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take care on the rindos

andywood

Maximum Pace
Apr 8, 2008
3,462
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I had some sad news last week, a friend of mine died while out riding.



It appears she hit a "kamo shika" Japanese deer while descending a forest road.



I have had a few near misses myself. I used to say "more likely to be hit by a deer than a car" but never expected this to happen.



The last time I nearly hit one was this time last year. So I wonder if they are more active at this time of year. Also I usually see them early in the morning. Also I can go for months without seeing one, but if I see one, I tend to see two or three, which makes me think they are active at a certain time.



The place where she had the accident was relatively wide and a straight section. This can be dangerous, as you think you are safe from anything oncoming and let the speed out, but if something jumps out from the side...



I had a similar experience when driving over the pass from Gunma to Nikko several years ago. I noticed deer by the side of the road so was really careful going up and down the winding pass. But once the road straightened out at the bottom, I thought we would be fine. A deer appeared as if from nowhere. We were okay, but the car was a write off, which shows what the impact can be.



Anyway, just a heads up to be careful when coming down mountain roads.



Keep safe.



Andy


https://www.facebook.com/biketrainingandracinginjapan/
 
Horrible news @andywood. Sorry to hear about your friend. Thanks for sharing though as its great advice. We have to remember that just because there is tarmac doesn't mean we are in our environment. We are in theirs. There are many other wild things out there big and small that can cause a lot of damage.
 
Very sad news. Sorry to hear about this tragic accident.

Thanks for reminding us all of the dangers that many don't even think about. Deer and other wildlife are usually most active at dawn or dusk so I always take extra care when descending at those times. Deer are more likely to be roaming around at night also. During my "Everesting" and "High Rouleur " challenge, a spent a lot of time riding through dusk, night and dawn. I always shout at the top of my voice "HEY DEER" every few seconds. With my foghorn voice, it usually alerts the deer to my presence and gives them a little extra thinking time. I always descent slowly especially during those times and always think about wildlife over cars as being the number one danger. I've even roped others into screaming "Hey Deer". @saibot pretty much lost his voice on one ride due to this. It does work though, as on the same ride, we alerted a startled deer before seeing it around the corner. We were able to brake in time to miss it and watched it hurdle the barrier. Big bugger it was, too.
 
Very sad news. Sorry to hear about this tragic accident.

Thanks for reminding us all of the dangers that many don't even think about. Deer and other wildlife are usually most active at dawn or dusk so I always take extra care when descending at those times. Deer are more likely to be roaming around at night also. During my "Everesting" and "High Rouleur " challenge, a spent a lot of time riding through dusk, night and dawn. I always shout at the top of my voice "HEY DEER" every few seconds. With my foghorn voice, it usually alerts the deer to my presence and gives them a little extra thinking time. I always descent slowly especially during those times and always think about wildlife over cars as being the number one danger. I've even roped others into screaming "Hey Deer". @saibot pretty much lost his voice on one ride due to this. It does work though, as on the same ride, we alerted a startled deer before seeing it around the corner. We were able to brake in time to miss it and watched it hurdle the barrier. Big bugger it was, too.

lol that's funny you could say anything but "HEY DEER" is the phrase - well much more pc than what Id probably randomly choose to say to the deer..

Anyways that's right you've only got the silent efficientness (is that a word??) of disk brakes - I don't think the deer would hear me over the carbon rim whirring whining screeching and screaming
 
Very sad news. Sorry to hear about this tragic accident.

Thanks for reminding us all of the dangers that many don't even think about. Deer and other wildlife are usually most active at dawn or dusk so I always take extra care when descending at those times. Deer are more likely to be roaming around at night also. During my "Everesting" and "High Rouleur " challenge, a spent a lot of time riding through dusk, night and dawn. I always shout at the top of my voice "HEY DEER" every few seconds. With my foghorn voice, it usually alerts the deer to my presence and gives them a little extra thinking time. I always descent slowly especially during those times and always think about wildlife over cars as being the number one danger. I've even roped others into screaming "Hey Deer". @saibot pretty much lost his voice on one ride due to this. It does work though, as on the same ride, we alerted a startled deer before seeing it around the corner. We were able to brake in time to miss it and watched it hurdle the barrier. Big bugger it was, too.

Yes, I usually so a repeated call of "ya ho ya ho" which should also alert any people out picking sansai or taking pictures of autumn leaves etc.

Andy


https://www.facebook.com/biketrainingandracinginjapan/
 
Perhaps I should put my bear bell on my road bike then …
I did that when I did the Everesting as I didn't fancy shouting HEY DEER for about 10 hours. But I found it hardly made any noise. Perhaps the road was too smooth
 
Must be some money to be made for the person who invents a light-weight handlebar mounted battery powered noise maker contraption that makes a loud enough noise at set intervals to alert wildlife (or maybe one set to the proper megahertz that only deer and bear can hear). Perhaps it could have another setting when biking on paths with lots of pedestrians. Some kind of constant sound that gets attention without being obnoxious. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
 
To be honest, I haven't thought of that. Up until now it was on my mountain bike. Given that the natural habitat of a mountain bike is much rougher terrain, it made plenty of noise where it counted. But I was still a bit worried when going downhill, though …
 
the silent efficientness (is that a word??) of disk brakes
err, efficiency? ;)

sorry about your friend @andywood that's a horrible way to go. had an encounter with a medium size deer once in Toyama, descending a really narrow rindo. first thought it was a wild boar for a second. just stood there blinking, lucky I've had enough reaction time to slow down as it wouldn't have moved I'm sure
 
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