Be careful riding in unfamiliar territory

Went out for an evening blast around the park tonight, 3rd night in a row and starting to get confident again after not riding much over the winter.

At the end I decided to explore a little bit on the far side of a car park I normally whizz past.

I'm having a blast, carving it up, it's a little past dusk though and so the light level is pretty poor.

I head for this gate connecting the car park to a dirt path - only to find as I get closer that it's got a cattle grid like this



Whoops!

It's too late to brake in time, probably going at about 75% throttle in fast mode and end up jumping off and grabbing the right fence.

Landed with one foot going straight through the grate and getting soaked half way up my leg in manky cattle grid sludge.

All in all, it actually went surprisingly well, I could easily have broken or twisted my ankle pretty bad if I didn't go off at an angle into the fence to stop my forward motion.

I guess the lesson of the day is always ride more cautiously in unfamiliar territory, you never know what's around the bend or when the road conditions may deteriorate too quickly for you to react!

Phew