A Deer And I Got Very Lucky Today

[motociclista]

I took a ride down to West Virginia today to see family. I'm riding my Triumph Daytona 675, fortunately, which has great brakes and Dunlop Q2s in good condition. I'm on 328 just south of the intersection with 56 in Hocking County. That section of the road has been paved recently, so no bumps, lots of traction, it's midday, weather's perfect, no traffic. In other words, ideal conditions.

 

I come around a corner and see two young deer standing in the other lane. As soon as I see them, I'm on the brakes hard, wondering what they'll do. One decides to jog slowly left. The other decides to run at top speed to the right, across my path.

 

He's doing that cartoon animal running in place thing, scrabbling for traction on the asphalt. I'm slowed way down but not stopped, and I hear the thump and feel the bump as the fairing or front fender hits his right rear leg. He bounds off into the woods and I pull over into a driveway to get off the road.

 

I'm expecting to see a cracked front fender, or worse, a cracked fairing. I check the bike over and I can't find anything. Not even a scratch. Not even a hair off the deer's rump. I start to get back and the bike and ride off, but I can't believe it. I must have missed something. So I walk all the way around the bike again. Nothing. 

 

I'd like to say my great riding skills saved the day, but about all I can say on my behalf is that I did a good job of braking on a very capable bike under perfect conditions. I didn't even have time to begin a swerve. Maybe Marc Marquez could have swerved in that second, while braking, but not this guy. So I got lucky, basically. Just a fraction of a second delay, or less braking effectiveness, like on most any other bike I have owned, and I would have hit him in the body, not grazed his rump, and the damage would have been significant.

 

I know, I know, photos or it didn't happen. Unfortunately, I didn't have a video camera on the bike.

 

I just hope hope he learned a valuable lesson about hanging out in the road and sportbikes. Maybe he'll stay in the woods from now on.

[JackFlash]

Lots of things can happen, in the blink of an eye.

I think we need training to have instant reflexes.

It would save us from many bad things. 

 

How about someone set up a course and teach

us how to react properly to sudden dangers?

 

I'm glad you and the bike came out safe.

.

Edited September 2, 2013 by JackFlash

[bigd]

scary stuff. glad you're here and able to type it up.

[motociclista]

How about someone set up a course and teach

us how to react properly to sudden dangers?

 

 

There are good training courses available, both street-based and track-based. I've taken a few over the years and all were good, but none are cheap if you're paying full price. it's just hard for the good courses to be cheap when they usually have maybe three students per instructor.

 

MSF Experienced Rider Course is probably the least costly option.

 

Just be careful who you take advice from. There's plenty of misinformation out there. Plus, the best rider isn't necessarily the best teacher. Being able to explain the right techniques is a different skill from using them.

[Unk Greg]

Good to hear....keep safe!

[jnor]

Sounds like a close one Lance, glad you avoided it !!!

 

Deer scare me the most when riding, you have no control over...

 

Journalist, and motorcycle safety advocate Larry Grodsky was killed by hitting a deer a few years ago in Texas.. 

[motociclista]

Sounds like a close one Lance, glad you avoided it !!!

 

Deer scare me the most when riding, you have no control over...

 

Journalist, and motorcycle safety advocate Larry Grodsky was killed by hitting a deer a few years ago in Texas.. 

 

I didn't know Larry real well, but I took his course once and wrote an article about it and then we traded e-mails and such afterwards until the evening he died in Texas. I still have the last e-mail he sent me, telling me about how he was buying this old police bike in California and riding it back to Pittsburgh. He was really excited about the trip. He always said the one thing more likely to kill him than a left-turning car was a deer, because the deer were harder to predict. I rode in the motorcycle procession at his funeral. He was a great teacher and a hyper aware rider, which just goes to show it can happen to anyone.

 

I saw on the other forum you're back in the Versys business. I like my Versys, but in this case I was glad I was on the sportbike. The difference in brakes would have probably meant I'd have got to the deer a split second sooner and hit its body instead of grazing it. That would have meant damage, at least. Just lucky.

[Casper]

Deer scare the crap out of me on the bike, pretty much ever since this: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/obituaries/obituary-lawrence-grodsky-top-american-expert-on-motorcycle-safety-429578/