behind.

View to a squirrel: Playing footsie with a bike tire can get your tail clipped ... or worse.

"&%$#&*!" I yelled. He repeated the move once more, with me clipping his tail on his last zag. That seemed to end his fascination with my tire; he squirted pack into the woods. Slap another acorn on my bike frame; once again, I'd run over a squirrel.

That would be number 5, though the first on my road bike. I've hit three on greenways with my Trek 820 mountain-cum-commuter bike, one on the Trek Fuel mountain bike. Only one did not survive the encounter.

Squirrels: Forever testing the theory of evolution.