Bad day on the road today. First I was stung in the face by a bee (painful - but unremarkable - if it wasnt for the fact that the exact same thing happened to me on my previous ride on Friday). Then half an hour later I crashed head-on into a giant crow that was in full flight. The crow incident was pretty serious. A van was passing me and I had moved as close to the edge of the road as was safe. Luckily the driver had spotted the crow just before I did and he immediately veered to the right to give me some room - fearing Id fall in front of him when the bird hit me. I reacted just after he did and I ducked my head sideways (because the bird was heading for my face). But the bird - flying out of control due to a powerful tailwind - took the only evasive action it had available under the circumstances and dipped downwards at the last moment. It missed my head completely and instead hit the front of the bike frame (with a very hard thump) and landed in the middle of the road - with its head twisted round backwards (like the cjild in The Exorcist). I turned back and returned to see if it had survived and quickly realised it was still alive. Its head slowly twisted round to the normal position but the body was stiff and lifeless. There was a look of shock and terror in its eyes - but it appeared unable to move. I parked the ElliptiGO in the road next to it - to protect it from cars - and waited a few minutes, to see if it would improve. It didnt move at all - it just blinked every now and again - and I could see it breathing really fast. I was sure its neck was broken but I didnt know what to do. Should I ride over it and put it out of its misery? Should I pull it off the road and leave it in the grass - in case it recovered? After a few minutes I decided I was too scared to try and handle it, and I didnt have what it takes to ride over it and put it out of its suffering. So I just rode away... I felt awful - but decided Id let a car finish it off instead. But what if it lies there for hours? It was easy to see and cars could avoid it quite easily - at least until darkness falls. I am certain it will die, its just a question of when. But Im not sure if I handled this correctly...
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 19:36:36 +0000