Update on Barton

[John D]

Hi all...As some you will have heard, there was a crash during this morning's C ride. As we were pace-lining past the Ross Bay cemetery at about 40km/h a deer crossed the road - we successfully avoided that one but a few seconds later a small fawn jumped out of the bushes and right into our path. After caroming off the lead rider, the deer appeared to get tangled up with Barton, who was riding second wheel, and he went over his bars and landed hard. Fortunately his helmet did its job.

A few medical types who happened to be running by stopped to help out until an ambulance arrived and took Barton off to Royal Jubilee. Greg Miller kindly rode Barton's (unscratched) bike home for us. Michaella and I stopped by Emergency after the ride and spoke to Barton's wife, Shannon. She told us that there were no broken bones, and no apparent concussion. His neck was pretty sore, however, and so he was getting some x-rays to check that out.

As he was being loaded into the ambulance Barton quipped "I don't think I'll be out for hills tomorrow."

John

[katew]

So glad for this good news (the no broken bones part). Thanks for the update, John.

[Alan]

Glad to hear you're not too badly hurt. My wife was one of the joggers who stopped to help before the ambulance arrived. She assumed that Tripleshot was rife with doctors so thought there wasn't much she could do, but I don't think there was a doc in your group this morning. Sounds like the ambulance was very quick to respond.

As for the cause of the crash, when the long-awaited deer cull begins and venison starts appearing on the local menu where it rightfully belongs, I for one am eagerly looking forward to a plateful of these urban pests!

"I'll have a Bambi Burger and a side order of Racoon Ragout!"

Alan (dreaming of le roast peacock a l'orange)

[Rolf]

I really hope your neck etc. is okay, Barton.

I'm forwarding this tale to Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen who's a colleague and whose council has recently taken a courageous leadership role in addressing the urban deer density problem. If anyone else has any cyclist-deer collision stories to share, PM me please.

[barton bourassa]

Thank you to all you wonderful people for taking such good care of me this morning. The neck was the thing I was most concerned about, as was my wife. Turns out the neck is fine but my left hand is broken. I'll be back at the hospital on thursday when they will open the hand, put the bones back in place, add a few pins for good measure then send mo on my way.

I guess my plan to ride Hurricane ridge this Friday is out! Oh well, next week was supposed to be a rest week anyway!

Thank you very much for the wonderful roadside care and good thoughts!

Barton.

[mfarnham]

Deer wrestling should put you in contention for "most combative rider"!

Hang in there.
Martin

[FairweatherMike]

Glad to hear that your neck is OK, Barton - frankly I kind of expected that outcome since you're one tough rider! Sorry about the hand, though, and the most painful part of it all - the enforced time off the bike...but we'll be looking for you August 18 on Hurricane Ridge!

I second Alan's motion toward a deer cull. The only thing that has delayed this decision, which shouldn't be all that tough, is the Bambi PR factor. It shouldn't require a cyclist fatality to get some policy on these urbanized, definitely-not-endangered species. The novelty of seeing a small herd of them in our back yard has definitely worn off -

[David Hill]

Glad to hear you're going to be back on the bike before long, Barton! Gosh, if it's not one thing it's another!

We certainly have had our share of near-deer incidents, including a pair that appeared to be hunting cyclists "Jurassic Park" style in Uplands today (one large one distracting us on one side of the road, while the other snuck up to pounce from the right). I nearly collided with a young one on the way to the ride this morning on Richardson (lurking cleverly to my right as I looked left at the corner).

My freezer has lots of space, and a side of rump roasts and Bambi sausage will fit in nicely. I suggest we call BC Environment to encourage a Limited Entry Hunt in the Fairfield / Rockland area...limited to All You Can Eat.

Get better, Barton...

[Mark C]

Hi Barton, So glad to hear you are ok apart from your hand that is, take care and we will see you soon.

Cheers Mark

[Fozzy]

Wishing you a speedy recovery!!!

Neil

[Quentin]

Get well soon Barton!!

For those of you who are thinking of writing your local political representation, it couldn't hurt to cc deermanagement@crd.bc.ca. I'm sure the deer management team over at the CRD would love to hear these stories.

