by Hugo Martin from the Los Angeles Times

Not the ocotillo. Anything but the ocotillo.

As I flew over the handlebars of my mountain bike on a rocky trail outside of El Paso, I knew my landing would be hard. I just prayed I would not land on those nasty ocotillo plants that bordered the bike trail like roadside land mines.

Even a prickly pear cactus or an agave plant would be a better landing alternative to the ocotillo, whose quills extend like hypodermic needles.

But I lucked out. I landed on a patch of hard gravel — a feather-soft landing, compared with the cactus thorn beds I missed by just a couple of feet.

After two days of mountain biking in the Redd Road mountain trails northeast of El Paso, I understood why folks in the Lone Star State say “Don’t mess with Texas.”