Monster Cross and Killer Deer

DISCLAIMER- No rider or deer was hurt in the making of this film, so humor is warranted.

A few miles into the Monster Cross race last Sunday at Pocahontas State Park, my teammate Jeff Plassman passed me calling out good natured encouragement.  I tried to stay on his wheel, but that didn’t last long.  I was about 20 yards back when all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I saw a golden projectile hurtling towards us from the left.  These were the thoughts that ran through my head in about a 2 second window before the impact- "that's a golden retriever running at us" "who would let their dog loose during a race?" "that's way too big for a dog" "that's way too fast for a dog".  Wham!  It had taken out Jeff.  He lay sprawled on the right side of the trail.

Here is a video of the event:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37WUuOc_zRQ&feature=youtu.be

So now Plassman’s adventure has gone viral.  As of the writing of this there have been over 1,000,000 views on YouTube, and has made YouTube’s front page.  He has been on the local news here in Richmond, and even my coworkers in NH saw him on their local news this morning.  So far he has been interviewed by VA ch 6, 8, and RightThisMinute.  He is on Yahoo News all over the world.  David Reid joked “Sorry to inform you guys, Jeff wanted me to pass along that he will no longer be on the team.  He is currently packing for his move to Hollywood later today.  Better weather and sweet single-track along with lucrative movie deals made the move a no brainer.  Just remember all us little people Jeff”.  We wouldn’t be surprised to find him on the Today show next week, or perhaps Good Morning America’s “Play of the Day”.  Some links to his fame:
Channel 8: http://www.wric.com/story/21428155/cyclists-soeaks-about-being-hit-by-deer-during-race
NBC12: http://www.nbc12.com/story/21417597/viral-cyclists-struck-by-deer-at-pochaontas-state-park
CBS 6: http://wtvr.com/2013/02/28/deer-hits-cyclist/
Web TV show:  http://www.rightthisminute.com/video/jeff-vs-mother-nature
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/28/the-cool-first-person-footage-of-a-mountain-biker-being-run-over-by-a-deer/
http://www.grindtv.com/bike/blog/51174/deer+runs+into+and+crashes+mountain+biker+during+race+in+virginia/
http://now.msn.com/jeff-plassman-cyclist-gets-taken-down-by-deer-in-viral-video
http://au.sports.yahoo.com/news/article/-/16274263/mountain-biker-gets-in-tangle-with-a-deer-during-a-race/

As I came up on him I yelled out “are you ok”?  He bounced right back up and responded “yeah” so I kept rolling and yelled out “that was awesome!” Sounds like a strange reaction when someone just got run over by a deer, but, knowing he was ok it was pretty spectacular.  That, combined with race adrenaline and knowing he had a helmet cam on so our team would be viewing the video at team parties to come. 

About 21seconds into the video you see me passing with my arm outstretched to him, it must have been a subconscious guilt thing- I feel for you but I’m not stopping!  Here is my arm of compassion:

 

Last night I was at dinner with some people and an iPhone was being passed around to show them the video.  Two ladies at the end of the table who didn’t realize I was one of the riders near him said “Look at those mean people not stopping for him!”  Ah, so naïve and idealistic…in the mountain bike racing world if a person is down but gets back up you don’t have to stop, if they are lying inert and unresponsive you stop until they start yelling at you to “go on!”  “go on!”. 

So Jeff has found his 20s of fame.  The deer, on the other hand, opted to stay anonymous and refused to comment.  More on Plassmido Rapido’s blogspot. 

ON ANOTHER MONSTER CROSS FRONT:
How can we top that?  But we should give a shout-out to the rest of the day’s happenings.  First, thanks to Mark Junkermann from RunRideRacefor a great race.  What an event!  I have never raced with that many riders before at a mass start, over 500 people!  Loved the chili after, and loved that they gave women actual women’s T shirts instead of the usual men’s T shirts.  That was my first long mountain bike race.  I ended up with 51.5 miles, apparently 3.5 miles over the actual race length.  (But I got a better workout, right?)

Big kudo’s to our own David Reid who placed 17^th overall!  And that was with top riders like Jeremiah Bishop (David was 11^th in his division).  Also representing were Tom Haines, Thom Flynn, Dave Hardisky, Joe Fish, Tom Richeson, Kate Fisher, and Erik Bleecher.  Emily Bashton and Brian Brown our friends from Endorphin Fitness were there as well.  I would like to recognize Brian for stopping and helping the man that got taken away by ambulance, whom I heard from Junkermann suffered a concussion but is otherwise OK and wants to race it again next year.  Thanks also to Jason Broussard, Jeff Farmer, and Todd Green for volunteering.  And our very own fearless leader Jason Hopkins led out the rolling start.