If you need another reason not to start biking for exercise, you can add “not wanting to get decapitated by a deer” to the list.
These cyclists in South Carolina got extremely lucky as they sped down a rural road, and the person in the back of the pack is especially counting their blessings. Drivers of cars should always be on the lookout for deer crossings, and as this footage shows, that rule goes for cyclists as well.
However, I don’t think these bike riders would have had any time to react even if they did see the deer, and they are all fortunate that this wild animal had hops, otherwise it could have been a “Tour De-saster.”
One of the bicyclists had a helmet camera rolling as they rode through the wooded area, and that camera just so happened to come in handy. Though you never see the full deer, footage captured from the rider’s perspective shows that a deer come out of the woods full steam ahead right at the cyclists, and somehow no one got hurt.
As you’ll see in the clip, the deer jumps high into the air and manages to entirely (and miraculously) clear the person filming. Thankfully everyone was alright, which means it’s okay to point out how comical it is to see a set of four hooves flying through the air right past the person’s head.
If the cyclist would have been even a foot ahead (no deer hoof pun intended) of where they were, there’s a good chance the flying deer would have collided with them and caused a gnarly crash. The video proves to be one of those “so close” moments in life that could have turned out a whole lot worse.
And just like I made a case against jogging the other day (so you don’t have to kill a mountain lion with your bare hands), I’ll continue the series of “anti-workout” outdoors videos and say that you can only avoid being speared by a flying deer while you are riding a bike if you don’t ever get on the bicycle in the first place.
You can check out the unbelievable close encounter below:
