Turkey Attacks Bike, A Conspiracy Brews

Turkey’s are taking over the world, according to yesterday’s article in USA Today.  It’s foul!  With wild turkey populations on the rise and the hot gobbling love of Turkey mating season upon us, they’re breaking into bakeries in Nebraska, suicide bombing semi-trucks in Tennessee and now have taken up drumsticks against cyclists in Ohio.   While it remains to be proven that Turkey’s have a carbon fiber fetish or that this Turkey outburst against cyclists could be a thanksgiving related conspiracy in retaliation for traditional Thanksgiving beatdown epic rides followed by eating lots and lots of turkey, the occupants of the car in the photo are thankful to have survived the flap.  While it may not make the TV drama, “I Survived,” the guy who recently bought my old kick-ass Jamis Xenith Pro and Best Bike Blog Ever fan, DF, had a face to feather encounter with Wild Tammy Turkey in Eastern Ohio.  In, more or less his words, here’s DF’s story on how the Turkey became his new water bottle and how a 16 pound bike became a 36 pound delicacy.

Dateline: Athens, OH

So, my wife and I were en route to Athens, OH on route 32. The turkey was sitting in the median and decided to take off at a very bad time/direction. I saw it pass over head and then heard the very unsettling crash. It was basically the same sound you hear when you run a bike into a parking garage.  Which I've done…too.

There was a car in the right lane that I had just passed.  II bet they’re at home telling some sort of interesting story right now.  It took me about a quarter mile to pull over off the highway and this is the sight (photo) that greeted me when I got out of the car.

The Jamis is my bike.  As you can see it was basically covered in blood, guts, and feathers.  You can see some of the entrails hanging off of the back wheel. The turkey's heart came out and ended up resting on my window wiper on the back window.   (Collective: EWWWWW)  I'd imagine the poor girl never knew what hit her.

The front crossbar on the roof rack was pushed back about six inches on the right side. The bike rack holding my poor Jamis is trashed, although it held up well enough to get the bike home after the application of some bungee cords. The rack holding my wife's bike was bent due to the movement of the front crossbar, but seems to be functional. Her bike escaped fine, other than being covered in the left over turkey remains.  (Collective: EWWWWWW)

Currently, my bike is up at BioWheels Bike Shop. As of now, it looks like the main damage is to the fork. One of the dropouts is bent. The bar and stem seem to be okay, other than just being whacked out of position. The verdict is still out on the frame, so we'll have to see how that turns out.

Only three days later, DF saw the article in USA today and realized, “Clearly I'm the victim of some greater turkey-related conspiracy.”  I agree DF.  I smell a conspiracy too…a juicy 12 pound cranberry and gravy covered conspiracy.

Of course, immediately after the photo was posted on Facebook, the caption contest began.  Here’s the large photo followed by some favorite captions:

BC: The New Shimano Flight Deck

JM: That’s Foul

CA: Who Wants a Drumstick

WF: Hey Honey, Got KFC for Dinner!

CM: What Do You Mean This Isn’t Under Warranty?

RT: Is That UCI Legal?

DR: I Think You Need A New Water Bottle

RA: And You Were Worried You Might Forget About The Bikes And Pull Into The Garage

MH: Got Taken Out On The Road By Some Turkey

SM: Anybody Ever See a Turkey Hump a Bike? 

KC: One Shot Of Wild Turkey Coming Up

CM: I Was Just Riding Along

CB: Where’s the Stuffing?

MS: Gu Just Wasn’t Giving Me The Boost I Needed

AB: When Turkeys Attack!

TBBBE: I Told You, You’d be able to drop all the turkeys if you bought my bike.

Facebook Friday: How Do You Prevent Yourself From Smashing The Bikes On Your Car Roofrack Into Your Garage Door

Yakima used to make a device called a “Load Alert.”  It’s an ingenious little device that sticks to your car's hood with a magnet.  It’s a spring loaded sign, that only pops up when your car goes under about 25mph.  Over 25, the presure from the wind holds it flat to the hood.  I have one.  It work great as long as you're not so hungry you pull into McDonalds drive-thru at 30mph.  Unfortantely we have two cars with bike racks. 

Another solution I read was to put your garbage cans in the front of the garage spot when you pull out.  That way you have to stop and move them before you pull in.  Brilliant.  And, if it still fails, you can just toss your rack and bike in the convenietly located garbage cans.

My wife nearly decapitated her Indy Fab this past week.  I saw it all unfold.  From the thrid floor, I heard the garage door open.  Being a good hubby, I started down the stairs to help her out.  As I got to the 2^nd floor, her car was already in the driveway and still rolling forward.  STOP.  STOP!!  I shouted out the open window.  Her windows rolled up and her on the phone, she couldn’t hear.  I broke into a full sprint, leaping down the last flight of stairs shouting, “STAAAAAHHHHHP!!!!”  Then, the crunch.  I opened the front door, expecting total carbon carnage.  Luckily the bike was just short enough and the garage overhang wood just soft enough that the bike barely wedged in.  

The only damage was to the wood of the garage overhang (see above photo of scatches) and the hinge pin of her heart rate monitor strapped to her handlebars.  Fhew.  Bike OK.  (photo left) Nothing ten bucks, a little garage paint and a trip to the watch repair shop wont fix.

Since I didn’t have a whole lot of time to write and research solutions, I posed the question to my Facebook friends.  How Do You Prevent Yourself From Smashing The Bikes On Your Car Roofrack Into Your Garage Door?  Here’s a few comments:

SUSAN 

Some kind of alarm system that smacks you in the face when 5 feet away or something. Had the same error about a week ago with a low-hanging ATM. Bike OK but bike rack pretty (messed) up.  The bike torqued the whole thing.  I was hurrying to do errands and get to a ride.

JADEN

Giant mirror above the garage door like they probably have on the ceilings at the Wild Wood Inn in Florence Y'all! 

SHANNON

Hang a sign from the inside of your garage door. When you press the door opener and the door opens, the sign will be hanging down, reminding you to check the car roof for bikes.

MITCH

Store all of your junk in the garage so you can't pull your car in.