Once past the sandy beginning section the trail heads off into the forest. Pine needles cover the trail and hide every little bump. This is not too bad if you anticipate the bumps. If you’re not paying attention this can launch you into aerial flight. Takeoffs are the easy part, it's the landings that are tricky! About 5 miles into the ride my thighs began to burn with the intensity of 1,000 suns! If you've never ridden a unicycle, it takes at least double the effort of riding a bicycle! This is one of the reasons I enjoy the challenge of riding unicycles. Back to the ride...
I made lots of friends along the way none of which were very nice! I was riding along when a seemingly cute little lizard tried to kill me. He ran right into my path. Not wanting to hurt the little guy I veered hard to the right, catching a root I would have otherwise avoided. This root sent me into another UPD... I swear I saw a little grin on his face as I stood up and dusted off the dirt. I met my next friend just as unexpectedly. He came in the form of a 12 foot snake! Okay, he might have been closer to 12 inches but he seemed like 12 foot at the time. I was riding along and saw this little snake from out of nowhere. He scared the poop out of me but I don't think he was expecting to see a 6'4" giant riding a unicycle through his neighborhood that day either. He coiled up right in the middle of the trail and I whizzed by as fast as I could. Once past him I stopped and got out the camera phone. When I went back to take a picture I found him still coiled up and shaking his little tail. That's right, shaking his little tail. I decided to leave this little critter alone! The last friend(s) I met were not nice at all. Someone decided it was a great idea to put a honey bee farm on the side of the trail. I've always told my kids that if you don't mess with bees, they won't mess with you. I might have to revise that. I walked by the bees, not messing with them at all. Some of them started flying over to check me out. I'm not sure if it was all the carbon dioxide I was giving off or what but they decided they did not want me anywhere near their honey. After I watched the first one land on me and insert his stinger into my arm, I knew I better get out of there fast. There's nothing fast about running on a sandy trail with a 14 lb unicycle in tow while getting stung by bees.
By this time my quads were beyond burning. There was not a single dry spot to be found on my clothing! It was 80 degrees and I was feeling it! My legs were becoming exhausted to the point I was making careless mistakes. Thankfully, my kids called me and I took a little break to talk to them.
Fortunately, the rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. Until next time…
