Don't lose focus...

Two, count them, TWO life-flashed-before-my-eyes moments today on the way in.

First I was flying down this steep short hill after doing a short steep climb on the edge of a small cliff. There's a right turn that I usually go slow around but today I just dove into the turn and leaned hard. As I started to come out of the turn I hammered the pedals and I WAS IN THE LOWEST GEAR! The rear tire came up off the ground and then slammed down hard. Then it rocked back and forth and the bike fished left and right and left again. Usually that is when you go down. In this case it would have meant going over the little ravine. But thankfully it just sort of straightened itself out and I continued up the next climb.

Second time I was descending right after the next climb. I got to about 40 mph and I felt a rock hit the front of my foot and then I heard it bounce on the ground. Then another rock hit my foot. I looked down and saw that it wasn't a rock but the battery for my headlight. It was tethered to the light by its cord and was bouncing hitting the ground and my feet. Now it bounced right into my front wheel. Fortunately it bounced off the spokes and started bouncing some more. By this time I'm pulling as hard as I can on the brakes but they aren't much good. I unclipped my right foot and I'm using it to block the battery from bouncing into the front wheel. I don't know if it gets into the spokes if the spokes will just shear off the cord or if I'm going over the handlebars "Breaking Away" style. As the bike slowed to about 15 mph the battery bounced off the ground and I leaned over and snatched it out of mid air, coasted to the bottom of the hill, and reattached it to the frame.

So anyway, I saw my life flash before my eyes twice today. Let me tell you. My life is fucking awesome!