Flash Fiction

He woke up. It was 11:30am. Today was the day he would conquer the Cliffside trail.  This trail was traitorous and notoriously dangerous later in the day due to high winds.  He had a late night and had over slept. This wasn’t going to stop him.  He went to the kitchen and grabbed a bite to eat and loaded his bike and gear into his old civic.  Then he hopped onto the freeway going to meet up with another fellow rider.

The adventurer pulled up to the trail head and assembled his bike.  Because he hadn’t slept the night before he decided to rest his eyes and lay down on the car hood.  An hour later he awoke but his friend had not yet arrived.  His phone was dead when he tried to call him.  So he waited another hour.

His friend was stuck in traffic due to an accident on the highway.  He was near the front of the line and could over hear the firemen’s radios crackling at the scene.  They told him he would be waiting there a while.  It was very windy even just on the highway.  He could only imagine how bad it would be on the trail.  After several attempts to reach his friend at the trail failed, he gave up. He hoped his friend wouldn’t try to pedal the trail this late in the day.

It was now 3pm.  He had been waiting for an hour and a half.  He wanted to beat the trail and assumed his friend was not coming.  He got on his bike and tore down the trail.  Dodging trees and roots while keeping in mind the huge drop-offs to his side was not easy.  Especially while tired and having the wind trying to tip you over.  His technique was off and he became easily frustrated when roots got the better of him.  He was nearing ‘The Ridge’.  A narrow path with 30 foot drops on either side.  Because he was no longer enjoying the ride he decided to get it done as fast as possible.  An overcorrection on the loose dirt was all it took.

The fireman approached the friend in the car.  He said that they were done and they just needed the tow truck to clear the road.  As the fireman was walking away, his radio crackled.  There had been an accident on the mountain.  He overheard a biker had fallen off ‘The Ridge’.  The firefighters all ran onto the truck and sped off.