In the woods

It's been awhile since my last post. I had a pretty busy week, resealed the gargantuan deck we built a couple of years ago. That in itself took 2 days. Did a little yard work and rode the trails everyday. I haven't had much interest in riding on the road except for commuting. I guess it's because I was off the bike for so long this spring and with my first mountain bike race coming up since I hurt my back I feel the need to hit the dirt. Last weekend Melinda and I went for a good long hike with the dogs and I ran across this funny pic of Moonshine shaking the water off her coat that I don't even remember taking.

Tuesday I hit the trails by myself and I was coming up on the section where we found the dead deer a week ago. I planned to bypass the section to avoid the nastiness but the kid in me made me go take a peek. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. Nature had taken it's course alot faster than I thought it would and all that was left were bones. The scavengers had left them right in the middle of the trail so passing would not be possible without running over what was left of the poor fellow. I decided to go ahead and move the remains with a stick so the poor guy could rest in peace without being run over by unsuspecting riders.

A little further down the trail I was coming though a particularly fast section and I saw that a tree had fallen and part of a branch was sticking out into the trail.

There appeared to be plenty of room so I didn't give it much thought, bobbed to the right a little and OUCH it bit my leg! I got a nice little cut on the outside of my left leg but I kept moving only looking down for a second to notice a little blood seeping out. Wednesday I passed through the same section but this time I knew what to expect, dabbed a little harder to the right and cleared the branch with no problem. Three days in a row I made it out to the trails but Thursday I was feeling a little more tired. As I made my way through the twisting singletrack I found myself flying through that same fast section with the same jagged branch hanging out on the trail. I don't know if I just wasn't paying close enough attention or if I was just too tired but that mean branch came out and bit me again. This time I got off my bike and tried to move it off the trail. It was attached to a somewhat bigger tree that was just to heavy for me to lift so I snapped a picture of my leg instead.

I know it doesn't look bad but the same branch in 3 days cut me twice. You think I would have learned my lesson the first time. Sorry for the crappy photos but I only had my camera phone.

I got the email that a certain package is in route to my house via UPS. I'm still scared to say exactly what it is for fear of being jinxed and something going wrong. It's scheduled to be here Monday.