Signs

It would be great if I knew what was happening around me before I found out. I'll keep working on it.
It was a Tuesday ride. Small gears, keep working on my new riding position. Take the time to retrain the body to use this more forward and taller style. Change takes time. The ride was great. Perfect weather. Everything was working out so well. I did not care if anyone passed me. I was happy to just work on my own program. Now I want to say I have a real problem with other riders passing me. It's the racer in me. Oh, and put someone off in front of me and I would go after him. Chase them down and leave them in my tire tracks. Today was not that day.
I had a beautiful Turkey Vulture over my head right from the door. I thought it was looking at the neighbor dog in there lawn. It was a small Boston Bull. Black and white looking for the party. Well, the Vulture was looking at him. I thought the dog was the entertainment. As I moved out for the road it was odd that the Vulture seemed to be following me. Lots of the Vultures in this area this time of year. I kept going down the road. The shadow of these great birds kept over head on my way down the road. Hummmm. Mile after mile it was Vultures. I had never noticed this many of the giant birds before. Has though I had interested them in my red and black riding outfit. No matter. I was having a wonderful ride. So the Vultures were out and I was out with them. It is also the time of year the Red Winged Black birds start dive bombing bike riders from their utility post perches. Then following as though to say stay out of my breeding area. These birds are very aggressive. So Vultures and Red Winged Black Birds. The Vultures are just so much bigger.
This kept going on for the first 45 minutes. I got down to the local game reserve and it got down right odd. Dozens of the Vultures, low right over where I was riding. I decided I better make friends. These great birds were no more than 15 feet over my head. Flying right along with me. I looked up at them. They looked down at me. I started talking to the Vulture and I waved a wave of friendship. The Vultures looked down at me and at that moment moved off. Just like that. Poof. They went off to find dinner. I went off to finish a great ride. 45 miles of smart riding. Train smart not hard as the line goes.
I got home. All was wonderful. Everything was fine. Till the news came in a little later. Greg, an acquaintance that is a serious rider like my self was on a group training ride this day. An X close friend of the neighbor lady. Greg had got himself in a 5 bike crash training. Road rash from head to leg. It was a bad crash. Most of the guys went to the emergency room to get checked out. Not Greg of course. Greg is a hockey player to. Tough and I mean tough. Black belt to. He should have gone to the emergency room to get cleaned up and shown how to change the dressing he will need for a while. Not to mention the pain of these road rashes. More like 2 degree burns really. What a disaster. I have been there a few times to.
So I got to thinking of the new friends I had made today. The Turkey Vultures. The eaters of road kill. Hummm. I really need to pay close attention.