weaselbeak
XS650 Junkie
43 f*cking years without a damn deer. Two weeks ago I got clipped by one going over the back of my bike, 3rd in line in a caravan. Bruised my elbow, shoulder, and later my hip came up a bit sore. I did keep it upright, but had to fix some bent luggage brackets. Today I took a slow ride to check on my elderly brother, and actively looking for deer in the ditches, Bambi got me anyway. Hit a spotted fawn dead center, nearly cutting it in half. Totaled the gauges, windjammer stuff (all 4 pieces), my Jeff Gordon leather jacket (double damn), and most likely bent a front fork some. The right side engine cover got scraped up pretty bad as the foot peg highway bar did not quite do it's job, but the brand new Dyna S came thru unscratched. I was only running the 55, and a mile from my destination. I separated from the bike on impact, slid a while, then traction took over and I started rolling. You can't believe how much stuff goes thru your mind. I remember 1st being glad I had a helmet, as I felt the slap and scrape of every roll, which I thought would never end. Curiously, the face shield hasn't a scratch on it. 2nd, I was worried about how broken I would be, if still alive, when I stopped. I have abrasions on both knees, both elbows, both hands and wrists on the outer edges. My ankles are sore, nothing broken but the left has already stoved up on me to the point of crutches. My right shoulder and right upper chest took a pretty good hit. I will be one sore SOB for awhile. Not to mention the paranoia from 2 deer in such short order. I might try and rebuild the 850, it has some new stuff all over it, or maybe it's going to be a parts bike. BTW, in this high tech world we live in, my sister in Huntsville, Texas knew about it in ten minutes. I don't know at the moment if I should quit riding (I am 65) and just work on the damn things in the garage, or try and reload.
Hope you and the bike heal well. I too have had an encounter with a deer that did not end well. 28 years ago (which was my 28th year of riding) on my way home from graveyard shift on my XS850, I was scooting along a back road at about 40 MPH, I came up a small hill with a dog leg right at the top and then a short straight stretch. As I approached a section where power lines cross over the road I looked to the left side as there had been some cattle that had escaped their enclosure and had been munching on the side of the road when I had gone to work at the beginning of my shift.
