The Stories Of My Life

Bicycles And Bruises

There comes a time in every kid's life where they attempt to impress anyone older than them, whether it be brothers, sisters, or cousins. They want to show off certain things they can do in an effort to make themselves look "cool". I can't say that I was any different. 

It was the middle of July, and my cousins had come to stay the summer with me. Every day, we would go on walks. Most of the time their boyfriends would tag along. One day, I got the bright idea that I was going to impress everyone. We had an enormous hill in our driveway, and I decided that I would get on my bike and ride straight down. 

After dragging my bicycle to the very top of the hill, I stood there and carefully planned out how I would execute this "trick". After being there for at least four or five minutes, I was ready to go. Everyone stood behind me and watched as I got on my bike. I had done this before without any problems, and I was sure that I could do it again. 

I steadied myself and began to ride down this monster of a hill.  I felt the breeze going rapidly through my hair. I had no type of safety gear on, whatsoever. Everything seemed to be going fine for the first few minutes. It almost felt like I was flying through the air, as dumb as that sounds. I closed my eyes for a few seconds to take in the warm, summer breeze. 

I began to hear my cousins in the distance, behind me, yelling. When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was my dog running out in front of me. I had no idea what to do, so I just froze. The next thing I knew I was going over my handlebars and flying through the air. I landed on my head, which hurt like hell. Everyone came running over to, seeing if I was okay. My cousin picked me up, and I just started laughing. I have absolutely no idea why. It was probably just the rush of adrenaline I caught while I was airborne. It wasn't until I realized that I'd hurt myself, that 

I was picked up, and taken back to my house. After realizing that I'd hurt myself, I began to cry like a baby. My head was throbbing, mercilessly. Nothing was broken or injured in any way. I had a few cuts and a ton of bruises. It was a good year or two before I ever got back on a bike.