For those that are interested in the CRD's current deer management plan, check out this site:
http://www.crd.bc.ca/regionalplanning/deermanage.htm

Also, FYI, Oak Bay councillors have voted in favour of the deer cull:
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local ... l-1.334127

Quentin.

[stevierooks]

Sorry you got 'Fawned' (and we've created a new term)

I was really glad to here that your sweet bike is unscratched!

Let me know if you need a hand with anything. That's not just a pun, but a real offer

Rooks

[katew]

Thoughts from all of this:

Barton is tough as nails. I haven't often seen someone in that much pain.

Physicians materialize from the ether when needed. Amazing. A med student, a doc, and a nurse within minutes. Unfortunately, none of our TS docs appeared until all the fun was over, but it's all right anyway. Barton did not have Dengue Fever.

And, yet: There he was, fading in and out of consciousness. Miraculously Materialized Doctor #2 comes over, starts to check pulse. Barton hauls himself out of the black chasm, points to other wrist. "HRM is over there."

EMT arrives. All the questions over again, and then: "How fast were you going?" Barton comes to again, grins, trys to reference GPS. "Michaella was flying. We had to be doing 42.5."

Barton's parting shot to me as they rolled him away: "My wife is going to take my bike away." "See you at the pool," I replied.

That fawn must be badly injured. It was completely tangled in Michaella's bike (uncanny handling on her part) before Barton hit. I hope it doesn't linger in pain for too long before it recovers or someone finds and dispatches it.

I have no idea how Michaella's and Barton's bikes survived that unscathed except for a shocking quantity of fur in Michaella's drivetrain. If someone finds that fawn, it will have new markings in addition to its cute little spots and I bet an expert can discern that M was pushing 53 x 14.

There were an insane number of deer today. I wonder how much of it was that dawn is moving later and later and we are riding through their breakfast, but the whole episode was scary. There was exactly nothing we could have done to prevent that accident apart from not riding. I'm worried.

[Joe B]

I'm so relieved to hear you're back up and on the road to recovery Barton! Keep up the courage.
Joe B

[JohnT]

Sorry to hear about the crash Barton. I am sure you'll heal fast - again.

JT

[Jimmy49]

Barton,
Sorry to hear and pretty sure you'll be back sooner than most would be...

Now, gotta ask, Bus or Fawn?

[Paula]

Barton, damn it. Sorry for your unfortunate incident!

I'm glad your neck and head are okay.
A hand is pretty critical, I hope they fix it right the first time (talk to Dolly!).

Greg M and I were talking about it on the Farm Team ride today and what we can do (prior to the cull) since deer seem to be our biggest hazard these days. As Greg (a street safety expert guy) suggested, staying far to the right might not be the best option. This is especially true in areas with tall grass etc. We should stay more to the centre line so we have a bit of a chance of seeing what pounces out of the bushes, and the people on the back need to call our 'car' and then we move right, but only when necessary. It might not have made any difference for Barton... but it could help prevent accidents in the future...

Sounds like the time for a new thread.

[SteveW]

I'm not a TS member yet but I see you guys all the time with a couple buddies of mine.

From one cyclist to another, thought I should jump in wish you a speedy recovery and glad to hear you're okay!

[katew]

^

"Yet."

Although I think we have enough Steves that you'd best start working on an alternative before that first, "Anybody new?" in the Pareto parking lot. That idiotic Solstice Century was a four-Dave ride, and that's quite enough of that nonsense.

[norman marcy]

" It shouldn't require a cyclist fatality to get some policy on these urbanized, definitely-not-endangered species. "

This has already happened in that oft deer infested area along the Lochside Trail going toward Matticks Farm.

The poor fellow was coming off of Claremont Ridge area and whacked a deer on the way down. Spinal and other injuries were quick and fatal on scene. I have not been able to find the report from the TC on the accident.

However the link below does have one entry at least talking about deer cyclist death,
http://www.crd.bc.ca/regionalplanning/d ... ssions.pdf

The link above is some of the letters gathered over the past couple of years