Close Encounter

I had a close encounter of the tree kind last night at Stony. I drove over to Stony straight after work last night, parked at the trailhead and went for a short run. (I'd decided I need to get back to running a little bit.) I figured the run would serve as a short warm-up, then I could go ride.

Well, it ended up being pretty hot while I was out running. I'm definitely not used to running anymore, and I guess I'm used to the cooling effect of riding. By the time I was done, I was dripping sweat and a bit more tired than I expected. Still, it was a good run, and I didn't have any knee problems.

I took my time getting changed to ride, had a little snack and some water. I figured I wouldn't have much jump on the trail, but that I'd otherwise be OK. Once I started riding, I found that I was physically OK, but that I was in a mental fog.

I expected to be pretty sharp on the trail, since I ended up putting in a lot of time at the more technical Bloomer trails last week. Almost immediately, I realized that this wasn't the case. I didn't have any problems on the first few sections of Stony, but I didn't feel smooth either.

I struggled through the new trail in the Roller Coaster section. Back out on the old trail, I was descending through a rooty section that I've done many times before without a problem. For some reason, this time, I picked a line closer to some roots that run parallel to the trail (normally, I don't do this, and for good reason!). As I should have expected, the roots redirected my bike a bit, and sent me straight toward a tree. On a different day, I might have still saved it, but not yesterday. I ran the right side of my body into the tree (note that the tree was on the left side of the trail!). I ended up with cuts on my forearm, knuckles and ear (maybe from my helmet?) and a bruised shoulder.

I don't think I've ever hit a tree quite like that before. I've clipped them with the ends of the handlebars and gone down, but I've never run squarely into one. Turns out that it's not as bad as I expected it to be.

Anyway, after my crash, I decided I had better stop, even though I'd only been riding for about 30 minutes at that point. My focus just wasn't where it needed to be, and I thought I'd probably end up crashing more if I continued. So, I took the bailout trail and rode back to the parking lot.

Once I got back in the car to drive home I realized just how tired I was. Once I got home, I pretty much just ate a quick snack, showered, and went to bed.