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A deer hit me while riding this morning.
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There are moments in a man's life where he might look for some excitement to spruce up things a bit. And there are other times where he might say "that was a bit too exciting for my liking". The latter was true this morning.

It was a beautiful, sunny morning. A few of us were riding one of our interval sessions for the week when we came into a clearing. There is a beautiful meadow to the right and the sun was peaking just over the trees and was dancing with the fog that still mingled in the rolling hills. As I looked out, I saw a young buck, bounding effortlessly through the tall grass; a truly breathtaking sight to behold.

But then, to my increasing dismay, I noticed his head. Snapping to the left every few leaps, he was looking at the road I was on. My heartrate climbed a bit at the thought of his potential track intersecting with mine; we were traveling parallel to the deer, but were about 30m behind him. We were clipping along at around 17mph and my eyes were fixed on this beast of a creature.

No sooner had I pointed at the buck and cautioned everyone to watch him, then with a few effortless motions, he was up a small hill, over a fence and heading into the road. Being in no danger myself as the buck was well ahead of us, I glanced up the road for the first time and saw IT: a pickup truck barreling down the hill towards us in the oncoming lane. I looked up and saw the truck and immediately the deer jumped directly in front of the front left headlight in one sweeping act of suicide.

In a moment like that, when observing such a violent act from a distance, fear was not apart of my emotions as I was a safe distance from the impact; that is, until the deer began sliding directly towards me. You see, in that moment, I had forgotten Newtons Third Law of physics: to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction. I would guess that the truck was going no slower than 35mph, and being that it weighs probably close to 8 times what the deer weighed, much of the opposite reaction was not absorbed by the truck, but by the buck. This left me in the current predicament that I found myself in.

Every time I go out to train, I find myself in a situation where I need to avoid or dodge something on the road. Often it is glass, a tree branch, or a pothole. But typically, those objects are not moving. Thus when there was a buck sliding towards me across the pavement fear began to form where it had previously been absent. Thankfully, God spared me a crash and I was able to get to the grass just fast enough that the buck only smacked my rear wheel and I remained upright. One foot or a split second later, and I would have been lying next the deer.

It was a good memory that I will not soon relegate to the far corners of my mind, and it was certainly a moment that was just a bit too exciting for my liking.

Ride smart, ride safe out there.
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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Should have bunny hopped it!
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [Quel] [ In reply to ]
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dude, that is EXACTLY what I thought right after the fact!

I thought I could get to the side fast enough that it would slide behind me, but man, gopro footage of a bunnyhop in that situation would be GOLD!
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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Oh deer.
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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That's pretty wild.

Where were you riding?

I had something similar happen on Saturday, minus the pick-up truck. Deer was running parallel to me but looking toward me. I pulled back a little to watch him go and avoid contact. He then deer cleared a 4ft fence, crossed the road in front of me and cleared another 4ft fence all with minimal effort. It was amazing to watch.
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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Deer make me nervous. This last weekend at the boulder peak coming down the hill at 40mph there were a couple of deer just off the road. Thankfully, they stayed there. The photographer was taking pics on the way up and there was a deer in my background pic. Haven't seen it yet but it should be good.

I've come down Deer Creek Canyon at 45mph near top and had deer jump right in front of me. Nothing to do but close your eyes and open them a second later and realize your still alive. Scary!
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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Wow, makes my trainer ride so boring this morning. But, Apollo 13 got back to earth safely, again.


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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [h2ofun] [ In reply to ]
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+1 on the bunny hop, lol... Good to hear that you and your bike are okay. Deer usually surprise that crap out of me during my night runs, crossing my path out of know where, definitely catches me off guard once in awhile.
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [ryanone] [ In reply to ]
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Saw 3 deer on my run through my neighborhood this morning. One got spooked and high tailed it into the woods. Another looked right at me (3 feet away) and just kept on eating. I much prefer, to see them on the run than the bike. Glad you avoided the worst of it and he didn't. One less deer to worry about ;)
Last edited by: stillrollin: Jul 17, 12 9:31
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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This isn't you right?

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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [summitt] [ In reply to ]
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summitt wrote:
Deer make me nervous. This last weekend at the boulder peak coming down the hill at 40mph there were a couple of deer just off the road. Thankfully, they stayed there. The photographer was taking pics on the way up and there was a deer in my background pic. Haven't seen it yet but it should be good.

I've come down Deer Creek Canyon at 45mph near top and had deer jump right in front of me. Nothing to do but close your eyes and open them a second later and realize your still alive. Scary!
Glad your okay. But the point everyo e is missing is that a darn redneck pickup driver caused another accident. C'mon people wake- up

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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [Maca944] [ In reply to ]
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Maca944 wrote:
Oh deer.

LMFAO
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [Bmanners] [ In reply to ]
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that is sort of true. he didn't brake at all, but should've seen it coming I think.
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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You know that they are on the same team as the squirrels....I hear they are talking to the skunks.

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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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maybe they're just trying to take me out. i ran over a squirrel in may...

glad i don't live in NH or VT so moose aren't an issue!
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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I bet he took it hme with him.probably making venison chili right now. Ummm....ummm good.....:0)

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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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Sue the truck driver for launching a deer at you. That's assault.
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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We had a fawn scoot between us on the Saturday morning ride. How he didn't get hit baffles me. Couldn't have been more than a bike length for it to get through.
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [FatandSlow] [ In reply to ]
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When I cycle to work the major part is through the dunes with deer, foxes and rabbits all over the place. Although the deer in The Netherlands are probably a bit smaller than the ones in the US, they'll definitely knock me off my bike so I take care to lower my speed whenever I spot them. The rabbits tend to run across the path all the time without carefully looking to the left and right so it's a statistical certainty I'm going to run one over sometime in the future. Has anyone experience with rabbits or other smaller animals? It should be possible to hit them without falling I guess?
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [Maca944] [ In reply to ]
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Until they jump in your spokes and shear your fork off, yes.
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [aftereffector] [ In reply to ]
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Where's that video of the deer hitting the cyclist? I'm on a PC with no YouTube access :\
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [GatorDeb] [ In reply to ]
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GatorDeb wrote:
Where's that video of the deer hitting the cyclist? I'm on a PC with no YouTube access :\

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txuKW7T47QE

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If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
If at first you DO succeed, try to hide your astonishment!
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [mahlergrooves2] [ In reply to ]
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Omg...is that guy still alive..(referring to the youtube video)
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [steve0919] [ In reply to ]
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I thought he was up and walking around at the end of the video?

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If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
If at first you DO succeed, try to hide your astonishment!
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Re: A deer hit me while riding this morning. [mahlergrooves2] [ In reply to ]
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The closest I have ever been to something like this was when I had to bunny hop a beaver while I was doing 22+.
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