When I was twelve
It hadn't been long since I'd learned to ride a bike (I was a late learner and also a lazy bugger), and at my mate's 12th birthday party, we were playing a game which involved riding a bike down the hill by his house to see who could travel fastest.

OK, but there were a number of issues with this bike, which would have put off any sensible person from riding it. But not us dumb kids.

It had two soft tyres.
The front brake sort of worked. The rear one had a broken lever, so was actuated by pulling on the cable, the end of which was tied round the chassis (this was not an effective retardation mechanism).
The handlebars were loose.

But it did have a working speedometer.

So the plan was, we cycled up the top of the hill (fortunately this was out in the country, so car-free), and free-wheeled down again, shouting out the speed as we passed the house.

On my turn, I just got past his house, when...wobble...wobble....crash!

Off I came, onto a tarred but rough road. I bashed a dent in my forehead, smashed my two front teeth, took half the skin off my hands and had an enormous gash in my knee through which my kneecap was poking. Fortunately the latter was, and has remained, entirely painless. I only noticed it when a pool of blood appeared around my right foot.

To this day, I have a bash on my head, a scar on my knee and crowned teeth.

One bit of good news though - I was fastest!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 20 Dec 2007, 13:42, Reply)