That was a what?!

I woke up bright and early to clear skies. It was the perfect morning for the perfect ride. Then I went back to bed and woke up an hour later. I stumbled around the house unable to find all my gear and generally wasting time. When I finally did start riding I felt like I was forgetting something and sure enough my helmet was not on my head. It’s that kind of day.

Mountain trails make things better. The frustration melted away as I melted in the morning heat. Happy to once again have clear air I breathed in the forest and the stream as the birds chirped in the background. My climb was sloppy but the Ripmo made up for my poor choice of lines. In exchange, I forgave the Ripmo of wandering off the trail and nearly dumping us in the creek.

My legs grouchy from yesterday’s climb on the trainer I felt numb at the beginning of the trail. Luckily, I ate a lot of junk food yesterday and all that sugar finally kicked in and as my quads stopped complaining we started climbing with a bit more gusto. Today would be a good ride after all.

As I rode through a dry meadow I heard a high pitched rattling noise. There are some bugs that make that sound as they fly away. I turned thinking I would see one. Instead, I saw a baby rattlesnake slither away from the trail its rattle shaking violently. I think I scared it. It definitely scared me. Had a kept riding and not turned back I would have not anything of the encounter but something about seeing a rattlesnake leaves your heart pounding and your brain messed up. Even though I rarely see them all of a sudden I was scanning the trail for anything that moved.

I run the I9 hubs on my Ripmo. They are pretty cool and have a unique sound to them. Ever since I started riding them I’ve been trying to figure out what they sound like. As it turns out they might a high pitched rattle very similar to a baby rattlesnake.

I did stop and try to get a photo of the snake from a distance. I wasn’t about to hike through the dry grass to hunt it down so I didn’t get it. You’ll have to settle for this instead:

The ride – Providence Canyon