Pugs in night-commuter mode
Things have dried up around here and I'm able to cut across the golf course on my way home from work without damaging the fairways. It's usually 11pm or later by the time I pass through so the green-keepers are all tucked-up in bed and I've got the place to myself.
There's a section of my golf-course bombing run where I get up as much speed as possible going down one side of a hill so I don't have to pedal up the other side. It's not dangerous, but I have to ride it like a downhill run because although the grass is cut, the terrain's full of bumps and hollows that would send you over the bars if you weren't concentrating.
So I'm motoring down there last night in the pitch-black, my headlight doing a pretty poor job of illuminating my path at speed when I see what I thought to be a large group of rabbits in front of me. I can barely make out the small dark shapes and I'm pretty sure it's not a pack of miniature Dobermans (I've made that mistake before) so I relax a bit and go for it. Despite my worst intentions my fluffy little golfing friends have always avoided my wheels in the past.
This is when things turn bad.
I am almost on top of them before they sense my presence and in a panic they take off in all directions. Now when I say say "take-off" I don't mean hopping along the ground as you would expect. These rabbits were launching themselves into the air in a frenzy of beating wings as I scythed through their flock at over 40kph. Several pass through the beam of my headlight and I can feel the wind off their wings as I duck my head for cover.
The still night air is broken with ear-piercing screeches and squawks but I somehow manage to make it through unscathed, hit the bottom of the valley and coast up the other side to safety.
I keep the pace on all the way home wary that Satan's winged avengers have tasted my fear and may well be watching me from above, ready to attack again.
I tell you, the life of a bike commuter is rarely without incident. These things just don't happen when I drive my car.
