A close call on my Mutley..... Badger incident !!!

[Wassers]

I was a lucky boy last night!

Let me set the scene...

I was riding home from visiting my parents (200 miles round trip) and 2 and half hours into my journey using only 'A' and 'B' roads. I was 20 minutes from getting home and its now 8:30pm and totally dark.

I was on a great twisty country road heading out of Henley On Thames to Twyford and caught up with just one car in front of me...a Golf GTI. It was obvious the Golf driver didn't want me to overtake him and he suddenly got a lick on and we were both having some good fun together. Its a road I know well, but it was pitch black with no street lighting!

Then it happened!

There was a dead badger in the middle of the road which the Golf had avoided as it went underneath his car (just), and only then did I see the badger in my headlight directly in front of me. There was zero time to react apart from shouting an expletive to myself inside my helmet... and then bam  ... the handlebars shook violently and I almost lost control and the bike was launched into the air.

I reckon I was doing 50 mph at the time and somehow managed to recover without crashing.

It was too dangerous to stop and blood was pumping at this stage, so I slowly carried on until I came to a garage where I pulled in to get off the bike and look for damage.

In the dim garage light I was totally gobsmacked that all seemed to look ok - and I continued home. 5 minutes later into the journey and I had to stop at a level crossing waiting for a train to pass and all I could smell was dead animal roasting off the engine.... not nice  .

Anyways, as I said, I was lucky on this occasion, luckily I avoided a crash and now need to give my bike a very good deep clean!

Ride safe out there - especially in the dark!!!



The photos don't really show the remnants of the roadkill - looks grim in the flesh!

[Grahew]

Murdering bast*rd!

We love badgers! We love badgers! We love badgers!

[Goldstar]

Good news to hear you and the bike survived the incident, albeit I suspect you did need a change of underwear....shame about Brock though...

[thenozzle]

Good news mate to know that you are ok and no bad damage was done to you or the bike.
That's one off your nine lives used 

[neilb]

So glad you survived what could have had a really bad outcome, my friend.

[S-westerly]

Must be something going around as I had a live pheasant commit suicide on my right side hand guard today. Broke the top bit of it as well and left feathers, bird poo and blood spattered all over. Gave me quite a turn!

[Daveontheedge]

Well done not panicking and keeping it shiny side up!

[bmw_al]

That was a close call - lets face it, a typical Badger is the size of a medium size dog (don't mess).  Really glad it was something you could laugh about afterwards.  I blame the Golf GTI driver, he should have known resistance to a Ducati was futile.....Have you been back to Mrs Badger to ask for a contribution toward your cleaning costs??!

[RickyV]

Very odd this.
I had a very similar experience last Thursday evening on my way home from an evening in Reading.
Was broadsided by a large Muntjack deer which darted out of the verge whilst travelling at @ 35 mph.
Had very little time to react and took the full impact.
Was lucky to stay upright in all honesty.
Stopped a few hundred yards up the road when it was safe and discovered the foot of the gear lever was completely sheered off.
No other apparent damage but I limped home just to be in the safe side.
Have since had the bike checked over by my local dealer and had a new lever fitted.
Just goes to show you never can tell what’s around the corner.
Riding after dark has a unique set of risks attached to it especially in open countryside.
I certainly learnt a valuable lesson.

[buzzardbilly]

At least venison tastes better than badger (I think) Glad you got away with it OK
Safer option would be a brace of pheasants