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11-01-03, 05:57 PM
Wow! Cycling always has a suprise in store. I certainly got one at dawn this morning. I had one of those twilight zone experiences. It is very hard to put into words what happened, at least in words that adequately describe the situation. I wish I would have had digital camera or better yet a movie camera.
Anyway I ride on a dike that protects our town from flood. As I approached the dike I saw two huge lakes that had suddenly appeared in what used to be newly planted green wheat fields. (look like huge lawns) I couldn't help but think, I know it didn't rain last night? Well once I got up on the dike I started hearing the noise. This was an ocean of geese, not water. I am talking about thousands of them. I have seen flocks of geese with hundreds, (used to hunt a lot) but this was an oasis of Geese. As I approached the geese it became ever so louder and I knew I had a decision to make. I had to gather up a lot of courage or turn around and go back.
There were several acres of geese on both sides of the dike and I had to ride directly through them. So I started cranking hard. Man o' man the closer I got the noise soon became a roar. The geese started to take flight by the dozens. THen by the hundreds. By the time I got between both of the previously grounded flocks, the sky had grown dark, they were so thick they were blocking any sunlight. THe noise was deafining. It really made me stop and think. Man is supposedly supperior to a goose but the roles were reversed here. I was a dead man if they possessed the intelligence to attack me. If only a small fraction of the geese had decided to relieve themselves over my head I would have been suffocated instantly.
Well, ,I made it through but talk about an adrenaline rush. I got to a road that bisects the dike and people were pulling off the road and asking, "what was that?" My face was to numb from the cold and my heart was racing too fast to adequately give them an answer. So I just rode on and had a very interesting cylcing experience to think about for the rest of the ride and many years to follow.
Thanks for allowing me to share...
Anyway I ride on a dike that protects our town from flood. As I approached the dike I saw two huge lakes that had suddenly appeared in what used to be newly planted green wheat fields. (look like huge lawns) I couldn't help but think, I know it didn't rain last night? Well once I got up on the dike I started hearing the noise. This was an ocean of geese, not water. I am talking about thousands of them. I have seen flocks of geese with hundreds, (used to hunt a lot) but this was an oasis of Geese. As I approached the geese it became ever so louder and I knew I had a decision to make. I had to gather up a lot of courage or turn around and go back.
There were several acres of geese on both sides of the dike and I had to ride directly through them. So I started cranking hard. Man o' man the closer I got the noise soon became a roar. The geese started to take flight by the dozens. THen by the hundreds. By the time I got between both of the previously grounded flocks, the sky had grown dark, they were so thick they were blocking any sunlight. THe noise was deafining. It really made me stop and think. Man is supposedly supperior to a goose but the roles were reversed here. I was a dead man if they possessed the intelligence to attack me. If only a small fraction of the geese had decided to relieve themselves over my head I would have been suffocated instantly.
Well, ,I made it through but talk about an adrenaline rush. I got to a road that bisects the dike and people were pulling off the road and asking, "what was that?" My face was to numb from the cold and my heart was racing too fast to adequately give them an answer. So I just rode on and had a very interesting cylcing experience to think about for the rest of the ride and many years to follow.
Thanks for allowing me to share...