Relative Something

I was warned long ago that snakes are frequently reported on the Katy Trail. Not being a fan of snakes, it wasn’t the best message I’ve ever received, but figured the talk might be exaggerated a bit.

Riding in a group, the common practice is to point out hazards in the road/trail to alert riders behind you.

There were a lot of sticks littering the trail all week, but the only snake we had come upon was a dead one …until yesterday.

I was on the left side, just ahead of Curt, rolling along at 14 miles per hour. At that speed, there’s really only a fraction of a second to make decisions when something suddenly comes into view.

The stick was about 5 feet long and lying perfectly across the trail. By the time I sensed it might not be a stick, there was no choice but to hold my line and try to avoid panicking.

As my wheel met little resistance, I screeched “SNAKE!”

Curt announced that it was alive because it instantly picked up its head and turned toward me. Luckily, I was moving fast enough to be already gone. My adrenaline boosted the bike speed to escape velocity.

Follow up research points to it being a black rat snake.

A short time later, another snake was more to one side and I had changed my thinking to see any stick as a threat. I dodged it with a quick zig-zag maneuver.

Why did I have to be the one to have the closest encounter? The Universe is keeping me on my toes, I guess.

.

.