Close Encounter of the Fourth Kind (or: It Wasn’t an Endo…)
“Why is he wearing that bill hat?” you might ask. Or even “why is he wearing that bill hat pulled down to his ears?” The short answer is that I had a close encounter on my bike ride today on the DORBA trail at Rowlett Creek Preserve. If you recall the movie, you will remember that:
a close encounter of the first kind is: spotting an alien
a close encounter of the second kind is: finding evidence of an alien landing
a close encounter of the third kind (the movie title) is: contacting an alien
I’m adding another category:
a close encounter of the fourth kind: when an alien contacts you.
In this case, the alien was a low hanging vine, replete with big thorns. As I cruised loop 5 of the aforementioned course today, at about 10 mph, concentrating on reciting the Bible verses I’ve been committing to memory, suddenly I was literally yanked to a halt by an intense and painful force across my forehead, below the protective shield of the helmet I was wearing. However, I want to make it clear: I DID NOT ENDO! Somehow, I hadn’t ducked sufficiently to avoid this low hanging vine that spanned the trail. Soon my face was covered with blood. Fortunately, I had remembered to bring my pocket hankie with me, and I used it to wipe the blood from my forehead. After many wipes, and with no signs of cessation, I simply formed a bandana from the hankie and tied it around my head under my helmet to catch the flowing blood cells. Then, in an act of revenge, I retrieved a pair of dikes from my bicycle case, and proceeded to teach that vine a lesson. It won’t be there the next time I come to this spot in the road!
In a sign of my committment to my ride on such a beautiful day, I decided to continue going the remaining distance on the 8 mile loop–I was at roughly the 2-mile mark at the time. Sure enough the blood stopped flowing, and I was able to finish the course with no other (major) incidents. (There are always many many MINOR incidents on my bike rides.) After returning to my car, I looked in the mirror and found some rather substantial scratches across my forehead, and a huge clot of blood on my right ear–a spot I hadn’t noticed when I used the hankie.
So if you see me with my hat pulled down over my ears: please don’t bother to ask me what happened. Now you know the rest of the story…..Good day!