Over Night at La Grange Hospital Followed by Electric Fence Fun!

I spent last night in Austin, watching a musical.  So rather than driving all the way back to Houston, I decided to find a place in La Grange, since at 8am I was going to be going to Warda to mountain bike.

It was about 2 am and I decided to just crash at the La Grange Hospital.  So, I parked, pulled out my beach towel and tried to sleep for the next 7 hours.  It wasn't pleasant, but it was free and I got some sleep so I wasn't completely trashed when it came to ride.

So, that was the stay at the La Grange Hospital (;

I waited on Helena and Mike to show up, they got there shortly after I did, so not much waiting around.  We geared up and headed on out!

This will be my first time on trails since I had my bike crash where I fractured my collar bone and separated my shoulder.  I was very much tentative out there.  So between that and having no fitness, I was slow.  I've lost my stamina to ride, and my technical abilities.  It was a bit ... Scary I guess.  Oh yeah, and I had no front brake either.  So I was down a bit on the braking power for some of those back hills out there.

But, since when would any of that stop me, right?  So out we went!  I struggled to keep up with Mike and Helena.  But it was good to be pushed like that, helped me get over some of the tentativeness I had around some of the stuff I should have zero problems, but still thought about too much.

So about half way through the trails, we get out of the trees onto the fields.  There is a pond that you ride around, and you go between the pond and a fence.  The fence also has an electric line on it, to help keep the cows away from each other.  So we come around the pond, and there is a big puddle in the way, looking deep we decide to dismount and walk around it.  Helena walked around the left side which was pond side.  I decided to go around the right side, which was fence side.  I knew the fence was electric. I have touched them before, and been zapped.  So I (thought I) knew what to expect on the fence should I accidentally touch it.  But I wasn't going to.  I grab ahold of the barb wired fence to steady myself, and start walking around the puddle.  And then my foot slipped and **ZAP** my hip touched the fence, and it felt like a wasp bite.  And there was also a popping/cracking/straightening in my spine as well when it happened.  WOW that was ... Shocking!  I couldn't do much but start laughing at it.  My life, the comic strip!

So my right leg feeling a little wonky from the zap, we get back on the bikes and head to the back forty! This is where I started to walk more than ride.  Because my front brake doesn't work, I couldn't go down the steep hills, so I walked them.   We finish up that lap, and take a breather, refuel, etc.  Then we head on out for a second lap.

This time I'm feeling a bit better on the trails, and have a bit of a warm up in my legs, so I go out and do some harder riding on the fun bit at the start... And proceed to wear myself out! HA!  So I'm slowing down but building up confidence at the same time.  Kind of a dangerous combination, especially with no front brake.  So we get through the first half of the trails... up to where we come back out on the fields and I decide I'm done.  I don't want to do anything stupid.  So, I let the gang know I'm done but will wait  for them at the vehicles.

All in all it was a good ride today!  Very happy with it... Even with the zapping of the electric fence! Which, by the way I now have burn marks on hip where I touched the live wire.  Ouch!