The Perils of Biking

Thinking POSITIVELY, Allison and I thought that biking would be a helpful way to get exercise without stressing running injuries and an enjoyable cross training activity. After several adventures, it is a toss up to whether it was worth the effort. The first attempt was not successful. After struggling to get our bikes out of the car, we biked about a half mile on the rail trail. We noticed that my tires were pretty low and asked each other if they were too low to ride or flat. Allison stopped an expert biker (assumed because he was wearing a helmet) and asked his opinion. While he was telling us that yes, they were low, Allison spotted a snake. The snake turned out to actually be two rattlesnakes (as identified by expert biker) mating, though Allison was long gone before the expert biker pointed this out to me. After that trauma, not even thinking that we could go to the local gas station for air and presuming the tires were flat, we struggled to put the bikes back in the car and went for a walk.

The next day I went to the bike shop to discover that I just needed some air in the tires and it was all a completely normal and easy process. Gleefully, we hit the trail and rode about 4 miles only to have our route blocked by a big black snake. We completed our ride in the other direction.

Spring to Summer Snake Count

Lori: 3
Allison: 7

Snakes of West Virginia
What to do if you are bit by a snake