Okay, it looks like the computer issues I've been having are now solved, so let's get back to the story.
With Woodbutcher in the lead, the next group arrives. But, Woodbutcher spots the bull blocking the road and wisely comes to a stop. The entire group surveys the situation and nobody is moving. It's a Mexican stand-off.
With camera in hand, I suggest that Rusty need not stop. "Rusty, just ride on past the bull. He's tame. Heck he's a family pet. You can pet him on the nose."
"Yeah, right.", Rusty replies.
For a few long moments all is still. The bull is eyeing us but not giving any ground. The group silently watches the bull.
Then, from the back of the group comes
John "El Matador" Murphy, formerly a world famous matador and now a steely-eyed adventure rider. What are the odds there would be a matador in the group at the exact moment we had to face down a 3000lb bull?
If you were a matador adventure rider, what would you ride? Exactly! Me, too! And that's what
El Matador rides - a
red 2008 KLR.
"What's the problem, fellows?", he asks in a suave, sophisticated voice reminiscent of Omar Sharif.
Without any further hesitation or discussion,
El Matador accelerates toward the bull, while the rest of us watched, knowing something amazing was about to happen. Amazing good or amazing bad? We weren't completely sure at this point but we knew it was going to be something amazing.
As
El Matador approaches the bull, the bull shifts position to meet this new danger. The bull warily moves toward the other side of the road.
Then the bull stops, decides to hold his new position, and turns and faces
El Matador.
El Matador stops the bike and the 2 face off in the middle of the street. All is silent. The tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
At this point, I'm still trying to figure out
El Matador's strategy. If the bull charges, I'm thinking
El Matador won't have enough time to maneuver out of the way. His bike is stopped and he has a foot on the ground. The bull is so close there doesn't appear there will be enough time for
El Matador to get the bike moving again. But, what do I know? I've never faced off against a 3000 lb bull capable of mangling or killing me with a single blow from his head or of launching me 50 feet in the air with a kick from just one of his hind legs.
Maybe
El Matador is thinking of simply dropping the
RED KLR on its right side and jumping over the fence on the side of the road. That's what I would do - go for the fence and hope the enraged animal attacks the
RED bike instead of me.
At this point, the crowd gets worried. With the bull now off to the side of the road couldn't we just ride by? But
El Matador is not just riding by, he has turned to face the bull. Then,
El Matador further menaces the bull by doing the motorcycle equivalent of a bull pawing the ground with his forefoot.
El Matador slightly pops the clutch making the bike surge forward slightly. He repeats the move a 2nd time. The bull is getting increasingly concerned and alarmed at the menacing behavior of
El Matador and dips his head in a aggressive way.
"That's a bad idea! Don't do that" voices from the watching group shout to
El Matador.
The bull appears ready to attack.
Meanwhile, unknown to us, there is an adventure rider rodeo clown in the group. He's also a friend of
El Matador and he is now officially worried for
El Matador's safety.
He sees the bull in a "ready to charge" mode and, like me, believes
El Matador won't have sufficient time to ride out of harms way. Luckily, he knows what to do. He dumps the clutch on his KTM dirt bike and charges down the road. His strategy? Ride in-between the 2 like a
Bat out of Hades, drawing the bull away from
El Matador.
I'm stunned at this new development and, like a dummy, didn't get any good pics of this crucial development in the story. Others, however, did get pics of this particular scene. Perhaps they will post one or two for us to see.
Anyway, he goes flying down the road and zips in-between the
El Matador and the bull.
The bull doesn't know what to make of this second challenge. So, in typical bull fashion, he snorts, leaps 2 feet in the air and then looks for something to knock down and gore.
The adventure rider rodeo clown makes a quick u-turn and heads back toward the bull for a 2nd pass.
El Matador starts moving to and now the two riders begin riding around to confuse the animal.
On his third pass, the adventure rodeo clown pops a massive wheelie, administering the croup de grace move in this little drama.
The bull, overwhelmed by the 2 adventure riders, calls "no mas", whirls around, kicks both feet in the air, and then hauls bull hocks off into the pasture.
Wow! Talk about putting the "adventure" in adventure riding.
So, now you know of the Infamous Bull Incident of 2009. We haven't seen anything like this since the Helsinki Incident of 1919 and I think we all know how that turned out!
Here's our hero of the day, John
"El Matador" Murphy.
Thanks for saving us, John, and for a memorable incident, the likes of which we haven't seen in 90 years.