The Pale Moonlight

[IcyHound]

I hit a deer... or actually the deer hit me.

The deer is dead.

I had just left the house, I was about half a mile away on the mountain road. I wasn't riding that fast and I saw the deer running down the side of the road. It was running in the same direction I was riding, so I slowed down. It darted into the woods. I continued and it came out of the woods and slammed into the side of the bike.

I remember seeing its head and neck and shoulder and grabbing the brake. Then its lots of darkness as I rolled down the road. I remember seeing the sparks from the bike sliding and I thought it was behind me. I rolled some more and finally rolled into the ditch on the opposite side of the road where I settled on my back.

I just laid there for a minute to make sure everything was working. Once I caught my wind I staggered up and crawled to my bike. I got my cell phone out and tried to call home but no signal. Lovely. So I sat in the road for a little bit and then decided to get my bag out of the way. So I pulled it off the bike and got it onto the side of the road and the bike up. I figured I'd have to walk home at this point.

Fortunately a car came. I had gotten the bike up onto its kickstand. The guy stopped and made sure I was okay. I was kinda slumped behind the bike shaking a little. He helped me up and another car stopped to make sure I was okay. We got the bike into the ditch and the other guy dragged the deer out of the road. Then the first one gave me a lift home.

I lost my cell phone at some point as well. We went looking for it but I may have left it in the guys car. We went back to the bike and Tim managed to get it started and ride it home. It ran okay after we finally got it in gear.

I took some photos but I'll see more in the daylight. The front cowl is done, its shattered on both sides and the front. I know my left ball end thing is ground way down. The left light is shattered to bits, the right one is hanging off. We're emailing our insurance agent right now. Tim doesn't think it will be that much to fix it just the fairing, I'm mildly worried they will total it. We're going to get it to the shop and get an estimate tomorrow. I know my left exhaust went dragging for quite a while and looks rather ground down. Something was leaking out onto the road as well.

As for me and my gear. I was wearing full gear. My left knee in my pants is totally ripped out. Over the knee pad it wore through my jeans as well but my knee just has a big bruise. My left hip is worn away as well. There is another rip above the knee a bit to the inside of the pants. My left glove's armor is all shattered. My left knuckle is swelling but feels fine. There is a huge scrape on the back of my helmet. My left arm wore through (mesh) and as I rolled the part not protected by the armor hit the road and rashed a tiny bit. I probably rolled a half dozen or more times. Actually much more because the ditch stopped me. I haven't figured how far away I was yet but I think around 50+ feet from the deer. The bike was another 20-30 feet past me. It was a downhill so we just slid and slid down the road. The toes of both boots took some damage as well.

I called work and told them I wouldn't be in. My supervisor was worried but okay. Right now I'm starting to stiffen and get sore a bit. I feel really crummy and keep apologizing to my other half. I can't believe I lost my phone. I think it fell out in the dudes car.

I need new gloves and pants. I have another jacket and another helmet and my boots are wearable. It was my wonderful new shark hemet. I want to replace it asap.

[-Holiday]

glad to hear you're ok. not to be morbid but i'd love to see pics of how the gear faired. sounds like not that well, but i guess it did its job since you dont seem that hurt.

[mgdavis]

Wow. I'm glad you're ok. That sure is justification for All The Gear, All The Time. Good luck with the bike.

[IcyHound]

The gear is one use. I was wearing mesh.

[jstark47]

Sorry to hear this. Sounds like you'll be OK after the bumps and bruises heal. Like davis said, you are a living advertisement for ATGATT. Deer are a damned nuisance, central NJ is full of them, and I'm surprised I've never hit one with the car or bike. Hopefully it will be the car when it happens.

If they total the bike, maybe you can get a Ninja 650?

[IcyHound]

I have daylight photos of the bike and of the road and etc so I decided to do an updated post.

I took shots of the road and where I ended up and where the bike ended up. It looks like the tire skidded on the ground. I was already dismounted at that point.

The best part is insurance is covering all but 100 dollars. Its considered a collision with an animal! Yay! They are only reimbursing me for my helmet. The shop will do the estimate then the adjuster comes and checks behind it and then they decide what to do. I'll know more details next week. We're out of town tomorrow until Friday (I'll be posting in my regular blog since we will be in vegas).

I made sure to explain to him that I was hit by the deer. I had to leave my helmet with the bike. The adjuster will take it and destroy it. I also printed out the pictures so they have a copy of them from my house. Also, the chunk of deer is still in the bike. Plus the shop can vouch that on Tuesday the bike was fine. I had an oil change there, sigh.

Tim rode it to the shop. He thought it felt fine but one never knows. The radiator is dented on the side below the tuft of hair. The deer was also gone when we passed by this morning and I stopped to take the pictures.

The Impact Site. The first photo is from where I think the deer hit me. There is shattered bits of blinker there. The dark spot is the deer spot. I stopped around the first tree shadow or the bike did. I stopped about 3/4 of the way between the two in the ditch on the other side of the road. The second Photo is looking up hill from where the bike came to a stop. That turn is not as close as it appears and its not a sharp turn. You can see the light gouges on the road from where the exhaust slid and ground down.





The bikes damage thats visable to me. I noticed that the right side rear fairing was kinda popped out a bit. The deer rolled down the entire right side. Tim looked at it last night and said it was gouged down its entire side. The right side pipe is also scuffed.



















And my gear

[choccy]

Luckily we also have insurance on the phone too. It's costing $50 to get a new one. Considering the full price of a replacement ($500, it's a Pocket PC/Phone) that's not too shabby.

[Skier]

I'm glad you're ok! Bike should be fixed up nicely. Keep us posted!

[lessdeth69]

I'm sorry to hear about your accident. I hope you decide to keep riding. I just found your excellent forum blogging today and it brought back memories of my similar BRC experience. I have a live video channel and you mentioned having trouble getting your bike on the center stand. The technique I've been using should work for anyone. It might be a moot point now if you end up replacing your bike but if not check out:http://www.livevideo.com/video/lessdeth ... r-oil.aspx

[Apollofrost]

Good to hear that you're ok.

Maybe I'm just weird but when I saw that tuft of hair sticking out of the crack in the fairing I had an urge to make a fishing lure out of it.

Keep on riding girl.