[Closed] OTB - close one

My long MTB training session got off to a slightly dodgy start on Saturday. Still in half light, an hour in I suddenly think 'oh I can do that cheeky descent of ..... at this time'

Dismount for the stile, clip in, head off over a slight crest into a quite steep dip and what's that [/b]it's a tree[b]. Brakes, weightlessness, oh ****, thud skid crunch, silence, I can move, my face is wet, it's blood, doesn't hurt much, it's only a nosebleed etc.

A large fallen beech tree was hidden in the dip about 15-25m after the crest. I wasn't going fast but the crest meant I had limited visibility and although in descend mode I wasn't in 'attack' both through complacency and because it was only about 30m from the stile. The crest slightly unweighted me, add in the handful of front brake and I went OTB into the loam (lucky no flints or roots) skidding on my nose and lip for a few inches before crunching into the tree.

Kask saved me from most of it. A scudge to my nose, fat lip, stiff neck and a welt on my chest. Very lucky - close to a face plant into the tree which could have been life changing. Garmin reckons I was doing 13mph when I came off.

Faced with going home early to wife I HTFUd and completed my 80m loop 🙂

Everything thereafter got a lot of wrists and heels down! The thought of what could have been is looming large now.........