Ouch!

i'm sorry mr. stingy bug to interrupt your afternoon .... but was this really necessary?!?

and of course we couldn't be just cruising along on a nice flat section of trail or be stopped for a snack ... oh no ... it's a tia and andy story .... it's always much better.

coming down a little decent - nothing too tricky - i'm being smart - keeping my head up - picking a good line down the trail - using both breaks to control my speed - butt up and off the back of the saddle. ouch - oh crap - something is stinging my lip!

i take one swipe with my right hand towards the right side of my face .... i feel it's little legs grab onto the inside and outside of my lip - as it is still stinging me ... oh crap ... this hurts ... i can't believe it's still stuck on my face! i take a second swipe becoming more nervous at the predicament i'm in. and then break the number one commandment of mountain biking ... DON'T GRAB THE FRONT BREAK! yup - insert ENDO here. andy looked over his shoulder back up the trail to watch me tumble over the handlebars and land in the brush. after landing, i was still grabbing at my face to pull mr. stingy bug off my face.

andy ran back up to find me crying on the side of the trail - he thought i was really broken. but i was crying - first because my lip and face were throbbing, second, b/c i had just scared the piss out of myself as i flew through the air, and third b/c i felt like a total dork for not having a better plan to remove a stinging insect from my lip other than to throw myself over the handlebars of my bike and down the trail.

considering i took a little trip over the handlebars, i came out pretty unscathed. couple bumps and bruises and a little missing skin, but all in all ... just a big fat lip. which an hour later as the swelling was starting to come down and i was laughing again, andy was teasing me about having fish lips.

so much for the story about the bar fight i was cooking up.