Wednesday, January 7

Another story

Someday I will go for a bike ride and be bored because nothing happens to me...

Yesterday I decided to visit a local park and see how it was holding up with all the flooding. I really enjoy looking at everything that has happened from our winter storms. Anyway, I knew that some of the paths may be blocked because of fallen trees, but I decided to try it out. 

I had to turn back from a couple trails--one because of intense flooding, another because of a downed power line. Finally I found one that seemed to be ok. I hit the first downed tree and decided to just pick up the bike and go over it cyclo-cross style. I did this with a couple of more trees and was starting to get annoyed, but my persistence to see at least one path to the end made me press forward. Some of the trees were actually quite large, so I was getting quite the workout. After about the 6th tree I was thinking about turning around, but the thought of going back over all those trees seemed overwhelming! I decided to press forward, and then I saw the sign:  Caution:  Coyotes seen recently in this area. At that point, I felt a little vulnerable. I realized it was a dark, rainy day. I was in the middle of nowhere with no one nearby and apparently predators lurking about. I started to pedal a little harder and just as I turned the corner...water everywhere. The trail was completely flooded. I could only turn around...and go back by the sign...and go over each tree again. I was a little nervous because what the heck do I know about coyotes?! I couldn't even ride quickly away because of all the trees in my way! I had no choice but to stop at each tree and go over. 

I obviously made it out alive, but I'm going to wait a few weeks before I hit the park again.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

AHHH! That's scary, Becca!! And funny... because it sounds like everyone should be more worried about you biking in Oregon than Cambodia. Ha ha!!

Arin said...

That is crazy...glad you didn't run into any coyotes! Maybe the sign should warn you of predators before you get passed 6 down trees and into the middle of no where eh?

Natalie said...

Nothing like coyotes to get you peddaling faster. That's a great work-out motivation, if you ask me. Maybe I should do some of my marathon training in coyote-infested areas. I'd run faster.

Happy training!