The Serpent and the Cyclist

Piqued your interest with the title?

So after a productive afternoon of watching the first two Bourne movies with my friends in preparation for seeing the third (hopefully tomorrow), I decided to go for a run before starting on what I am calling my first official order of invitations (for a birthday party! Yay!)


The trail I run on is through a swamp and ends at the beach, so there are signs aplenty warning of alligators and snakes (no, I haven't seen any gators). I've seen snakes twice. The first time I almost ran across one (I thought it was a stick...and then it moved...but I think I moved faster). I'm pretty sure it was just the garden variety. The second time, it was about 100 feet in front of me and just crossing the trail. Today, however, I rounded the corner to see two men standing in front of a bicycle that was lying in the path. The held up their hands for me to stop and called out that there was a snake under the bike. Seeing the snake, which looked suspiciously familiar, I asked if they knew what kind it was...the answer to my fairly ill-timed question was "the kind that hurts you" (and the tone implied I had asked a stupid question...well, I was just curious to see if I was right...and I was, I came home and looked it up...it was a water moccasin...longer than my arm and as big around as my upper forearm...yikes!)

It appears this poor unsuspecting cyclist also recognized the type of snake as he rounded the corner and hit the snake. I have a feeling he must have taken a flying leap off of the bike, judging by the bike's position. The bike fortuitously landed on the snake, pinning it under the rim. Fortunate, maybe, but the snake was now royally torqued off and the cyclist just wanted his bike back.

Well, a metal stake aided in the near decapitation and subsequent flinging into the swamp.
As I started running again, I made sure my headphone wires were securely tucked in...I could just see one of the wires brushing my arm and setting off a delayed case of the heebee jeebees and I would look like I was running to an Irish jig rather than the rocking tunes of The Bravery and Plumb.

And that ends today's excitement.