And I have a funny shaped briuse now.

In the middle of my forehead.

I don't crash very often (good job too) but I managed it twice this morning. It was beautiful, crisp, mostly clear and frosty. A lot of the mud was frozen still at 8.30 when we left the car park in Watlington. Al's pics of the ride are here.

Prang 1 was from having to jump drainage channels cut across the trail - they consisted of a trench about 12" deep and 2 feet wide, with the earth from the channel piled at the lip - first one was OK, but the second one I landed slightly squiffed and the front wheel let go. I bruised and painful knee later, I managed to climb back on the bike.

Prang 2 was at the end of the ride. We were just riding the last couple of miles back on the ridgeway when conditions deteriorated to 'complete quagmire'. Cue a little detour on 'permissive bridleway'. Al had dropped his front wheel down a hole, almost falling in the process, and steadied himself by stopping and dabbing. I was close behind, and braked hard to avoid him. When I'd almost stopped my front wheel too dropped into a dip, gently easing me over the bars at almost no speed, to land on my head! I've now got a strange shaped bruise in the middle of my forehead from the helmet :-/ What made it funny was that Al, having caused me to fall, didn't hear the 'thump' and rode off leaving me laying in a heap on the trail. After completing self-testing (anything hurt? can I feel everything OK? arms and legs move?) I climbed back on unhurt and wobbled off to eventually catch them.

Still, it was a good ride.