Greatest Photo Of Me, Ever
To set the background on this, I had gone up to Flagstaff with three of my buddies, Mort (the photographer), Craig (his brother) and Jorge. We were staying in a million-dollar plus home on the fairway at Forest Highlands. Our plan was to get established and then go back down via Oak Creek Canyon to Sedona. But inevitably things got delayed and so we're going up Schnebly Hill Road for a mountain bike excursion as the sun is going down.
First run down the hill, the sun has actually set, and it's rapidly getting dark. Mort is driving the truck, while the other three of us are biking down the road. Because of the darkness we actually had to keep close to the truck so we could see the road in front of us. At this one point, I think the road is turning right, but after committing myself in that direction, I see that it's actually a dogleg left. So I'm turning hard, while trying not to go down on the dirt and rock of the road.
I almost made it. In fact, I actually managed to turn the bike to the left, but my balance was still on the right side. And when I put my right foot down, the ground crumbled underneath me and I went over the cliff.
No kidding, I thought I was going to die. Instead, I fell about four feet, past some rocks and into a bush. My injuries were limited to a scratch on my right wrist. At the point you see me, I'm laughing hysterically. Winston Churchill once observed that there is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot and and missed, and I had definitely dodged a bullet that time. Kudos to Mort for getting the shot on one of the early digital cameras (my guess is that this was around 1996-1997).
