Possum or rabbit in the face

[surfchick]

I was coming back from wellsford tonight after dark and some running animal bolted accross the road waaaay to late... well, whatever happened I hit it and it bounced up the fairing and into onto my helmet... it was all over really fast. I was stressing that bits of it were goooed to me and the bike...but has that happened anyone before - I mean how on earth did I "scoop" this ground lubbing creature over my head? it was a pretty surreal moment, I got an uber fright... (not to mention the poor fulfffy )

[unclfkgbully]

I was coming back from wellsford tonight after dark and some running animal bolted accross the road waaaay to late... well, whatever happened I hit it and it bounced up the fairing and into onto my helmet... it was all over really fast. I was stressing that bits of it were goooed to me and the bike...but has that happened anyone before - I mean how on earth did I "scoop" this ground lubbing creature over my head? it was a pretty surreal moment, I got an uber fright... (not to mention the poor fulfffy )

furr or feathers?? Main thing wadda bout the bike?? is ok?

[speeding_ant]

Ha! Ive had that happen to me also.. It was a possum. Full fairing bike, just popped right up and smacked me in the head (at night). Going around 110km/h. Bloody well nearly knocked me off my bike too At least nothing bad happened to you.. Bike/Gear OK?

[T.W.R]

Never had it happen to me, but have had a few furry speed-bumps and a Magpie that got diced by my front wheel and left all it's entrails to cook on my motor

A mate many years ago had a possum fall out of a tree on to his bike as he rounding a bend on the road between Murchison & Nelson, Had no idea what had hit him & smashed half his fairing screen until he found the possum lying in the verge with a piece of fairing sticking out of it's gut

[Waylander]

Heavier bike helps. Small animals and birds just turn to red mist when they hit my bike.

large dogs cattle and deer (ye I've seen free roaming deer near the roads around Taupo) are another matter though. My dad has a story he tells of riding with my mom on the back of his old Goldwing when he hit a buck. Somehow he stayed upright and my mom stayed onboard aswell, but the impact had broken his foot and the deers antlers put a hole in the radiator.

Damn deer just got up and ran off. Tough bastards.

[Oakie]

It may have been a hare. Apparantly they can jump upwards if startled like that.
A guy I used to work with told a story of a three foot tall hare that he hit in his car. It just materialised in front of him one night at with it's head above the bonnet of his car so he assumed it was three foot tall (and we assumed he had been smoking funny cigarettes). We learned later that they have this habit of jumping upwards so......

[Black Bandit]

Not an opossum, they don't live here.

Opossum vs Possum

[pritch]

You should treat yourself to a Lotto ticket.
Small animals can cause accidents that kill people.
(That's empirical not hypothetical.)

You were very lucky, not to mention skillful of course

[u4ea]

very fortunate surfchik! glad ya handled yourself well in that situation.closest i've come is having to move my head to dodge birds..hope ya got all the yukky gunge cleaned off your bike and gear...ewwwwwww sounds messy!!!!

[Pixie]

Not an opossum, they don't live here.

Opossum vs Possum

So who won?

[surfchick]

Ha! Ive had that happen to me also.. It was a possum. Full fairing bike, just popped right up and smacked me in the head (at night). Going around 110km/h. Bloody well nearly knocked me off my bike too At least nothing bad happened to you.. Bike/Gear OK?

OMG that's exactly what happened about 110 in a whole pile of those corners just south of wellsford...and out popped the fluffy- but i was stunned that it could flip up the faring and onto my helmet- the bike was sweet as it has big stainless grills over all the intakes...

[surfchick]

Not an opossum, they don't live here.

Opossum vs Possum

oh my the opossum is an unpleasant variant on the possum. i pick possum

[surfchick]

You should treat yourself to a Lotto ticket.
Small animals can cause accidents that kill people.
(That's empirical not hypothetical.)

You were very lucky, not to mention skillful of course

i wonder if you can get fur encrusted lotto tickets... i want to win a fluffy million

[speeding_ant]

OMG that's exactly what happened about 110 in a whole pile of those corners just south of wellsford...and out popped the fluffy- but i was stunned that it could flip up the faring and onto my helmet- the bike was sweet as it has big stainless grills over all the intakes...

Little bastards are out to get us!! Thankfully the situation didn't evolve into something worse.. I just grabbed onto my bars like all hell and held on. It was quite an impact!! Cracked my visor as well.. My screen mounts got bent out of shape.. It was (from what I could see from the remains) definitely a possum.

[Oakie]

Nearly got a Monarch butterfly in the face yesterday. Was fluttering all over the place as they do and I had to duck my head at the last moment as took a bee-line (butterfly-line?) for my nose. Would have stung a bit I guess.