Bump

I finished my 100 miles for the week today, for the fourth straight week.

As I was almost back, on the bike trail in town in a semi-narrow area, I passed a group of kids riding, let by an adult, and swept by another adult, coming my way.  I was going fairly slowly, as were they, and kept an eye out, because though they were riding nicely on the right in a line, they were also riding like kids, a little quirkily. 

I had just passed the last kid when at the same instant, I felt this big bump under my bike and saw something brown.  When I looked back, I saw a rabbit moving into the brush at the side of the trail, dragging its back end (or at least one leg of its back end).

Ugh.  I hit a rabbit.

I'm guessing it had been waiting for the group to pass, and hadn't realized I was coming from the opposite direction, and timed its dart across the path just wrong.

I didn't stop because I wouldn't have been able to do anything for the rabbit.  (I couldn't have caught it, even, I suspect, and chasing it wouldn't have helped it at all.  And even if I'd somehow caught up to it, grabbing a wild rabbit and carrying it on my bike, and then in my car or something?  No.)

I sort of take comfort from the idea that any rabbit uncautious enough to be hit by a bike going 10-12 miles an hour on a heavily used part of a town path is a rabbit likely to be caught by a fox, dog, or something else.

Still, I'm sort of grossed out by having hit a rabbit.  And surprised that I stayed up.