Watch out for deer
 

Semi off topic - but it is sort of related to touring:

Try this if link doesn't work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2oymHHyV1M&noredirect=1

I can't imagine how much that red hartebeest must have hurt.

:eek::twitchy:

Link doesn't work. Was it about this:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...s-cyclist.html

Yep, that's it - I tried the link today, and you're right, it's not working. I'll edit to include URL for the You Tube vid. Thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2oymHHyV1M&noredirect=1

when i saw this vid, I was seriously concerned for the fellow.....jesus murphy it looked like he was seriously injured.
and it really looked like it aimed at him didnt it?

I know two riders who have hit deer in the Marin Headlands, and I was almost taken out much like the rider in the video. By the way, the critter in the vid is not a deer.

I agree - that Red Hartebeest (Deer) was aiming at that rider. I'm wondering if it was the rut season. They'll do some crazy things while in rut. You can see in the video the riders were pointing out the animal before it decided to charge.

I can't help but wonder how that rider is going to feel the next day. He's really lucky he wasn't cut by a hoof or antler.

Riding roads and trails along the pacific coast has risks of deer running out in front of us as well, especially if riding at night. I'm not suggesting you'll have a similar encounter as the video. As an example, I was riding hwy 7 through the Fraser Canyon at night during a full moon and kept passing shadows or something on the road as I was whizzing downhill at 30-40 miles an hour. I finally realized they were deer....boy did I slow down! It sure would have hurt if I had hit one at that speed. Even though I could see a clear road ahead in the moonlight, because deer are grey, they blended in with the road surface colour.

re rutting season, I suspect you are right on that one. And yes they certainly did see it before didnt they.
scary video thats for sure, but the fact that he was up at the end hopefully means he was generally okay (ish....)

I respectfully disagree about the rut season being a factor. If Red Hartebeest are like North American Deer, they will panic and run from relative saftey into the side of moving vehicles or directly into the path of a moving vehicle. If the deer was truly on the attack, the rider would have ended up in the hospital. If you have ever encountered a tamed deer that will interact with people - as I have - you would be amazed at their power. A large buck can kill a man quite readily.

It is an antelope and has horns not antlers. Somewhat unlikely it is all that much like a deer, since our rut is built around winter. But yeah, could be rut behaviour. Looks like he nailed the guy. Even though he could have killed him, that doesn't mean every time they whack something, they want to kill it.

Look at Bambis footwork in this case. Kinda simmilar use of the feet on impact. Latter half...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0DkEcZ_k8Q

That's a spooker.

I live where there's lots of whitetails. It's hard to overstate how dangerous it is to drive around here, even worse to ride a motorcycle. Everyone has a story about a deer hit or two. Many times I've heard the story of how the deer "came out of nowhere and slammed into the side of my car!" I've seen deer cross the road in front of me at a 90 degree angle that had to be going 45 mph or more.

I think that if a deer is spooked and running at full speed it only focuses on what's directly in front of it and doesn't expect to be hit from the side. Sucks to get hit by a deer running full speed from the side, 'specially on a bicycle, ouch.