I decided to start 2009 off right by going mountain biking on New Year's Day on one of my favorite trails in the valley, Hawes. Since I had spent the night at my in-laws up in Glendale, I told Mike I would just meet him at the trail head. Other than it being a bit chilly in the shade, it was a perfect morning for riding. And the chilliness wore off after just a few minutes on the trail.
But no more than 25 minutes into the ride, we were cruising through the rock garden section of the Saddle trail, when I get a little too far to the right, caught a big rock with my front tire and went flying over the handlebars. I then got to enjoy a slow-motion view of the rock my face was barreling towards while not seeming to be able to bring my hands up to shield my face. The result was what you see below.
As you can probably tell from the expression on my face, I was not really enjoy myself at this point in time. Rather than having a fun couple of hours racing around Hawes I spent the next several hours mopping up blood, slowly riding back to the car and getting stitched up at Urgent Care. Not really an ideal start to the year. What's even better is that my wife's brother is getting married tomorrow and we're doing family pictures. I'm going to look great with 9 stitches and a black eye. At least the road rash on my neck and chest will be covered up.
