12-10-19, 07:37 AM
16 years ago I once ran over a badger...............................on my push bike.
I was getting married on the Saturday and on the Thursday before, my mate had asked if I fancied going out around Wye on our mountain bikes, a usual thing for us. The wife was concerned because she knew we messed about on these rides and there was a chance of coming off and getting injured, ok on a normal day, not good 2 before our wedding.
So, we went out that evening and behaved ourselves. It was dusk and we were on the road heading back towards the car, we were doing about 20 mph. I was about 300 yards from the car, I could see it when all of a sudden, with no warning a badger darted out of the hedgerow right in front of me. There wasn't any time to hit the brakes and I piled square into his/her midriff. The badger couldn't have timed his/her trip across the road any worse.
I went over the handle bars and luckily fell to the grass on the left rather than the road (which would have resulted in potential injuries that the wife wouldn't have been happy about).
I picked myself up to the sounds of my mate wetting himself with laughter (nice to have a mate who cares, eah? ha ha) and we went to look at the badger. It too picked itself up, we kept our distance while it shuffled back towards the woods.
Luckily the only damage to me was a big bruise up the inside of my leg. The bike didn't do so well. My front forks were bent, saddle all cut up, handle bars off to a random angle and one of the pedals somewhat squashed.
We commented at the time how terrible it could have been if the same thing had happened on a motorbike.
True story!
I was getting married on the Saturday and on the Thursday before, my mate had asked if I fancied going out around Wye on our mountain bikes, a usual thing for us. The wife was concerned because she knew we messed about on these rides and there was a chance of coming off and getting injured, ok on a normal day, not good 2 before our wedding.
So, we went out that evening and behaved ourselves. It was dusk and we were on the road heading back towards the car, we were doing about 20 mph. I was about 300 yards from the car, I could see it when all of a sudden, with no warning a badger darted out of the hedgerow right in front of me. There wasn't any time to hit the brakes and I piled square into his/her midriff. The badger couldn't have timed his/her trip across the road any worse.
I went over the handle bars and luckily fell to the grass on the left rather than the road (which would have resulted in potential injuries that the wife wouldn't have been happy about).
I picked myself up to the sounds of my mate wetting himself with laughter (nice to have a mate who cares, eah? ha ha) and we went to look at the badger. It too picked itself up, we kept our distance while it shuffled back towards the woods.
Luckily the only damage to me was a big bruise up the inside of my leg. The bike didn't do so well. My front forks were bent, saddle all cut up, handle bars off to a random angle and one of the pedals somewhat squashed.
We commented at the time how terrible it could have been if the same thing had happened on a motorbike.
True story!
Money doesn't buy happiness, but it buys beer, and that helps!