This weekend I took a trip up to Manhattan to see a few of my high school buddies, one of which has his learners permit and eagerness to ride. The ride up was nice, and the bike ran like it should. When I rolled into Manhattan, my friend hopped on a borrowed Z1000 (yeah, some first bike, right?) and we took off to explore some twisties. In the middle of our ride during a blind righthand sweeper a cute little bunny hopped in front of me, and I had absolutely no time to react and avoid it. Thud. I signaled to Paul to pull over so I could inspect the remains...it wasn't pretty. The good news is that the bike was unharmed...minus the blood and entrails and stuff.
That's nasty! ...poor bunny, must not have had anything left to live for. Here in SoCal, especially up in the central valley area, there are "suicide squirrels" by the thousands. I've probably killed hundreds of them over the years. They burrow into the hills along the roads and when they feel the vibrations of the bikes they dart out across the road right into your path. On one trip up highway 58 I hit no fewer than 8 squirrels. ...always a messy cleanup, but glad there's no damage to your scoot!
Bunnies (along with squirrels, chipmunks, birds, etc) are squishible. Maintain your line instead of trying to avoid them. I ran over a dog, tried to avoid it and wasn't able too. If I had maintained my course I probably would have missed him and wouldn't have crashed the VFR. Moose, deer, large dogs, are non-squishible. Try to avoid those if you can. Sorry about the mess, eewww....
Don't get me wrong, I wasn't about to do anything crazy to avoid him, but I had plenty of room to counter-steer a little bit and at least attempt to miss him. And the mess wasn't that bad...after I took the guts off of the rotor by hand. That part was gross.
I'll make sure to not tell my 5 year old twins that you just took out the Easter Bunny. Definitely glad it didn't take you down. I'm sure it could have.
Thats exactly what I was thinking! I've had quite the string of luck when it comes to near misses with wildlife, as some of you might recall... http://vfrworld.com/forums/general-vfr-discussions/26854-those-stupid-deer.html