Monday, November 8, 2010

Rabbits and rabbits - November 8, 2010

So one is warm and fuzzy the other makes me feel warm and fuzzy (overheating and anaerobic) and they seem to be related somehow.  I tend to notice weird patterns and this seems to be one that has come about lately.  As daylight savings time wound down and my morning commute was more and more often in the dark or near dark it is often easier to see the human type of rabbits by their flashing lights.

While I tend to cruise on Mr. Fixie, if I see the tell-tale flashing red light I pretty much have to give chase; especially at this time of year when I may not even see another bike on my entire commute.  As there are less and less racers training and/or everyone has moved to their heavier winter bikes it is very rare that I can't chase someone down even without all the gears.  Of course weather plays a part of it, on a day when it is nice and has been fore-casted to be nice there tends to be more people out and on colder, wetter days a lot less.

This leads me to the other kind of rabbits.  While have seen deer, opossums, raccoons, rats and mice occasionally, I often see rabbits.  They tend to hang out in Kirkland and on one of the paths that is away from the main part of traffic in Bellevue.  (They are also lousy on the SRT and on Whidbey Island which is where we are going if the world ever ends, there will be lots of food.)

They are sort of a pain in the ass.  They tend to stay on the edge of the path, camouflaged, eating and just before I get to them explode onto the path in front of me, weaving back and forth before diving to the side under a bramble or bush.  With the number of close calls that I have had with them, if I ever get into an accident it will because of a rabbit.

Here's the connection.  I know how many rabbits (the soft, fuzzy kind) that I am likely to see based on the number of human rabbits.  I don't know why.  And no I'm not making it up.

On mornings when I have overtaken one or two human rabbits I will see one or two real rabbits.  If I have overtaken three or four then I will see, and if I don't see another person, I won't see a rabbit.  It isn't the exact number (always), so maybe I missed someone or counted someone twice (ok, now I'm reaching!) but it sure seems to follow.

This isn't something over the last week or even the last month, but the last few months, since sometime in August.  At first I didn't notice and then I didn't give it much thought but after awhile it started sinking in.  Case in point: last Friday I overtook two riders, and saw two rabbits, today I didn't overtake anyone and didn't see any.  It only seems to hold for the morning.  I know it is a giant coincidence, but it is kind of fun and works as a great warning device.  I know to pay attention dropping down that little path if I have overtaken a bunch of people that morning.

The weird things I see.

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