Since we're swapping war stories, it was about 40 years ago around 1980 or 1981 since I was about 9 or 10. I remember for sure that I was in 4th grade. I had signed up for a bike-a-thon being put on for our school to raise money for something or other. The route was a paved county road 6 miles out of town to the highway and back. Since I had a paper route, and I had done the ride the year before, it was going to be no big deal.
I had my good old trusty Western Flyer banana seat bike with the ape hanger handlebars, and rode down to the highway and was on my way back to town. Made it up the big hill and was on the descent, with the wind to my back. I remember I had just waved at some other riders going up the hill when all of a sudden my handlebars started shaking, and then my bike went out from under me. I hit the pavement and slid on my face, skinning up my knees in the process. Luckily it didn't take long for one of the adults in a pickup to find me. Ended up getting several stitches under my nose and a couple in my chin. Still have the scars on my face and knees to this day.
I really didn't know why I had crashed but I did notice when they were loading up my bike the rear tire was flat. I figure that my tire went flat on the descent resulting in loss of control. Had it happened just a few minutes earlier on the climb I'd probably have been OK. A couple days later, with sore knees and stitches in my face, I patched up my tube and went back to riding. Luckily the crash didn't result in any fear of getting back on the bike.
Luckily this was my only major bike wreck. I can't even think of any minor ones, unless you count trying to turn around on a sidewalk, getting my tire off the side and falling over while stationary.
Last edited by Milton Keynes; 08-19-21 at 07:20 AM.