Dress for the Slide, not the Ride…..

by Greg Lynd

Editors Note: 

Greg met one of NW Florida's Bambi's. Many times the deer and motorbike rider suffers injury and/or death. Fortunately Greg walked away sore as hell but okay. Greg has done a terrific write-up and we are lucky to share it. Greg has some great points to say about equipment and what saved Greg's hide

How many times have you heard that saying? Like me, probably enough to where you roll your eyes when you hear it. Here is my story.

On a beautiful Tuesday morning, we left Good Thing Donuts to ride to Nowhere, Alabama. I was just looking to put some miles on the bike before its upcoming service appointment, and to enjoy Fall coming to Florida.

Fifty-some miles later, that all changed. I was the trail bike of five. We were on a great back-country road called Old River Road. Just came out of some nice curves and enjoying the cool temps. All the sudden, a flash of brown crosses my vision. My brain screamed DEER, felt a shudder as it hit the fairing and windshield, and next thing I know I’m sliding along the ground on my right side. I come to rest on my back, I look to my right and the bike is in the trees. I look left, and the deer is trying to stand up and looking at me. The thought crosses my mind that I hope he doesn’t charge me, because I don’t think I can get out of the way. His front leg is broken, he falls and doesn’t move anymore.

I call everyone on Mesh to let them know I hit a deer, but by this time they are out of range. I lay on my back and starting at my toes try to see if I feel any pain. I get all the way to my head and neck and don’t feel any problems. So, I get up and go check on the deer and start taking pictures. About that time, riders were showing up to see what happened to me.

I still have my helmet on walking along taking pictures. Music is still playing on the speakers, and the bike is standing in the trees almost like it is still moving along the road. About this time, I noticed my modular had flipped open but stayed on my head, so I take it off and check it out. Not a scratch but has some deer hair lodged in the chin bar. So now I start trying to recreate what happened after someone mentions it looks like the bike flipped.

My mind has gone over this a hundred times in the last few days. As near as I can remember the deer comes from my left side and I think was trying to jump the bike. He hits and rolls over the windshield and since he came from the left, I am knocked off the right side of the bike. As the deer is rolling over the bike, he must have hit my knee, because I have pain on the knee cap, left side of the knee, and left side of the thigh. As I am sliding along the ground on my right side, I think to myself that I’m glad I have my jeans on that have hip and knee armor. (Funny what you think about in an accident). I also have a jacket on that has shoulder and elbow armor. More on this later….

I slide about ten meters.  The bike is another ten meters on my right, the deer is about five meters on my left. As near as I can tell, as soon as the deer hit me and I fell off, all this sliding was in the dirt on the side of the road. There is a huge divot in the dirt where it appears the bike dug in and flipped. I didn’t think at first the the bike flipped, but when I opened the top case everything was upside down. I thank God that the deer knocked me off the bike before it flipped, or my injuries would be much worse.

My injuries:  I have a scraped knuckle, a scratch on my right arm, my left knee hurts, the top of my right foot hurts, and my right shoulder and shoulder blade hurt. But NOTHING is broken. I started wearing motorcycle-specific jeans about two years ago after seeing how little protection you get from regular jeans. This particular pair is rated AA and has level one ghost armor in the knees and hips. My jacket also has ghost armor in the shoulders and elbows. And I had a modular helmet, full fingered gloves and boots on. I walked away from this with no serious injury and a couple scratches. I am incredibly blessed and lucky!

My wife wanted me to go to the ER to get checked out. I grudgingly went, but I’m glad I did. They took some X-rays and determined that I was okay. I’m glad I didn’t have to take a helicopter ride to the hospital!

Bottom line, I am glad I had all my gear on. Without it, this would be an entirely different story!  Also, I was riding with a great group of friends who also happen to be very good riders. Luckily, we spent the morning in the shade on a back country road instead of waiting on Life Flight. Everyone had water, and the locals were incredibly friendly. One rider left to get his trailer, we took the bike to Pensacola and had Bar-B-Q for lunch instead of sausage in Alabama.

I still see a flash of Brown crossing my vision when I lay down at night. My mind goes over this time and again. What would I do different?  That’s hard to say.  I had no time to react, I was watching for animals while we were riding (I had already noticed some dogs). The deer came out of nowhere. I will definitely be more vigilant next time I’m on a bike, whenever that will be. I thank the Lord above that my injuries were not as serious as they could have been.

Greg Lynd