A bike ride

Here is a little essay I wrote for school recently.

A bike ride lesson


As children we seldom tend to think about things such as our mortality or how easy it is to injure ourselves. Unfortunately, it usually takes an accident to realize just how fragile we really are.

I think that I was a fairly typical child. I rode my bike, pretended to play karate with my brother, and played out war scenes in the back yard like I was soldier on TV. One summer day I decided I wanted to go for a bike ride. It was cool out for a change. I remember that it was slightly overcast and you could smell ozone in the air which meant that rain might come soon. Taking advantage of the break in the heat I borrowed my brothers bike for a quick ride. It was a black and green huffy mountain bike. Looking back it was probably a cheap Wal-Mart special but at the time it was a vehicle to adventure in my opinion.

In my excitement I hopped on my brothers bike and rode away into the breeze. Unfortunately I didn’t tell anyone where I was going and I happened to only be about 10 at the time. These types of thoughts were far from my mind though. I was focused on the breeze running through my hair and clothes and excitement at how fun it was to slowly ride up a hill and then turn around and race down it at blazing speeds.

After two or three of these hill climbs I could start to feel myself getting a little tired. My legs started to burn with that all too familiar ache from the pedaling. The sweat had begin to run down my face and at times would get into my eyes and cause them to sting and water. Soon it would be time to head home, but first, a finale. I begin the slow trek of pumping the bikes pedals up to the highest peak of the hill. I pushed with all the might my legs could muster. My lungs burned for air and my mind started to contemplate getting off and pushing the bike the rest of the way. Finally I reached the top and I stopped to take a break. I got off of the bike and took a moment to rest and check out the view from the top of the hill. I could see miles into the distance and I thought I could even see the roof of my house. The wind was a little stronger on the hill and sent dust into my face, cutting my break a little shorter than I would have liked. I was okay with that though. The thrill of racing down the biggest hill in our neighborhood would soon be upon me.

I mounted my adventure bike and began pedaling down the hill. My pace started off slow but soon picked up to the equivalent of little kid light speed. Bushes and trees raced past my peripheral vision with a blur. As I approached maximum velocity and the end of my ride my bike sped out into the final intersection. Unfortunately for me this was the only intersection where my road had a stop sign, but being ten and having fun over-road any understanding I had of what a stop sign is. The stop sign was a red blur on my right and then suddenly there was another red blur on my left, except this one was coming towards me. At that point everything went black and I believe I had a short dream of swimming in the icy cold waters of Lake Tahoe. I came to a few moments later with a halo of faces in my vision. I was surrounded by faces that I did not recognize and a brief moment of panic took over me. My panic soon abated as I heard reassuring voices saying “It’s alright buddy,” and “don’t worry, help is on the way.”

After I fully came around and realized what had happened I felt my back, elbows, and knees come ablaze with a fiery pain that instantly watered my eyes. Soon after this my head began to pound with a sickening ache. I had suffered a concussion and severe road rash but was otherwise alright. Two days later though I was a scab covered mess and I realized something important. I can be hurt. I can be hurt very badly if I don’t pay attention. Me or one of my family members could die in the blink of an eye and never see it coming. Growing up I thought I was invincible, but after I earned the title “car killer” I learned that unfortunately I was not like the super heroes that I pretended to be in the back yard.