Most bike rider try to be careful on the road and watch out for potholes, cars and other things that can cause a crash. There are however hidden dangers that are hard to avoid. I'm talking about critters lurking by the side of the road waiting to attack.
Today instead of doing the All Paces ride I headed to Califon because I had to be in Long Valley in the afternoon. I was lucky to have Ron join me to I won't have to ride alone. We rode from Raritan Valley College and headed through some back road toward one of my favorite climbs Rockaway Road.
The back roads in this area are very rural and empty of traffic which makes them nice to ride but there are also a lot of deer in the area. I saw one on the right side of the road about 5 feet ahead of me. I yelled out "Deer" to let Ron know to watch out. The deer then took off and ran across the road towards me. I moved to the left to try and avoid the deer and then it turned and started to run along side of me. We were shoulder to shoulder for a few seconds then the deer looked back over at me and got ever more spooked. Its feet started moved so fast that it slipped and fell on its side with it feet pointing towards me. I ran over the back feet of the deer with my rear tire. Luckily I didn't hurt the deer and didn't loose my balance because the deer got up and ran back in to the woods right in front of Ron. It was all over in a few seconds but it was an intense few seconds.
The rest of the ride was uneventful. It was a beautiful day and the views were some the clearest I have seen. But no matter how much I wanted to enjoy the view I made sure I kept scanning the woods because you never know what is waiting for you behind the next tree...
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