Some gravel courses throw in hills and headwinds. One in south-central Iowa throws in a cattle yard.
At the Albia Holy Cow gravel race in July 2026, riders picking the 31-mile or 62-mile option rolled through farm ground where the course passes through the cattle yard. A young bull ran with them for a stretch. The bull seemed pleased with its pacing strategy.
The bull is only the start of the funniest things cyclists have seen on a ride. Ahead you’ll meet a grizzly strolling past riders, a runaway race dog, a fridge rolling through Brooklyn on a bike-share bike, a 14.5-foot tall bike, a road bike in a speed trap, feral hogs, and a fawn that understood stop signs better than most drivers.
Wild Animals That Joined the Ride
You expect cars and potholes. You don’t expect an escort committee with feathers.
On a gravel trail in Australia, a rider found a mob of emus sprinting ahead. They dared the human to keep up. Watch what happens when the birds decide they own the paceline.
Maureen Gerber was on a day-after-birthday ride on Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, Montana, with her husband and two friends on May 1, 2022, when a grizzly appeared.
The group of about 15 riders, including some children, pulled over at a wide shoulder and barricaded themselves behind their bikes.
Watch the bear amble past the line of waiting bikes.
The bear looked at the cyclists but didn’t appear to give them much thought as it meandered past.
“He was kind of dopey, you know?” Gerber said.
Then there is the smallest chaser of all. Dean Nicholson was climbing a hill in Bosnia and Herzegovina during a round-the-world ride when a kitten chased him down.
Read about the tiny cat cycling the world and you’ll see why Nala joined the trip.
And if you think emus are committed, you should see an ostrich chasing cyclists at full stride.
For another only-in-Australia moment, see a kangaroo that met a cyclist head on.
Farm animals have their own ideas about group rides too.
Farm Animals and a Runaway Dog
Cows usually watch rides go by. In Cumbria, England, one herd tried to join in.
Cyclist Andrew O’Connor had stopped for a snack before the climb up Great Dun Fell near Knock when the farmer asked for help. A herd had missed its gate and was moving fast toward him. He put his hands up, shouted, and the cows pulled up short.
The video passed more than 13 million views as reported in September 2023.
Think of a matador with energy gels instead of a cape. Hands up, one shout. It worked.
Belgium offered a faster version in March 2024.
On stage 1 of the Arden Challenge, a saddled horse with no rider galloped into the bunch about 6 miles (10 km) from the finish. Lars Daniels, 23, grew up around an equestrian center and knew what to do. He eased alongside, caught the bridle, slowed the horse, handed it off, and finished with the group.
Watch the riderless horse run with the peloton in Belgium.
A dog had tried it first. At the Druivencross cyclocross race in Overijse, Belgium, on December 15, 2019, a dog ran away from its owner at the end of the first lap.
The dog, with a leash still hanging from its collar, ran alongside the riders trying to keep up.
Watch the leashed dog join the race.
Several riders swerved and some stopped completely to let it pass. Neither the dog nor the cyclists got hurt.
People can be stranger than animals, though. Wait until you see what riders met on two wheels.
The Strangest Riders Sharing the Road
Every city has characters. Brooklyn has one with upper-body strength for days.
In April 2025, stuntman Leh-Boy Gabriel Davis rode a Citi Bike, New York’s bike-share bike, down Nassau Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, with a refrigerator balanced on his head. In 2023 he did the same trick with a sofa.
Balancing furniture while steering through traffic sounds impossible. The stunt rider made it look like a normal commute with unusually tall cargo.
Portland, Oregon, goes big in the other direction. The World Naked Bike Ride, a protest against car culture where riders go as bare as they dare, can draw 10,000 riders.
It returned in 2025 after a 2024 cancellation. Traffic stops. Clothes stay optional.
Details live on the official ride site.
Los Angeles went vertical instead. Richie Trimble of Los Angeles built STOOPIDTALL, a tall bike measuring 14.5 feet (4.4 m) to the seat, in 12 work hours using one Huffy beach cruiser and 6.5 single-speed chains.
To bend the pipe he used an upside-down shopping cart and a split log.
He rode it from La Cienega to Venice Beach at CicLAvia in Los Angeles in April 2013, an open-streets day that drew more than 100,000 people.
Watch the towering bike roll down the open street.
He admitted everyone looks at you like you’re nuts on it, and they’re right.
Odd routes attract odd dedication too. One rider looped 150 miles around a roundabout because it seemed funny at the time. Sometimes the strangest rider is the one chasing a joke all the way to the finish.
Speed Traps, Hogs and a Polite Fawn
Some speeders get caught by radar. One got caught without an engine.
In March 2026, police ran a check on the L692 by a school, sports hall, and pool in Nachrodt-Wiblingwerde, Germany. A road cyclist came through at about 37 mph (59 km/h) in a 19 mph (30 km/h) zone, making them the second-fastest road user of the day in the police radar check report. A driver topped the list at about 45 mph (72 km/h).
The police point was simple. Limits apply to bikes too.
The rider likely avoided punishment because a bike carries no license plate to trace. Fast legs, no paperwork.
Down in Texas, two riders found pacers with four legs. Rachel Furnish and Rayne Clarkson were on their weekly ride together on the Southern Walnut Creek Trail in east Austin, Texas, on a Thursday morning in January 2024.
They estimated they saw between 15 and 20 feral hogs.
Watch the hogs run alongside the two riders.
“We start really picking up our speed, and we’re soaring, and the hogs all start running with us just as fast,” Clarkson said.
Clarkson’s verdict: “When you start running with the hogs, I think you, therefore, become the hog.”
Then comes the best-behaved road user in Ohio.
In October 2025 in Wayne County, Ohio, a fawn ran out of the woods, fell in behind a cyclist, and kept pace down the road. At the stop sign, both stopped. Then both rolled on together like an old breakaway pair.
See the whole polite pursuit in this clip. Heads up: the audio contains explicit language.
No bell. No signal. Just perfect road manners.
That fawn deserves a place in every group ride. It holds a wheel and respects the rules.
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