righthand side for any further hazards. Fighting to maintain an upright attitude, I could feel the lamb was trapped under my front wheel and it felt like I was riding with a flat tyre with the front wheel pitched heavily straight down. The steering became agonisingly slow, but thankfully the bike continued to track straight albeit in an aggressive sliding, not a rolling sort of way. All the while the rest of the bike was protesting below me like a bucking bronco. Suddenly, the front of the bike kicked up and now appeared to be reacting well to my steering inputs. Then the rear of the bike rose up off the tarmac slightly and I could feel my forward speed declining. It felt like an age before it dropped back down and, like a storm passing, a steady calm appeared, and the bike was now behaving normally again.
THE AFTERMATH I stole a quick look in my mirrors, having to turn my whole head to see in both my mirrors as my vision was still obstructed on the right-hand side. Coming to a stop I pulled over on the side of the road to inspect myself and my bike. This is also the same time some foul language was starting to be used. Off the bike and investigating the aftermath I found fairing damage, the righthand side indicator was gone, and a lot of the bike was dripping in blood and guts. Removing my helmet, I found the reason for my limited vision. It was caked in a foul-smelling layer of internals, thankfully none of it mine. Realising the bike wasn’ t suffering anything that deemed it unrideable, I turned and rode back to where it all unfolded to find the lamb I had hit and to potentially put it out of its misery. I will never forget the sight that greeted, laying in the middle of the road was a lamb cut in half and held together by a thin piece of wool. Realising it would be a hazard to other road users I undertook the ghastly job of removing the corpse and placing it off the roadside. At that time, I didn’ t notice any ear tags or markings of significance and realised if I was going to claim insurance etc I may need some photographic proof of location etc. Also lying on the road, I found some of my plastic and torn off indicator which I collected. Realising there was now little point in hanging around, I bid farewell to the remaining ewe and lamb who had wandered back to the scene.
SOME LESSONS On the ride to my accommodation, I was paranoidly aware of all the stock randomly walking around, clearly the farmer had no idea of building or maintaining his fences to secure his stock. Later that night, I got to talking to a local and they told me“ Yeah, their stock is always on the road”. I asked around and was given the name of the farmer who probably owned the lamb I struck, who wanted to distance themselves from a claim and reported that because I didn’ t have an ear tag number or photo with firm identification, they wouldn’ t admit liability when my insurer approached them. I remember holding its head and not seeing a tag of any description. So, I wonder what would have happened if I had been seriously hurt or killed, what then is a life worth? Most landowners have good fencing along their roadsides but sadly some don’ t recognise the privilege of owning land in such a beautiful country and realise their responsibilities that come with it. I have come away from the whole experience with negative feelings regarding the cost involved for me and dealing with the farmer, but I’ m more acutely aware of looking along the roadside as I ride. People ask me now how I didn’ t crash. I think that there are a couple of a things that were on my side. Firstly, my speed, it reduced the impact and gave me time to react. Next would be my fitness and that I ride any one of my motorcycles weekly, all thru the year and I often ride big distances making me‘ bike fit’. I ride on the road as well as off road, giving me a broad range of skills. I have completed the Silver and Gold Ride Forever courses and track-specific training like the California Superbike school. I think a combination of all these factors have conditioned my brain and probably wired it to give me that little bit more‘ luck’. How do you think you would have fared in this situation with your current riding practices?
66 KIWI RIDER