An experience of the fowl kind

[Tourmeister]

Howdy,

I was cleaning out some old old emails when I came across this one. I sent it out a few years ago:

Howdy,

This evening was so beautiful, clear and cool. I just had to go
for a ride down to my favorite cafe for dinner. On the return trip as I
crest a hill and start down the backside, out of the woods at the edge
of the road comes a blur a little bigger than a softball and slams into
my chest just below the collar bone and slightly off center to the
right. Let me just say that it makes quite a nice solid THUNK when it
hits me at 75 mph!

Oddly enough I do not freak. I just slow, think for a second
about what just happened, and turn around to go look for the culprit. A
hundred yards or so back up the road there lay a small owl in the road
right about where I was when I was hit. I pull over to check him out.
Freshly dead, or so stunned he does not react at all when I hold him up
by the feet to take a look. He is about ten inches tall and like I
said, his head is the size of a softball. A pale face and large
dialated eyes. He certainly got the worst end of the bargain. I imagine
the little fireants were singing praises to their fireant god after I
laid the fresh carcass next to their large mound. The winter food
supply in one fell swoop hehe.

I guess I must have brain damage from the impact. All I could
think about after he hit me, other than "OUCH!", was "Thank God he
missed the bike! That would have been expensive." So other than a large
bruise on my chest and a little soreness, it was only a slightly fowl
experience

Now that I am home and have had a while to stew it over, it has
been an interesting encounter. In the flash of an instant, a life
ended. Sure it wasn't mine, but nonetheless, one second everything is
hunky dory for Mr. Owl and the next, lights out. It really brought into
sharp focus the frailty and brevity of life. A few more inches up and
the owl would have hit me square in the face shield of my helmet and it
could possibly have been me laying limp on the road being eyed by the
fireant mound's myriad inhabitants. Obviously, I won't stop riding. No
point in living in a locked safe house. Were only here for a short
time, make the most of it! Just a friendly reminder


Adios,

--
Scott Friday

 

[Dirtrideroader]

My neighbor is a tough old bird that has about 6-10 Harleys or Harley clones at any one time. He was riding near our neighborhood and came upon one of the suicidal squirrels that didn't make it across the road. The local buzzards were taking turns at squirrel buffet. When he got close they, the buzzards that is, took off. When he passed the squirrel, one of the buzzards wanting to be first back in line, swooped back down to the road and hit this guy in the chest. He said it felt like being hit with a 20 lb. frozen turkey( I didn't ask him how he knew what that felt like). It knocked him off of the bike and he hit the pavement.
Being a tough old bird, he was not wearing a helmet or any other protective gear, so he suffered a pretty severe concussion and lots of road rash. He said he was going less than 20mph when it happened.

The moral of the story is, give the buzzards lots of room, or you may become their next meal....

 

[TheCanuck]

The moral of the story is, give the buzzards lots of room, or you may become their next meal....

Sorry to say, but the moral of the story should be, 'where protective gear, so after the **** animal knocks you off your bike you can get up and flog the sh*t out of the thing'

The sad part is, if the old guy was waering a helmet, leather jacket and draggin jeans, maybe even gloves, he would have probably would have bounced up after the down.

Sorry for the rant, but I am tired of hearing 'bikes are bad' stories where someones relative was hurt, when you get to the crash, the person was either riding beyond the condition or their abilities and/or they where not wearing gear. People seem to get pissed of when I tell them, if person X was waering a helmet when he hit the ground at 20 mph, he would have most likely been able to walk away from the down.

(so Scott, how is that for content??)

cheers,
Tom

 

[Fangs]

Nailed a couple off mocking bird sized birds in my day. One of the strangest things I hit was plastic gallon milk jug,empty. It was kicked up off the road by cage in front of me. I was thinking I hope it doesn't contact the road in front of my tire, could get hungup. Just as I finished that thought it nailed me on left bicep and accually stung pretty good.Was wearing textile jacket. I know your thinking yeah right. I guess it must have been difference in speed,me=75 or 80 mph, gallon milk jug empty=0 to 5mph.


I'm just glad it didn't hit my "teeth".

Keith

 

[bluedogok]

Several years ago, a friend of mine was on his way back to Denver from OKC heading through the Oklahoma panhandle. He was running around 100 mph on a Honda Blackbird (how ironic) when a bird flew in from the side and hit him high on the chest and exploded up into his helmet. He got the bike slowed down and caught his breath and cleaned up. It took him about 30 minutes or so to get settled down enough to get going again.

He had a bruised chest for about a month.

 

[Tourmeister]

Hmm... Someone needs to ask Steve Duncan about his Hill Country buzzard encounter

Yeah Tom, I agree. It is hard to feel sorry for someone when they get hurt after not taking even the slightest effort to protect themselves. Image comes at high price!

Adios,