I finally got out on a real bike trail in preparation for my tri-relay. Overall, it went well considering 99.9% of my biking experience in the past 10 years has been on a stationary or spin bike. But somehow, I forgot to expect to see so much nature on the trail. I am not a nature girl by any means (see woman vs. bug post for reference) so I was caught totally off guard when the tire tread I thought I was approaching turned out to be a snake – and then I saw the rattle on its tail. Shaking, breaking and swerving, I managed to avoid the snake, but I was totally freaked out. I’ve never seen a rattlesnake out in nature before. I did not enjoy the experience. But, on the return trip, we passed another snake and I went around that one cool as cool can be – largely in part because there was no rattle to freak me out. We passed rabbits, cats, squirrels, ducks, geese and who knows how many other creatures, but toward the end of our ride, we were assaulted by bugs. I had to put my sunglasses back on just to protect my eyes. I don’t even want to think about how many bugs I may have swallowed. It made the gym seem mightily appealing over the bike trails.

But aside from the bugs and the snakes, it was really nice to enjoy the outdoors and exercise at the same time. I just really, really hope I don’t see any snakes during the race because I may just cause a pileup.