1985: I was sprinting my cruddy little Mongoose mtn bike to an agreed-upon location between my friends and I. We had different ideas as to which way would be quickest, so we split up and pedaled like hell to the destination. I tried to bank sharply at an intersection when the bike hit an oil patch and dropped me. I rolled with the bike through the intersection right as my cronies were coming up the hill. Apparently, it was some sight as they laughed like hell. This taught me to ride with a helmet and a shirt on at all times.

1996: I crashed in my own gravel driveway. Sounds stupid, huh? I was about to turn into my driveway at a fair pace (17mph). I had to navigate around my neighbor's van which was always parked at the very end of the driveway except this time, there was company over and their car was parked directly adjacent to the van and out of my view. When I banked into the turn and saw the car I tried to steer sharply but my tires were already on the gravel. They stuck and I went over the top of the bars, landing in the driveway with most of my weight on my ribs, two of which broke. I've suffered chronic back pain since this incident and a recent MRI has revealed 2 herniated disks which I may have been walking around with since the incident. The bike was fine. Like the other accident, the people outside at the apartment complex across the street who witnessed it just laughed and laughed and laughed.