Great thread! I am glad it was resurrected.

The first time I got on a bike, about 35 years ago at the age of 13 or so, I rode around a bit on a friend's stingray doing pretty well. I decided to bring it up a notch and tried a wheelie. Nobody saw me, so I just went into the house scraped up and let everyone think it was a simple spill for a first time rider... not an idiot trying to be a pro on his furst ride.

A couple of years later, I was riding my 3 speed bike which had no brakes. directly into the side of a moving car as I was delivering newspapers. No damage to me, and the bike was in better shape after the crash because it had some rust scraped off of the handlebars.

We move the calendar forward about 10 years, when I was riding my bike home from the shop where I had just bought it. I was turning into the parking lot of the barracks, and the rear wheel started to slide (I used to love high speed turns, and had no issues with sliding the tire, but I had never ridden a lightweight bike). As soon as the rear tire left the relatively smooth road and hit the rough asphault of the parking lot, I had my first tacoed wheel, less than 10 miles from when I picked up the bike.

A few years later I was riding in Okinawa and was coming off of the base to go home. It had been raining and I hit the metal cover over the binjo ditch and proceeded to slide my bike right over to the side of the road with plenty of witnesses...

Flash forward a another 20 years or so, and I was riding my Sedona on the road, and got to a stop sign. I don't ride clipless (or clips), so this should have been safe, but as I got to the point of stopping, I decided to turn the wheel sharper and get closer to the edge so I could step onto the curb and be more comfortable as I waited for the light to change. I discovered that at low speed with the front wheel turned sharply that it doesn't take too much pressure on the front brake to make you go over the handlebars... sideways.

A couple of years later, I went for a ride after reading in the forums, one thread was specifically talking about the fact that computers can be hazardous for some riders who pay more attention to them than they should while riding. While I read I was scoffing at people who can be that easily distracted, they must be idiots... Well wantiong an accurate mileage after my ride, I looked down and zeroed out my computer. I looked up just in time to realize that a collison with a fence around a dumpster was inevitable... No witnesses, but I had "fence rash" on that ride.

I am looking forward to getting clipless pedals this year, so I am sure I will have a follow-up post!