[Ducati] [ndc] Was RE: dog, now cat + MotoGP

[Peter Bonner]

Oh Deer.....

Well John,

you remember that beautiful yellow Monster S4 that I had on our last Hill
Country Ride  (not related to the Hill House rides .. which are in CA). Well
as you know, the Monster took a hit and now needs some dough, because of the
doe. As you know, it was not me that managed the feat, rather one of my
stalwart sons. He now complains about the fact that despite getting a nice
ride in the helicopter (only $11k) on his way to the hospital, he doesn't
remember a thing about the flight :-(

It was a puzzle, when I returned and found him on the ground etc, but once
he was looked after, the cop and I went thru the scene (Have you guys been
drinkng ...the crash was on a straight section of road) and finally the cop
found the dead doe on the side of the road, we checked the front fork and
found lots of deer hair.... suspicions confirmed. Case closed. (We never did
find that deer up by Kerrville though John)  However it seems years ago, the
same son had crashed his Mom's car "while avoiding a deer" but no deer was
found in that event. So of course we were all wild with joy that real
evidence existed. My old Aerostich jacket was a bit scraped, as was his
helmet history from the concussive knock on front (better than death!) and
the rain pants (Browning) were history but two ribs and a collarbone broken
along with concussion was his damage. The bike wasn't as lucky.

Meanwhile, between loving dad, uncle, and brothers, a number of solicitory
gifts were sent, including a plaque with deer antlers mounted on it that was
from a beer sign found on ebay that was sent by an uncle and a brother. I
managed to send off a brace of "deer whistles" plus found a card for his
Birthday (which was at the time too) that had a picture of a dead rat and
the writing "Bet you are wondering why you got a card with a picture of a
dead rat on it". Inside I crossed out the printed punchline and wrote
"Because I couldn't find one with a dead deer on it". And of course there
was the Family Circle cartoon with the family in a car going down the road
and a Deer Crossing sign, to which a little boy in the car says "Daddy, when
will the next deer be crossing?" All designed to instigate big belly laughs
with those broken ribs of course.

However my son got the best of it when he called in for work  His boss is a
good guy, into bikes, and knew that Marc had just purchased an exceptionally
clean 916 with less than 2k miles on it. As my son explained the incident,
there was a short silence on the other end, and then the boss asked if it
was the Ducati (916). The reply was that while it was a Ducati, it was not
his, to which the boss uttered a big sigh of relief :-)

One thing though, not having a gun meant I couldn't put the deer out of its
misery had it still been alive. But just the previous day, an unfortunate
doe got into a mess with our fence out in the country and apparently broke
both front legs. So I had reluctantly gotten my little Browning 22 automatic
rifle (which would be banned in Australia) and put a single slug into the
head and stopped the poor little doe's pain and misery. Was it just some
sort of retaliation on the road the very next day? Is there a vast right
deer-wing conspiracy at work? Just shows that the deer union is pretty
strong, so mind yourself with the dogs and cats too.

And summer session break doesn't mean no silly season, Roadracing world has
a front page on the issue that arrived today saying Spies to go to MotoGP,
but inside, I checked thru and couldn't find anything other than a mention
Spies wants to go, but has a contract for the Suzuki Cup (aka AMA) for next
year. Since Hophead is already signed to Cowasucki, there could be an
opening, but Capirossi might go in. Meanwhile Vermuelin is already thumping
his chest that he will be the senior rider and all that goes with it for
Suzuki next year (he signed his contract). Wonder if that will still be the
case if Capirossi goes with Suzuki, which is one of three offers, along Kaw
and Ducati. Then of course, Pedrosa has refused to sign (yet) with Honda
until they promise him a bike that can beat Rossi and Stoner. But perhaps
the funniest bit was a mention how in practice, Hayden had one of his bikes
blow the motor apart, right in front of all the big shots from HRC, who then
got to watch Randy Mamola and others sifting through the widely scattered
engine parts for souvenirs.

Special tidbit for Mark Hatten (and others from the native breeding ground
of NASCAR, the MotoGP of car racing). Perhaps the redoubtable Miss Vicki
meant way way South, like, you know, a little island continent. Remember,
both Hell and Australia are Downunder...........

Ok, I am now ready for my 15 minutes of Flame :-)

Peter




>>>>>Message: 13
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 12:10:44 -0500
From: "John Whiting" <jvwhiting at palomaresources.com>
Subject: RE: [Ducati] [ndc] Was RE: dog, now cat
To: "Ducati Owners Group" <ducati at ducati.net>
Message-ID:
<3CCBCE4868E1384DB9D5FEB66798EFB42036D7 at palomasbs1.PalomaResources.local>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I have grazed deer twice, and knocked a knee puck off mid apex on the rear
end of a dog that darted out....no reaction time.  Almost tore me off the
bike, but I rode on unscathed.  Squirrels can be dodgy too, as I have hit
them in straights and corners, but no animal/bike crossings that have
resulted in an off; just some close, semi-religious encounters.  The deer
are pretty intimidating and target fixation is prepared to rear it's ugly
head if you let it.  I have avoided them several times, but when you feel
the bump, have a couple of strands of fur hanging on your mirror and/or on
some bodywork fasteners, you know it was too close.

I had a buddy start a 600 mile ride by going twenty miles and catching a pig
with one cyl of his beemer twin, outside Terlingua, TX.  He showed up at my
place with pig crap all over the left leg of his aerostitch;  the pig had
spun from the impact and lost his load in the process, and left a 4" wide
racing stripe on the bike and rider.  When in the hill country, I avoid
riding after dark, as well as central texas around a full moon when the deer
are grazing about at night.

Good luck and be careful out there.

John