My first and last big crash on a road bike was when I was about 11 or 12 back in the old country. There was this place called The Circle and it's about 1km in circumference. I was with a group of friends doing laps... of course we are racing amongst ourselves... and I was in 3rd position, drafting, and about 1 1/2 feet away from the curb. The person behind me was in the inner lane behind me and his front wheel is about 3/4 way in from my rear wheel. I knew he was back there so I was keeping my line so I won't hit his front, but the worst case scenario happened... for some reason there was a rock about 2 1/2 fist-size in the inner lane that our friend in front of us pointed at. I saw it already prior to being notified and I was inches out of the path. However, my friend behind me was trying to avoid it and clipped my back. I felt a huge wiggle, I felt a tug on my shirt, I looked back to my right and saw my friend letting go of my shirt as I was trying to keep my balance, I saw him falling in the curb on the grass, then I basically scraped on the asphalt with my bike on top of me. I was still a little kid, but I was going pretty fast because it seemed like I scraped forever.

I rode back home and everyday after that with a huge gash on my right shoulder, 3/4 of my right arm, right hip, right knee and shin, with a broken toe and fractured right wrist. You would think that something like that would stop me from riding at that age... I was a hard-headed little kid even after being scolded by my parents. I went back to The Circle when I was fully cured...