So, there I was, minding my own business riding my bike to work. When out of the blue, a Canada goose attacks me. Stoopid goose.
It’s not unusual to see geese on the Sioux Falls greenway bike path, but usually they scurry down the side of the dike to get out of your way. Just last week there was a herd of them not far from this morning’s encounter, and most of them just moved out of the way. There was some hissing, and one ended up trying to get out of my way by moving in the same direction & taking flight, but not this morning.
I was going north on the path near the fairgrounds when I saw him. My first thought was, “Aha! My nemesis!” (that actually did cross my mind.) It looked like the goose started moving down the slope, but as I approached, he opened his beak hissing & took flight right at me.
I was buzzing along about 20mph (thanks to the handy dandy electric motor) and stuck my left foot up to at least keep him out of my face and hopefully stay on the bike. That worked pretty well; my foot caught him square in the breast, and he wasn’t able to lay a wing on me.
I looked back & saw him picking himself up off the ground, so I don’t think he was hurt too badly. I had thoughts of going back and finishing him off, but that might have some, ummm, repercussions if someone were to see it. Besides, something tells me that particular goose won’t be pulling anything like that again any time soon.
Stoopid bird.