dreadedmonkeygod . net

For the record, I recommend the line to the right, away from the cactus.

I was having a great ride. My project for the day was to be able to ride up the Santa Rosa trail from the intersection with the Lower Butte to the turnaround above CLU. I'd managed to get through the "coral reef" section in better form than ever before (though still not clean), and was headed for the turnaround. The last technical obstacle was a hard left turn followed by a very short, very steep climb.

And that's where my ride ended. I came out of the turn too tight, headed up the left-hand side of the trail. I pulled back hard on the handle bars, and prayed for traction.

Alas, I prayed in vain. My back tire kicked sideways on the gravel, and I pancaked to my left, straight onto a stand of prickly pear. Ouch.

My leg and my clothes were covered in thorns. Far too many to pull out on the trail. The worst was easily two inches long, and burried to the hilt in my calf. I couldn't wait to get out of my prickly bike clothes and back home where I could do a proper job of extracting all the thorns. (This contributed somewhat to not helping those kids with their flat.)

Even after following my girlfriend's good advice (hot compress, soak in a hot bath), it still felt like there were two large thorns embedded in my calf, and I couldn't get them out.

So this morning I headed for the doctor for help. I showed him the two tips barely visible beneath the skin, and he agreed that he'd better get them out or I'd be looking at a nasty infection.

The nurse that examined me said that she'd been an avid mountain biker until suffering a terrible fall. Road rash and broken bones. I don't blame her for having The Fear after that. I still can't bring myself to ride a certain rock garden.

As for me, I'm planning on heading back out to Wildwood as soon as possible and having another go at that trail. I nearly had it!