Home > Other Fun Stuff > Uncategorized

Must Watch: Cyclist Gets Surprise Encounter with a Deer at 30 MPH

31 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

As if worrying about the cars on the road wasn’t enough, after watching this video it seems the wildlife is out to get us too. While cruising down the road in Sausalito, CA, this rider was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when Bambi decided to spring out onto the road. Fortunately, the rider came away fairly unscathed. Hopefully, Santa isn’t missing  any members of his team…

Fly6 video of a surprise crash on Alexander Ave heading towards Sausalito, CA. Although I don’t remember it, I landed on my back, and hit the back of my Giro helmet, which probably saved me from serious brain injury. Although I had a mild concussion with a bit of memory loss around the event, I am very grateful to have escaped feeling only a little banged up. I cannot speak to the deer’s injuries. Also, thank you very much to the folks who stopped to help.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

31 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
jim
jim
9 years ago

Did the stem break?

Kyle
Kyle
9 years ago

Did your fork break / come off?

Gunnstein
Gunnstein
9 years ago

Ouch. I guess a 50 kg deer does dissipate your speed quite a bit. Time to GMO the beasts to look left and right before crossing!

Collin
Collin
9 years ago

Kyle, I was wondering the same thing. I’ve seen handlebars get twisted or bent, but never have I seen the stem actually come off the steer tube. It looks as if there is nothing in the stem. You would think if it was a broken steer tube, you’d see a broken tube in the stem.

JBikes
JBikes
9 years ago

Collin,
I’m assuming the steerer broke, and broke severely. Enough that if relieved the compression stress under the stem and allowed the pieces of steerer to fall or slip out. A simple crack in a AL steerer will do that, same with a CF steerer.

Jeff
Jeff
9 years ago

looks like the just stem came off, if you freeze it and blow it up you can see daylight where a steerer tube would be. At least thats what it looks like to me.

R.
R.
9 years ago

If you go slow-mo/freeze frame around 27 seconds, it almost looks like something shattered and is in the air… maybe the carbon of the steerer tube? That would have to be a massive impact.

Alex
Alex
9 years ago

Don´t want my steerer to seperate like that!
And poor dear! Heard it cry?

Ilikeicedtea
Ilikeicedtea
9 years ago

F that guy. What about the stem!

COrider
COrider
9 years ago

Hope the deer is okay.

Rico
Rico
9 years ago

Lol guys come on, if the stem stayed on it’s no big deal.

Rico
Rico
9 years ago

Also bravo to the human body, it’s crazy how bikes explode and guys can walk away mostly unhurt. Slamming so hard you make that sigh noise is the worst.

BudhaSlug
BudhaSlug
9 years ago

I was hit by a deer once in Santa Cruz going about 25mph. Different than this… This guy hit a deer, in my case, the deer sideswiped me directly into the back half of my front wheel. I flew about 5 feet up into the air as the bike endoed and hit the paved bike trail (UCSC) in a series of about 5 shoulder rolls before coming to a stop. Saw the deer get up and run off while I was upside down during the second or third roll. My bike ended up in the dirt, and was mostly undamaged. I was fortunate that it was a cold day, so I had windproof gloves on and a fleece. The gloves lost their pinky side and the fleece was gone from elbow to shoulder. Other than some skin damage to my knees and a ton of bruising, I was okay. Never even touched my helmet to the ground. Seeing this, I’m thankful that the deer wasn’t 1/4 seconds earlier, or I’d have been much worse off.

AndyPandy
AndyPandy
9 years ago

Hope he ate the deer afterwards.

ALAN
ALAN
9 years ago

did he have a bell installed? wild.

Tim
Tim
9 years ago

i flushed out a deer while descending Tuna Canyon in Malibu. He jumped out in front of me at a point where there is a rock wall to the right and a cliff to the left. I hit the brakes hard, lifting the rear wheel a foot off the ground. My front wheel was between his rear legs as he boing boing boinged down the road for a few hops, then bolted straight up the canyon wall. He was a huge buck. My face was over his back and I thought I was going to face plant into his rack.

Somehow, I didn’t crash. I had to stop by the side of the road for a few minutes before I could go on. Needless to say, that spooked me on that descent, and to this day, I make a lot of noise coming around the turn right before where I saw him.

Tuna Canyon is dangerous enough without the deer.

ultraclyde
ultraclyde
9 years ago

Same thing happened to a friend of mine on the Woody gap descent in North Georgia several years ago during the annual Six Gap Century ride. He was running over 40mph and managed to miss the actual deer but lost both tires to locked brakes and laid the bike down. After grinding off one one ass cheek he grabbed the guardrail to keep from sliding off the side of the mountain. Cost him a nice carbon Madone frame. I’ve nearly hit deer at speed on the mountain trails in the area too. I like venison, but still running is a bit rare for my taste.

Kev
Kev
9 years ago

This happened to me – but with a 100kg kangaroo in July this year. Had flashbacks when I saw this one. Especially the groan the rider lets out straight afterwards. I was on my back for two months… I hope this guy fared better.

Dave
Dave
9 years ago

i did something very similar on a motorcycle during the summer of 2013. The extra mass of my bike helped a lot. I made it through the impact without falling, thanks to the added 450 pounds under me. Those deer don’t give much warning!

nunyab
nunyab
9 years ago

(deleted)

quickgeezer
quickgeezer
9 years ago

And this one’s about me: I’ve been on that road — used to live in San Francisco. Now I live in Madison, Wisconsin, and out in the country west of town I’ve had a deer run along with me for 15–20 seconds, but I’ve never had one jump out in front of me. That groan a few seconds after the rider hit the pavement is a good sign, I guess; glad he was mostly okay, and I hope the deer was alright, too. A hit in the hindquarters might not’ve injured it.

joby
joby
9 years ago

I’m usually doing around 30+mph in that same spot on my daily commute…now this in the dark for bonus danger points? Those deer are such a nuisance in southern Marin.

pilf
pilf
9 years ago

Early in the YouTube comments, before it exploded, the poster of the video said that the stem broke on the side opposite the end that lands at the camera, and that they bike didn’t suffer much visible damage (not that he was going to ride it again).

AlanM
AlanM
9 years ago

@nunyab, it’s called a conversation. An interaction between people where they share thoughts and experiences. It’s actually fun. Try it.

JBikes
JBikes
9 years ago

Seems the solution is to ride a deer instead of a bike. Just think of the fatbike riders faces as they trudge up a trail and you shortcut up a snow covered 30 deg. embankment yelling away like some wild caveman. Strava that.

Mike
Mike
9 years ago

I prefer riding kangaroos.

nathan
nathan
9 years ago

AlanM: You win the internet for the day!

James
James
9 years ago

That’s the deer moaning, not the rider.

Saul Goodman
Saul Goodman
9 years ago

Hi, I’m a lawyer, you might have seen me on a TV show. If you need representation, let me know. We can sue…Sausalito…the bike company…the deer…the people who helped you…the guardrail company…the stem company…and, ultimately, we will sue GoPro.

Call Saul.

Ace
Ace
9 years ago

I wonder if a deer whistle for a car would help on a bicycle??

Ren
Ren
9 years ago

According to the reddit post I saw this on, the guy was knocked unconscious briefly. His stem flew off his steerer tube, but there didn’t look like there was any damage to it. Of course there was only one picture of the damage. But I suspect it is a case of someone not torquing their compression plug and stem pinch bolts.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.