I’ve just did a road ride of epic proportions, although it wasn’t really supposed to be.
It started off as a beautiful day, sun shining, although slightly overcast. I got some good times climbing up to Lobethal, where I stopped at the bakery for a Gatorade and was feeling great. It wasn’t all easy getting up to Lobethal though, there were a couple scares. Going up Lobethal Road, only a few metres away from me a dead stick from a tree, or more like a log, fell down and made a big thud. There had been a lot of wind last night, and the wind was just starting to pick up again. It really scared me because it could have knocked me out, but after a quick risk assessment I shrugged it off and thought it would be very unlikely for something to fall and hit me. It was a few bends of the road later, I felt a thud and a painful graze on my back, followed by a big crack sound. I had been hit by a falling stick! It was about 1.5 to 2.0 m long, and half as thick as my forearm. Not enough to do much damage but wow – it came with some shock!
Stick that hit me out riding
Once I got to Lobethal and had that Gatorade, I felt great, so I kept going to Mt Torrens. That wasn’t much further, and then I saw a sign to Tungkillo so thought that could be my challenge for the day and then I’d return home. This is where the war began.
Half way to Tungkillo, I thought another stick had hit my helmet. There was a grating sound on my helmet, although no stick landed on the road. I started to see some shadows circling around me, and then flap flap flap SCRATCH and I had clearly now been struck by a Magpie twice. It didn’t stop here, it went for a few hundred metres, swooping, diving, connecting well with me about 4 or 5 times, and with about another 4 or 5 near misses. Yelling, screaming, swearing, none of which worked. I was fearing my life, as at the same time there was extremely gusty cross-winds which made it very difficult to keep the bike in a straight line and upright. I was fighting just to stay on the bike as it was, and dodging the Magpie didn’t help. I ended up stopping, and holding my bike above my head for shelter, preparing myself to raise or move my rear wheel to knock it out of the air like it was a tennis racquet. At this point a truck pulled up, saw me acting funny, and asked if I was alright. I told him what was going on, and he politely laughed and explained that they are out in full force at this time of year. I should have got him to give me a lift back to Mt Torrens in the safety zone of a more built up area and no nesting magpies, but persevered, knowing that I had set myself a non-negotiable challenge of getting to Tungkillo before heading home. A few more magpies swooped me, mostly missing but with some minor strikes, nowhere near as aggressive as that first magpie. Finally, I made it to Tungkillo. It was a bit of a non-event, and when I turned around I realised that the cross-wind I’d been experiencing all the way to Tungkillo from Lobethal was a combination of tail-wind and cross-wind, and now I had big head-wind with big cross-wind to contend with. The magpies all swooped at me again, and the aggressive one got me a couple more times. I nearly stopped to remove my front wheel, with the intention of striking it out and permanently resolving my problem. I should have, because when I turned around to see how far away it was I realised it was hiding right next to me, and then it leaped out from the side of a tree at head height and got the side of my face. Luckily then a few cars came by from either direction which scared it away.
Finally I made it back to Lobethal, ate the bakery, and had a slow, painfully head and cross-windy ride home down Gorge Rd. 120km! I fathomed the idea of stopping home for a quick re-fuel, and then going on to do a 100 mile ‘century’ ride, but a hot shower became the better of me. 
