Durban - A moonlight mountain bike rider ended up with more than a spoke in his wheels this week after an encounter with a porcupine on a lonely Hluhluwe road in KZN sent him flying over his handlebars.
Gavin Dickson, 57, and the porcupine found themselves in a tangle of blood, sweat, quills, roasties and metal when a second porcupine showed up in the night, quills blazing and rubbing him and the animal made its way to its mate.
“I was lying there and as I looked up I saw the second porcupine coming towards my face. It was quite surreal,” said Dickson, who owns the Hluhluwe River Lodge, about 5km from the crash scene.
“I ducked my head down and felt these quills rattling on my helmet, on top of my head.”
In spite of his injuries, Dickson said he was thrilled to see the appearance of the second porcupine “appearing to assist its buddy tangled up in the bicycle on my leg” before they disappeared into the night.
Dickson then found himself incommunicado thanks to the absence of cellphone signal and immobile because his bicycle tyres had been punctured by 14 quills.
He was saved when two cars appeared and the driver of the first car rolled down his window, greeting Dickson with the words: “Wat het hier gebeur? (What happened here?)”
Plastic surgeon Ehren Eksteen, who works at Montana Hospital in Pretoria, stopped to help. Yesterday, he said he treated all kinds of wounds every day.
“I love to spend time in nature and was busy looking for frogs when we stumbled upon Gavin only seconds after he had been injured. I always go on holiday with my gear and help where I can,” said Eksteen.
Dickson said: “They were super helpful and applied a local anaesthetic. They had a proper medical kit with them, even a tray with sterilised tools.”
Eksteen took two deeply-lodge quills out of Dickson’s feet, treatment Dickson followed with a beer back home and a visit to his local doctor for antibiotics and an anti-tetanus jab. A local farmer passing by drove Dickson home.
“I hope there is no infection,” he said after the incident which took place on Wednesday. “I still feel a bit tender but I hope to be back on my bike soon.”
Dickson had been out on a 30km training ride that went so well he decided to add another 20km when darkness fell.
He added: “I’ve had lots of crashes but that one takes some topping. It was his second night incident on the road this year. Two months ago, while driving a truck I hit a nyala bull.”
Like the porcupines, it managed to vanish into the night, leaving Dickson’s vehicle “totalled”.
The Independent on Saturday