Ariella grabs tree on a hot July day

 The tree grabbing story -
-- it's a hot July day. I'm out with my boys, my brother and Ariella, Ariella's out riding with us on her new (used) Kona Coiler that I tossed together for her with a bunch of misc parts I had laying around. Yes, currently, with her bike skills, this bike is way overkill for her. This is the first time Ariella has used a bike like this on a real trail system. She's only been on one other "XC" trail so far and that trail was very tame. Toward the end of the ride, she's getting tired but, she was following my boys pretty close until she got into a little trouble. It was a gradual downward sloping hill that had several small drop-offs along with being somewhat rooty and technical for any rookie rider. Ariella's speed increased to the point where she was about to lose control. It wasn't looking good for her. Endo? fly off the trail? assoverteakettle biff? what's it gonna be? She smacked head-on into a tree just before the trouble really hit. Somehow, she had the composure to just grab the tree to keep her from tumbling down the hill.