When I was six or seven, I learned how to ride my very first bike, and ever since, I would go into town, and I would try to get a lot of speed. The path on the way to town from my house has two hills that you go up and then down. On the downhills, I would try to get as much speed as possible. Now keep in mind that I didn’t use a helmet, even though my mom always told me to. And I guess I really thought I was invincible and couldn’t get hurt because nothing had ever happened before. I also thought I was the best because I couldn’t find a hill challenging enough for me.

One day, a kid who I guess I was kind of friends with showed up while I was riding my bike behind my house. He was with his older sibling’s group of friends, and they showed me this big hill behind my house that I surprisingly had never noticed even though I had lived there my whole life. The hill had a few light curves and seemed easy enough, so I went with them. While I was walking up this road that was filled with a thin layer of gravel, I was skeptical at first because this was a much bigger hill than I had ever gone down. But they reassured me and one by one they went down. I was the second to last one to go and it felt great. I was all hyped up, expecting something very scary, but it didn’t even live up to my expectations.

One day I went up on my own. At this point, I had ridden down the hill many times. I would normally go full speed till the bottom and when I saw the 90-degree turn coming up, I’d slam my brakes. Now keep in mind, I was still not wearing a helmet. It was a hot day and we had just eaten lunch. I wanted to go ride my bike down the same hill, so that’s what I did. The walk up wasn’t too challenging even if it was hot.

When I got to the top I just wanted to go full speed down, so I went back a couple of meters and started pedaling as fast as I could to get as much speed as possible. Everything was going fine until I saw the turn coming up. I slammed the brake, but it didn’t work. I immediately panicked and saw the crash that was coming. I knew there was nothing I could do, so I just accepted it and closed my eyes. Immediately, my face slammed against a metal fence that was held up by thick wood. I had a scratch from my forehead past my eye to the top of my cheek. I don’t exactly remember what happened but I do remember short snippets, and after I crashed, the same kid who showed me the hill was in front of me. I followed him to his house and there I remember looking at the mirror and seeing how bad it actually looked. Then I wake up the next day. That’s all I remember from that day, and in case you were wondering, I did get a mouthful from my mom.

That was the first concussion I ever got, and according to my sister, I was just repeating phrases constantly. This was like a slap to the face waking me up telling me that even though I had never fallen or gotten hurt riding a bike, it doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. I realized that anyone can get hurt, even if they ride the same bicycle on the same road they always do. There’s no telling what could happen, it’s better to be safe than sorry, and always use safety precautions like helmets.

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