Fox River Trail sorta story for your amusement.
Recently i've identified a source of flats that i wouldn't have
expected.
Coyote [censored]. Yes, coyote [censored]!
It seems that coyotes like to eat bunnies, and the 'yotes don't always
completely chew their bunny snacks ten times before swallowing, which
leaves sharp little bones (like cracked femurs and ribs) mixed into
their [censored].
The problem arises not when go potty on the bike trail -- fresh scat is
pretty easy to avoid -- but a couple of weeks later, when the poo has
weathered into a light grey colored hairball on the asphalt.
A hairball with hollow pointy bones, that is.
The bunnyhair matrix of the hairball helps hold the pointy bunny bones
erect, like a little caltrops.
It's obviously not a problem for most people, but ... if you're riding
through the fox valley*, there are a couple of places where the yotes
like to [censored] on the trail and the flat potential is _surprisingly_ high.
Just don't ride over the hairballs. :-)
..max
who'da thunk?
(Worst spot i've found is about 100m east of Rt. 25 on the Batavia Spur
of the Illinois Prairie Path.)