Thursday 18 September 2014

Almost got Fabio'd!

I can't believe its not duck!
Remember that male model Fabio?  I remember him from the "I Can't Believe Its Not Butter" commercials from about 20 years ago.  In 1999 Fabio had a bizarre and unfortunate accident on a roller coaster; he got hit in the face by a goose!

Since I have similar length of hair on my head, my wife sometimes teasingly calls me "Fabio." 

Well I guess I have more in common with Fabio than I realised.  Not only are we sporting awesome hair, but I almost took a goose to the face; a thing I like to call "Being Fabio'd."

Poor lady who got goose mauled.
I was out on a cold September ride when I ran into a pack of Canada Geese.  These geese are very big and (in my opinion) poop at a large dog level.  Despite their non threatening appearance, they can pack quite a punch. Here is a link to a news story about a recent goose attack.  I've had a few nip at me in the past.  So nowadays I'll try to shoo them off with my horn (sometimes with a little added booming voice).  I'd rather have them scared than angry; scared geese are less likely to mug or maul me.  And scared geese are off the path where its safer for them and humans using the path.

Out of the whole flock, there was one goose that decided they weren't interested in moving until the last second.  And when it started flying, it chose to fly in the same direction I was riding.  So we ended up having a very close encounter of the goose kind.  No worries, no geese or cyclists were harmed in the making of the film below.  Forgive the grainy quality of the film, its a cheap camera on a handlebar mount.




2 comments:

  1. Sure I put a response on this already.. Guess it didn't publish.

    Canadian Geese are very bold and have very little regard to self preservation, unlike most animals that run away or simply avoid being seen by humans. On the bike path along the Ottawa river.. it just gets silly on how many of these birds there are just sitting around.

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  2. I remember how ugly it got along the Ottawa river there. We get a lot more geese but they have a lot more room to roam, so its about the same.

    There's some nice dirt trails in the back where there are no geese. But then you gotta watch for the deer. :D

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