Rally West Virginia - 2012 - Deer Strike Video

Greetings all!

It has been almost a week since Braden and Goodies (his Official "Road Buddy" for 2012) finished Rally West Virginia!  

Braden placed 2nd overall!

Goodies Can Be Seen Prepping Before the Race Here... :)
 It turns out Braden was a real life Superman at this event as he hit a deer right before he finished the last stage, got up without hesitation (as did the deer), and finished the race.  More on that in a bit...

Photo by Pete Gedeon
 The event was held at Snowshoe Mountain Resort in West Virginia.  It is a beautiful, cell phone reception-less place where I realized that I truly have an unhealthy attachment to technology as my body reacted poorly to the realization that there would be no texting, uploading to Facebook, or incoming/outgoing calls for the duration of our 4-day stay. :)

The deer were plentiful in this area and numerous people mentioned the sheer tameness of the deer.  One fellow rider took photos of the deer walking up to people and eating from their hands.

Braden's mother, her boyfriend, and I were the "pit crew" for this race.  It was the first time I attended a rally with Braden and he gave me the honor of "Crew Chief."  Basically, all I had to do was help unload the truck, be bossy, and make sure he left the pit on time when he came back for nourishment, gas, and to escape from the rain (Day 1 was a foggy, soggy day).

Day 1, In the Clouds
So here we were, standing at the last stage in the spectator area, ready to watch the riders take the straight-away and hammer into home and across the finish line.  We were told the riders would be arriving early and were eager to catch a glimpse of them coming around the bend.

We were the first to arrive at the spectator stage.  We made small talk with one of the volunteers and kept an eye on a deer that was eating on the side of the road down by the bend.  I whistled a few times and watch as the deer popped its head up, ears alert, flicking its tail... it would then continue, carefree, with its task of grazing

Eventually the "sweep car" would come through and make an attempt to shoo the deer away.  They drove by, horn blaring... the deer just seemed to saunter by it, oblivious.  The sweep car went out of sight and then actually backed up to try again.  We heard some shouting as they made an earnest effort to ensure the course was clear for the oncoming riders.

I thought to myself, and then out loud, "This is going to be interesting."  It was a closed course, but an animal in the road would mean a potentially dangerous distraction for the riders.

The first rider, Kurt Weigand, screamed by us and crossed the finish line.  Braden would probably be second, but it wasn't guaranteed.  The starting order always seemed a bit different and as the racers were starting a minute apart, we would simply need to watch and wait.

We could hear the second rider coming up the hill, although we still weren't sure if it was Braden.  And then, still out of sight, there was a thud, and the scrape of someone's bike as it skid across the pavement.  There was an audible gasp from the now 20 or so spectators and photographers that crowded the hill. 

We waited...

We could hear the roar of the bike again, and the rider was finally in sight.  It WAS Braden after all.

He shot his left arm up in the air and kicked his right foot out and yelled.  I laughed, shook my head, and snapped a photo with my cell phone...


We watched a few other riders come up the hill and then I told Braden's Mom that I wanted to see Braden.

Off we went...

I hugged and kissed him and then we got the full story as can be seen in the YouTube video that now has over 200,000 hits in under a week's time!


Cory Wagoner was a photographer that caught these shots from his vantage point:

The Jump
Impact in Action


And here are a few still shots from the video:

The Jump


Point of Impact
During Impact
Bars Coming Back

Going Down
Fur Flying
Still Rolling
Pick it Up
Press On Regardless!
 I am so proud of him for finishing the race.

#136... my Superman! :)

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