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So, I am riding home from a great day during which I had several errands that I could run on the bike.
It's dark, about 9:00. Keep in mind that I live in farm country. I do not think there was a street light for 5 miles. I am on a tiny road that I love. It is so small that it has no painted lines. It follows a winding creek between 4 huge Amish farms. From end to end it is about 3 or 4 miles.
I run a dual HID setup and had the high and low beams on, so it was bright as day in front of me, but the tall grass comes right to the paved edge of the road.
I am taking it real easy because I had already seen no fewer than 30 deer, 4 of them standing in the road staring at my headlight. So I am doing about 35mph and about 20 yards ahead of me, the grass bursts appart and a raccoon barrels into the road. He get to about the center of what I'll call 'my lane', stops dead, pops up on his hind legs staring at me coming at him.
No problem, way too little time to stop, but since he has stopped, a little drift to the center of the road and I should buzz by without issue.
Well, I am not Dr. Who and cannot talk to animals, and the raccoon and I did not agree on this plan.
About 8-10 feet before I would have buzzed by him, he looses his nerve, gets down from his upright position and tries to make a break for the far side of the road.
As bad luck would have it, this puts him right in my path at just the moment I would have passed him.
At that moment, I realize why my instincts told me 1. no braking and 2. just a little drift, no extreme swerve. Because I was still fully upright and moving along steadily, I rode over him just like the 4x4 in the rider safety course. I even found myself shifting my weight back in the seat and giving it a little throttle to lighten up the front end. As he launched out the back end of my bike, I even got the same tire chirp I remember from the 4x4.
Keep in mind this all happened in 20 yards at 35mph, which works out to about one second.
After it was over, I wondered if I should have had some adrenalin response or something, but I got nothing. It was over and I was on my way.
I must say, the 9 handled it like a champ.
Be safe out there. It is not just the deer and cagers gunning for you
It's dark, about 9:00. Keep in mind that I live in farm country. I do not think there was a street light for 5 miles. I am on a tiny road that I love. It is so small that it has no painted lines. It follows a winding creek between 4 huge Amish farms. From end to end it is about 3 or 4 miles.
I run a dual HID setup and had the high and low beams on, so it was bright as day in front of me, but the tall grass comes right to the paved edge of the road.
I am taking it real easy because I had already seen no fewer than 30 deer, 4 of them standing in the road staring at my headlight. So I am doing about 35mph and about 20 yards ahead of me, the grass bursts appart and a raccoon barrels into the road. He get to about the center of what I'll call 'my lane', stops dead, pops up on his hind legs staring at me coming at him.
No problem, way too little time to stop, but since he has stopped, a little drift to the center of the road and I should buzz by without issue.
Well, I am not Dr. Who and cannot talk to animals, and the raccoon and I did not agree on this plan.
About 8-10 feet before I would have buzzed by him, he looses his nerve, gets down from his upright position and tries to make a break for the far side of the road.
As bad luck would have it, this puts him right in my path at just the moment I would have passed him.
At that moment, I realize why my instincts told me 1. no braking and 2. just a little drift, no extreme swerve. Because I was still fully upright and moving along steadily, I rode over him just like the 4x4 in the rider safety course. I even found myself shifting my weight back in the seat and giving it a little throttle to lighten up the front end. As he launched out the back end of my bike, I even got the same tire chirp I remember from the 4x4.
Keep in mind this all happened in 20 yards at 35mph, which works out to about one second.
After it was over, I wondered if I should have had some adrenalin response or something, but I got nothing. It was over and I was on my way.
I must say, the 9 handled it like a champ.
Be safe out there. It is not just the deer and cagers gunning for you
