Watch Out for Reindeer While Downhill Skateboarding

Longboarder Ryan Vitale collided with a deer during practice runs at this weekend’s appropriately named Buffalo Bill Downhill Bloodspill in Golden, Colorado. Both Vitale and the deer were pretty banged up but will make a full recovery.

“I was just in the right place at the right time and I had the GoPro 2 camera on my helmet, like I always do. It was crazy. We were doing practice runs and that part of the course is like 40-45 miles per hour for a big guy. I knew there were some big pros coming up behind me and I was just like, ‘I’m gonna chill out because the big 180-degree turn, called The Gooch, was coming up and I didn’t want to be in that area going 40 miles an hour with a bunch of people around me.’ So I let those guys pass me up a little bit, and as I’m watching them I see that there’s four deer crossing the road, from right to left, up ahead. One guy goes all the way to the left side of the road, skids out, and sends the very last deer scrambling back out to the road, and – Bam! – that’s the one the guy hits.” -Mike Paproski

Collision Between Deer and Skateboarder