A woman was badly injured this morning when the bicycle she was riding crashed into a ditch along Kelly Road in Clay Township, according to authorities.

State police are investigating but it was not known if the woman crashed on her own or if a vehicle was involved. Police were unavailable for comment and a report was not immediately available.

The woman, whose name is not released, was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital with a head injury. She was “conscious but not alert” when emergency crews found her, said Chief Reid Campbell of the West Sunbury Volunteer Fire Department. Her condition was not known.

Authorities were called at 6:10 a.m. when a man found the injured middle-aged woman laying in a ditch near a driveway at a house. It was not known if the caller was the homeowner or a neighbor.

It appeared the woman took a nose dive on the bike and landed on her head or face. The bike appeared to have little if any damage, said Chief Nathan Wulff of the Unionville Volunteer Fire Department.

Firefighters and Butler Ambulance Service were dispatched.

An ambulance crew immediately began treating the woman while fire crews made plans to land a medical helicopter to fly the woman to a Pittsburgh trauma hospital.

But those plans were eventually cancelled when it was determined that the morning fog made it too dangerous to fly.

“At this point,” Wulff said, “we don’t know whether she crashed on her own accord or if there was something else.”

Authorities also did not rule out the possibility that she suffered a medical emergency.