Careful out there

We biked a metric century on Saturday (100 km or 62 mi) in 100 degree heat. Five miles into the ride, one of my riding partners failed to negotiate a hard turn in some gravel and plowed into a ditch head first at 20 mph+. Some of these old farm to market roads around here were built with sharp turns, as they maneuvered the easements along property lines as much as possible in some instances to minimize the interruption of property.

He's minus a tooth and has a jammed neck and plenty of road rash, but one look at his helmet here shows what could have happened had he not been wearing it. He laid out in the ditch until he figured out he was sitting in a bed of ants and poison ivy. Ouch.