Fa-Fa-Fa-Fail!

Yesterday's commute was supposed to be a blast.  I haven't been commuting by bike much this year as I chase that elusive (at least this year) speed by going to fast group rides instead.  After many trips to Camden recently to get ready for this weekend's race I decided it was time to throw down a 3 hour mountain bike commute.  The temps were in the high 70's and the sun was out so I expected a good ride.  Sadly, portions of my commute aren't heavily used (only by me in fact) so the first part of it needed some work but I was able to ride through without stopping.  Unfortunately, before I could get to the good part of the first section I came across a logging operation.  I hiked around for about 10 minutes to see if I could find the way but the place was decimated beyond recognition.  To make matters worse, the mosquitoes were as thick as I've ever seen them and despite having just applied massive amounts of insect repellent, I was GETTING EATEN ALIVE!  Thankfully, I spied a house through the woods and made a bee line to it so I could get the fuck out of Dodge.

Ok, section 1 is a write off for now but at least I still had the Zak and Schmid preserves.  The first part of Zak isn't well used but it's easy enough to follow and is usually in good shape so I rolled along trying to get my mojo back.  At one point I was marveling at how well the ferns were growing this year and how they really obscure the trail surface and was thinking to myself that I've had to stare at the trail directly in front of me instead of looking ahead when WHAM!  my front wheel hit a root on the bottom side of a roller and I was thrown to the earth with authority and somehow managed to slam my right knee into the underside of my shifter leaving a bloody tattoo of the mounting bolt just above my kneecap. Lovely. 

My mojo at this point was thoroughly thrashed so I pulled the plug and did a direct-ish route home through the Schmid.  Bah, I hate days like that.