Whew... I've had some bad ones, all three within the past year.
First, and worst of all, was actually not on a motorized bike at all... just a regular mountain bike. I was listening to "You Might Die Trying" by Dave Matthews on these awesome pair of portable hedphones (KSC75 drivers), and I started pedaling as fast as I possibly could out of the Sonic parking lot to catch up with my friends who were already 50 feet ahead of me in the street. I decided to bunny hop at an angle over this curb onto some flat, white pavement. I'm a pro at jumping, but I wasn't really looking too far ahead on the pavement. There was a 4ft by 6ft patch of the nastiest looking black tar that had these little points all over it, similar to the bottom of a circuit board, but this nasty black patch was actually completely covered by these tiny white pebbles that matched the white concrete. Anyway, I landed on my front tire as usual, but since I was hauling butt at an angle... the front wheel folded and since I was standing up, the torque of my body carried my face right to this hidden, pointy tar patch. I had a chance to scream "Oh Sheet" so that my friends could see what was about to happen, since they'd prolly be the ones to take me to the hospital. They said my face slid at least 3 feet with the bike above me the whole way. I uploaded a picture of the accident in the helmet thread if you dare to see it. I now have a scar on my upper lip from where my lip was split (that's where the real impact was... I'm surprised, yet ecstatic at the same time, that it didn't knock my front teeth out) and there's also a line or two on my chin from that pointy ****. I think they make me look pretty hardcore, tho... so no problem in the long run.
Moral O' Crash -- Always look before you leap, wear your contacts, wear your helmet & gloves.
Second accident was pretty silly and my first MB accident. I was riding at night with no headlight in a parking lot with pavement similar to the kind in my first accident, and there were pebbles spread everywhere, but no real patches of pebbles. I nearly came to a complete stop, then decided to turn around, but I had to pick the place where there was an inch high cluster of pebbles... and down I go, scratching the palms of both hands and my shoulder now has this annoying little protruding red scar, like a bullet wound kinda. That's prolly my worst scar because it's so bright red and protruding. ****es me off that I got the worst scar from going 2mph.
Moral O' Crash -- Get a friggin' headlight and use it, wear your contacts for better nighttime visibility, wear your helmet & gloves.
Third accident came after I stayed the night at a friend's apartment. In the morning, she had to go to work early, so I had to leave. I took a leak and then went straight for the bike, stating I'd beat her to her work since it was on the way back to my house. I was fiddling with the lock and something else, and she got a decent head start... so I start thinking "Go, go, go!" to myself. I get to an intersection, and as I'm turning left onto this wide road that even has a bicycle lane, I look back to check for an oncoming SUV. And before you know it, I turn straight ahead and then realize I'm already at the rightmost white line of the bike lane, about to hit a curb. There was nothing I could do, so I just put my hands out and flew, scratching my palms, which had just got done healing. I was more or less sleep riding... my face was expressionless from the moment I was woken up all the way 'til after I had bandaged myself up and realized I had sprained or broken my wrist. It's been almost 4 weeks since that happened, and I've just gotten 80+% functionality back in my wrist within the past week. I think there's still a slight chance that it was fractured, but I can't do anything about it now. As long as I can do a couple pushups, I think I'll make a full recovery sooner or later.
Moral O' Crash -- Don't rush, don't race (esp. a car with transmission), don't ride if you're not fully awake and alert, wear your helmet & gloves.
Whew... that was tough for me to go thru all that again. I hope someone learns a lesson, 'cause I'm doing all this so you guys don't have to go thru this stuff. I have finally started wearing my gloves on every ride, but the helmet is another matter... I don't wanna draw more attention to myself from the po-po's. I am also 100% alert while riding now, with a headlight at night, and I'll never race more than a straight, visible shot.
