Yesterday was "Canada Day" so my wife and some friends decided to go out to the Rockies near Calgary for a hike. I took the opportunity to ride, while my wife and the friends took the car.

After the hike, around 4 PM, they took off and I took a few extra minutes to suit up. I had debated whether I'd wear armored pants, because it was such a hot day, but in the end decided to go with full gear.

This is in a provincial park, and the access road is full of awesome twisties and lots of little hills. Still, the speed limit is 50 km/h, so I was taking it easy (around 60-65 max, as the place is crawling with police). About mid-way through the twisty bit, there's a longish flat bit, and as I approached I saw a car off to the site with its flashers on, on the opposite side of the road. At first I thought it might be a cop, so I dutifully slowed to 50, and just as I was passing the car I noticed they had stopped to take pictures of a friggin moose, who decided he'd had enough, and wanted to cross the road just at that moment. I was probably only 30 feet away when I noticed him on the centre line. I fully admit to panicking! For those of you who've never seen a moose, they are at least 9' tall at the shoulders, and probably a good 12' at the head. I hit the brakes hard, and decided to do what NASCAR teaches you -- head straight ahead with the hope he keeps moving. I felt the real wheel lock up, and tried my best to feather the back with the front a little more. I didn't go down, the moose kept moving, and I got an up close view of a moose's rear end as I slid past. I've gone down before in the distant past, but never had that close of an encounter with wildlife, and I always ride pretty close to the speed limit. This one scared the crap out of me though.

And half-way back to Calgary I hit a nice thunderstorm with high winds and sloshy roads. So all in all I'd say it wasn't my best day riding -- thankful to be alive tho!

Lucky! Moose are killers. Happy Canada day.

For those of you who've never seen a moose, they are at least 9' tall at the shoulders, and probably a good 12' at the head.

Given those stats, I'm not sure I ever want to see one! :shock:

From Wikipedia:

On average, an adult moose stands 1.8–2.1 m (6–7 ft) high at the shoulder[6]. Males weigh 380–720 kg (850–1580 pounds) and females weigh 270–360 kg (600–800 pounds).[7] The largest of all is the Alaskan subspecies (A. a. gigas), which can stand over 2.1 m (7 ft) at the shoulder, has a span across the antlers of 1.8 m (6 ft) and averages 634.5 kg (1,396 lbs) in males and 478 kg (1,052 lbs) in females.

A moose's body structure, with a large heavy body suspended on long spindly legs, makes these animals particularly dangerous when hit by motor vehicles. Such collisions are often fatal for both the moose and motorist. Generally, upon impact the bumper of the car will break the moose's legs. The main body of the moose will then collide with the windscreen, often with disastrous effect to both motorist and animal. In a collision of this nature, a car's airbags may not deploy or be of much use if they do.[26] These risks led to the development of a vehicle test referred to as the "moose test" (Swedish: Älgtest, German: Elchtest).

Now you know why it freaked me out!

I wonder if you could ride under his legs on a motorcycle without a scratch. That would be "interesting" to say the least.