Share the road

Really there is not much to the story. I was tucked in behind John F, Bob C, Susan and Harlan. Behind me sat Gener, Rich, Woodhouse, Austin, Lance, Katrina and Vince, all returning from Creeds store. Also, the mystery guy who does not wear a helmet had latched onto us, but that’s a different story.

We had just hit a straightaway on Nanney’s Creek Road in Pungo going about 23 mph when a deer shot in front of leader John. We all turned to look left for any deer following. Here comes number two. It bolted through the pack, somehow navigating through a tiny, moving gap between Susan and mystery guy. I had started to slow and could see deer #3 in a full sprint. No stopping it, the world had spun for millions of years and my time with Bambi had come. It was the perfect calculation of motion, me now at 20 mph, this doe going 30 I guess, and SMACK on my front end. Deer did not slow a fraction and vanished. I landed hard in a chucky gravel driveway, helmet taking a nice hit. The Easton fork fractured but wheel held up, and I had deer hairs in my gloves and on my helmet. Start to finish, about 5 seconds.

Everybody held lines without panic so there was no pile up. With a less experienced group and a little less luck, it could have been ugly. It was a Zabriskie moment where one person is just plucked from a tight paceline, though my culprit was not an invisible one.

Vince called Janet, our team Pungo transport liaison, who took me to VB General for a check. The hospital had my name in their system, but they never asked to see an ID and didn’t ask for a co pay. Interesting. Doc said no concussion but take a prescription for headaches. Nurse gave me a tetanus shot for road rash and animal encounter. The most valuable lesson I learned from this is that the cycling grapevine is ALIVE. Thanks for the calls.