Originally Posted by ortliebsforever

...I came around a curve to face an enormous timber rattler sunning him/her self by stretching across the trail. This sucker was huge. The width of the jaws was as wide as my closed fist.

I skidded to a stop before mangling the monster in my wheels. We looked at each other for a minute or so until the creature decided to crawl off over the cliff. Whew! I thought, as I clipped into my right pedal to go on my way. Then I found out something was wrong. I looked down and my rear tire was flat. I had to tear the bags off, get out the tools and fix the flat on that narrow stretch of trail while imagining all the monster rattlers ready to surround me.
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