Footage of cyclist's encounter with mountain goat "on steroids" goes viral

If you were to make a list of the most terrifying wild animals you wouldn't want to encounter on a bike ride, a goat probably wouldn't be very high up the list... but if that goat happened to be a mountain goat, and a particularly massive one that has been compared to numerous American football players and a prime Arnold Schwarzenegger, it might make the site of a mere wolf or boar seem pretty tame in comparison. 

That things on steroids! https://t.co/t7aixchxQm

— 💫Queen of Seventeen 1️⃣7️⃣🥃❤️🇺🇲✝️ (@AreYouAwaQe) September 29, 2022

Goat look like it did 10yrs on a level 4 prison yard.

— Young_mike (@Youngm831) September 28, 2022

pic.twitter.com/Raz8DHmifn

— papi shmurda (@ShitsDope) September 28, 2022

You can tell it's been working out, am thinking deadlift and lots of shoulder press

— Kolo0celo (@kolo0celo) September 28, 2022

In the clip, which we can't quite track down the origins of but believe could have been filmed in the US, the cyclist has dismounted their bike, possibly to avoid spooking the mountain goat, and the colossal creature appears to walk on by without incident. 

Finally, a worthy opponent pic.twitter.com/y11VajHgVv

— Carlos Zaracho (@CarlosZarachoA) September 28, 2022

Of the few million people who have viewed the clip so far, many have speculated over the mountain goat's training, diet and supplement regime, while for some it made them think of 'Roger the Buff Kangaroo', a particularly muscly marsupial who achieved worldwide fame in the mid-2010s. Unfortunately a box office brawl between the pair is no longer possible, because Roger sadly died in 2018. 

Before we get pulled up on it, we'll clarify that mountain goats are technically not goats in the traditional sense because they are not part of the capra genus. They're actually part of the bovidae family of ruminants which includes antelopes, gazelles and cattle, which in turn goes some way towards explaining the size of this beast. 

This isn't the first time we've heard of cyclists having potential brushes with death due to animals either, although none of the others we can recall were this tonk. Back in May a group of cyclists captured the moment they survived an encounter with a grizzly bear in Montana's Glacier National Park, having to barricade themselves behind their bikes as the bear approached.

Last year, a cyclist in Alaska survived being mauled by a brown bear, with the motion of his bicycle seeming to spark the animal’s aggressive behaviour.

In June of this year, an 82-year-old cyclist in Hampshire was attacked by an “out of control” cow, with a passer-by eventually managing to fend off the rampaging animal with the victim's bike.