06/20/2007

Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
Traverse City resident Bob Otwell was injured when a deer collided with him and another bicyclist on a ride in Leelanau County. Otwell sustained a cracked pelvis and an injured shoulder.

Cyclists are bucked from their bikes

Two men join rare club: Deer-bike accident

By KEVIN WRIGHT

kwright@record-eagle.com

CEDAR — Bob Otwell was cruising along with a group of about 15 bicyclists when he felt something close in on him.

Dan Hofstra, biking next to Otwell, saw movement, a flash out of the corner of his eye, but it wasn't until he absorbed the impact that he realized what it was: a deer.

"I played a little football in high school, but I never took a hit like that,” Hofstra said.

Otwell, the executive director of TART Trails, and Hofstra joined an exclusive club when a deer collided with them on June 7.

They were riding side-by-side uphill on Schomberg Road where it crosses Bodus Road near Cedar in Leelanau County.

Hofstra said he was going about 15 miles per hour when the deer dashed out of the woods. Trailing cyclists saw him flip over the animal and land on his back on the pavement.

The deer then slammed into Otwell and ran off.

A group member called 911 and Otwell and Hofstra were taken by ambulance to Munson Medical Center.

Otwell suffered a broken pelvis and possibly separated his shoulder.

Hofstra received several stitches on his knee and sustained a possible fractured vertebrae.

Otwell said he never saw the deer.

He assumed it was Hofstra until it hit him and he ended up in an embankment beside the road.

Otwell bikes regularly and has seen deer on previous rides, but never considered the notion that one would bowl into him.

Hofstra was equally surprised, saying deer usually don't get spooked by bikers.

High winds that day could have played a factor in the incident, said Rich Earle, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources.

"Deer are more nervous on a windy day,” Earle said. "Their sense of hearing and smell are less reliable. The direction of the wind is playing tricks on them, and they know that.”

The worst part of the ordeal for Otwell isn't the six-to-eight weeks he'll have to spend rehabbing.

It's the condition of one of his favorite road bikes, which sits totaled at a friend's house.

"The pelvis will heal,” Otwell said. "The bike won't.”

Tim Brick, the owner of Brick Wheels in Traverse City, is just glad to finally have some company. Last year, he was hit by a deer while biking.

"It's an isolated thing,” Brick said. "It's almost a joke. I was the only one, and in one week, three guys are in the club.”