Giant chipmunks

While out on a ride, one frequently encounters those small darting furry creatures known as chipmunks. They burst out of the bushes beside the trail, stop suddenly as they see you approach, dart away, then rip back across the trail and nearly get crushed by your wheel. I don't recall ever flattening one, but many times it's been close. I often encounter the larger 2-footed chipmunks, aka trail-runners, and they are almost as unpredictable. They hear you approach, and rather than just moving to the side to give you room, they often jump right in front of you at the last second, using some kind of avoidance logic I have not yet figured out. Ok so maybe they don't hear you until you're almost about to run them over, but enough with the sudden movements already ! I used to shout at them that I was coming through, expected them to either stay where they were, or move closer to the edge. But apparently this sudden intrusion into their peaceful tweety-bird world, only causes them to panic and run spastically in many directions at once, increasing the likelyhood of a collision. So now my strategy is to stay as quiet as possible, increase velocity, and whip by them to one side. This has worked well with the Ipod-wearing crowd, and various other oblivious joggers. And it is quite amusing to scare the crap out of them as you whiz by, often followed by shouts of confusion or was that rage... But many times the sharp-eared ones do the afore-mentioned sudden chipmunk dart as you get near them, which results in interesting crash avoidance scenarios. The other day I was approaching a female runner on a very slight downhill doubletrack, rolling with a good amount of speed. She was in the left-side track, so I decided a high-speed pass on the right would work perfectly. As I got within 100 feet, I could see the slight head twitch indicating my presence had been detected, whereupon she decided the best course of action was to move to the very center of the trail - perhaps to provide me with a left or right passing lane. Very well, a little risky, but still doable - I reduce speed a bit, but stay on the right side. I am 20 feet away, and all of a sudden she decides to pick the right hand track, directly in my path. I grab 2 handfuls of brake and skid it out on the gravel, halfway into the bushes but manage to squeeze by without contact... What ? Was that a boring ending ? You were hoping for some blood or something ? Maybe I will create a fantasy ending if you like - let me know...