Flamin Galah

I have had a few close shaves before, but today it finally happened. Today I hit a bird on my bike.

It was quite a shock, although admittedly probably not as big a shock as the bird got. Needless to say neither of us were particularly happy about it.

It all happened as I was getting into the last 5kms of my ride this morning. I was riding on the road and was just passing a puddle at which several galahs where drinking. The bike obviously startled them and when they took off, one of them flew straight into my front wheel. It hit with a bit of force but other than a bit of a fright, I was okay, I didn't go down or anything.

There have been a few times in the past where I have gone close to hitting birds, but I never really thought it was likely. Bikes move pretty fast and they don't make a lot of noise, which means you can get pretty close to a flock of birds before they realise you are there. When they do realise they don't tend to take it well. Panicy is the word I would use (if that is in fact a word). Anyway, that is pretty much what happened this morning.

I think the bird was okay as well by the way. Pretty sure anyway. Probably a bit of a headache though.

Other than the aforementioned bird strike the ride was a good one. It was a bit more like a proper distance and I still managed to maintain the speed and the intensity, so that was good. Weather wise the conditions were just lovely. Just a little bit of grey overcast to keep it cool. Almost no wind. Almost couldn't ask for better. Mornings like this one are why I love riding in Autumn.

Training wise the rest of the day holds another swim at Claremont with Swim Smooth. The Saturday afternoon session can sometimes be a pretty tough session, but it is always a fun one. It is always a good session after a tough Saturday morning.