Deer gives cyclist a spin
Helmet provided protection from much more serious injuries
There are many accounts of deervehicle collisions, but how many stories have you read about deercyclist collisions?
Cyclist Ian White was moving at a good clip, over 30 km/h, on the Lake George Road in Yarmouth County, just past the Pitman Road, on July 18, around 8 p.m.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a fast-moving wall of brown in the scrubby grown-in ditch on his right.
A large doe charged out of the brush, hitting his front handle bars and his right hand.
White says the collision was instant and so fast, there was no time to react.
“All I recall is ‘Brown! Deer! Blam!’ and a stream of cursing as I was lying on the pavement, beat up and sore,” he says.
He attributes his helmet with saving him from more serious injury. He’d spent money to have a great helmet: a Bell Falcon MIPS (which he replaced after the crash).
He says the design of the MIPS permits it to twist, reducing the force of the impact, and the cushion compacts to absorb what remains. The helmet is designed not to break.
“My head hit the pavement hard, as did my right shoulder and hip. I was a bit dizzy and stunned, but I don’t believe I had a concussion because my pupils dilated, light didn’t bother me, etc. I did have decent, deep road rash on my right elbow.”
He could tell from his bleeding right hand, the bent-in right shifter and the fact that his aerobars were pointing straight up that the deer had hit his front handlebars and hand.
His rear derailer hanger on his bicycle was snapped but repaired and fixed the next day by bike shop owner Danny Manser.
White says he doesn’t think the doe sustained any injuries.
Mike Corkum was approaching White in his truck as the incident happened.
Corkum says he happened to glance to his left as he was driving towards White and he started to let off on his gas because he saw something in the bushes.
“When I looked again it was a deer and I thought I really have to come onto the brakes because this thing’s coming," he says. “I saw Ian and thought to myself, No. There’s no way. Then WHAM, that thing jumped out of the ditch and hit him on the front of his bike.”
Corkum says the impact spun White around and he saw him land on his back, smacking his head on the pavement.
“It was funny but it wasn’t. It was something that you never see. It’s one of those things that you almost wished you had a dash cam for one of those funniest videos, as long as he wasn’t hurt,” says Corkum.
The deer kept going.
“It had no sympathy,” Corkum says.
Ironically, Corkum’s Toyota Corolla was a write-off after a deer collision two years ago on the same road.
Corkum offered White a ride to the hospital but says he was determined to continue riding.
“At the time I was in a mild state of shock and wanted to finish my ride,” says White. “I didn’t realize my bike was un-rideable.”
By this time, Sean and Danna Sweeney had also stopped to assist (fantastic people, says White) and convinced him to allow them to take him and his battered bike home.
He says his neighbours,
Corkum and others checked in with him over the next 24 hours as his family was away in Halifax.
White was sore for a bit but had committed to swim and bike for someone in the Lighthouse Triathlon that Sunday.
“After the incident, at first I told triathlon organizer Bobby Lou Reardon I would only volunteer, but by Sunday I figured I could work through the pain to get it done.”
He says it “wasn’t pretty” but he swam the 1.5 km and biked the 40 km.
With regard to future close encounters with deer while cycling, he says he is warier now, but it hasn’t affected his rides.
“Really, there is nothing I could have done differently. I believe it was a fluke. I’ve had close calls before and now that I’ve been hit, I figure I am good for a while, LOL.”