The Good News is I'm Not Dead...
Despite becoming a little too intimately acquainted with a tree while biking today, I managed to make it out alive.
The day started out full of excitement and optimism. Exhibit A (From Left to Right: Me, Russell Sage, Chris Carragher, Brian Ludemann, Rick Ellenburg, Mike Musselwhite, Charlie Sinnett, Troy Johnson, Greg Hurst)
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In the first mile, Mike Musselwhite fell off his bike and twisted his ankle and had to call it quits. Little did I know what was soon in store for me. A few miles in I came across a pretty decent grade and started to coast down it. It was such a rush that I decided to let off on my brakes a bit and allow myself to experience a bit more speed. Unfortunately, the grade was about to take a turn to the right, unbeknownst to me, and my left shoulder smacked hard into a tree at the edge of the narrow trail. The next thing I knew I was on the ground, laying on top of the frame of my bike, and my sunglasses had sailed clean off my face and were in the dirt about a foot in front of me.
Charlie, my supervisor, was riding behind me and witnessed the incident and so I will be treated to a pantomimed re-enactment tomorrow morning at the office.
In the end, I have a very sore left shoulder, and I smashed my right knee, so I have quite a few cuts and bruises from my thigh down to my calf. My knee cap is actually hurting worse than my shoulder, now that I've iced my shoulder for a while.
I should have known when the sign at the trailhead said "Warning: This trail is for intermediate to advanced cyclists" that there was probably a good reason for that being posted. No matter, I'm going to try again, but in the words taken from George of the Jungle. Watch out for that tree!