“I want to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels.” I said excitedly to my dad while eating cereal. 

He looked up at me with a positive surprise and said “after breakfast we can take off your training wheels and start.” I quickly finished my cereal as I thought about how fun it would be to ride around on my own like a big kid and go anywhere I want. I ran outside like Usain Bolt to get my bike And get started. It was a small green bike with lots of designs on it of people doing flips on bikes, the bike had three ways of stopping, going backwards on the pedals or the handlebar brakes with each handle going to a different wheel, left for front and right for back. Once my dad got outside he took off the training wheels and we got started. We started on the grass because we had gravel roads. After one day I was ready to ride on the gravel road. 

My dad would hold the back of my bike as he pushed me along the road and I would balance the bike. After about five times of doing that he let go at the end and I was riding all on my own! I was doing it and then I fell over. It happened like this for about two more days. I just couldn’t get the balancing part of it. Until one day I finally did it! I was riding my bike           with ease and my dad wasn’t holding on to me. I rode around the house multiple times with my dad. I felt fully confident that I could do anything on a bike.

I then had a horrible idea, the worst idea possible. I would go down the hill behind the house. Now this wasn’t any normal hill,  it only had one way through and that was a gravel road that had a turn at the beginning and at the end. It was a forty five degree angle the whole way down, also it had lots of trees around it so I couldn't land on grass if I wanted to, only hard gravel is where I would land. The ending turn was tight and if I didn’t turn it was either a metal rusty fence or the biggest tree on the road for me. 

It was right after lunch and everyone was relaxing inside but me and my dad were outside at the top of the hill. 

My dad said “are you ready son” with a smile and I said yes with an even bigger grin. I took my feet off the ground and started to pedal a bit. Very quickly I picked up speed and immediately I froze up from fear, I went faster and faster. 

My dad yelled “slow down son!” I tried to stop by putting my feet on the ground but I couldn’t stop myself. The pedals started to move like saw blades once I took my feet off them. It was hard to balance because the road got bumpy and I started to panic. 

I then heard a yell in my panic, it was my dad yelling “the handle brakes son the handle brakes!” I quickly grabbed one and squeezed, but I made the huge mistake of grabbing the left brake. The front tire stopped and the bike flew me forward like a catapult and before I knew I was flying. Trees flew by me and I saw flashes of brown and green. Thoughts rush through my head like I was about to die, I thought how could my dad let me do this, he’s supposed to be my patron. Then I realized I had bitten off way more than I can chew and that I made a terrible mistake. I went head first towards a huge sharp rock and landed on my chin. 

I was knocked out cold for a minute until I woke up with my dad carrying me while running to the house yelling “CALL 911 CALL 911”

It all came flooding back quickly and I remembered what just happened and started to scream in pain. It felt like my jaw was broken and I was punched in the head. There was dirt and my mouth that tasted like worms and grass mixed with mud. All of it was the worst feeling I had ever felt! I was screaming and crying like I was just sentenced to death. My mom sees me out the window and my grandparents hear me yelling. Everyone rushes to the front door and sees me drenched in blood and a section missing from my chin. I immediately get rushed to the hospital and once I’m there I go to the emergency room. I get stitches done by a young blonde man who looks like he’s in his early 20s and they start to sew up my chin right away. They don’t even use anything to make my chin numb, they just let me feel the sharp needle go in and out of my chin. The blonde man tries to calm me down by asking me what I like.

I say “p-p-Pokémon” in a very stressful tone. The rest goes quickly and I go home with about 20 stitches and a huge bruise on my chin. After all that I didn’t go on my bike again for about 2 weeks, I was too scared. I always thought about choosing to do something before I did it afterwards and never got as badly hurt again. I still am like this today and I haven’t missed out on anything I didn’t want to do. Now I know that even when you feel extremely confident about something you should still be careful when doing it.