Death by bicycle

I swear to god, if I die riding a bicycle, it will be in a parking lot, f*cking around before a real ride.

The other day, DT and I met for a quick after work ride. I get to the meeting location (parking lot) first and get all my crap together for the ride. DT arrives and starts getting ready. As he's doing that, I'm tooling around on my beater SS (sans helmet, of course. This is a parking lot, why would I ever need a helmet in a parking lot?). Ride up a curb. Ride down a curb. Ride over some gravel. Ride back up a curb. Ride up a tiny incline. Ride back down a curb. Pull up on the front end so I can wheelie drop and land with both wheels at the same time. Stomp too hard on the pedal. Pull up too hard on the bars. End up pulling a wheelie and going all the way over, landing flat on my back on the pavement still clipped into my bike (which is now over top of me). Thankfully, I kept my chin tucked down towards my chest. Otherwise I could very well have cracked the back of my melon on the asphalt, braining myself.

A few years back, the situation is similar. I'm in a parking lot before a ride, waiting for other folks to get ready. It's winter. I decided to ride up onto a mound of snow that had been plowed off of the lot. I ride up to it at speed, pull a wheelie, hit the mound, and come to a dead-stop. I stand there for a bit (minutes? seconds? it feels like a long time), front wheel two feet off the ground on the snow pile, rear wheel on the asphalt. Then slowly fall flat over on to my right side hitting the asphalt. Never even clipped out of the bike. That time (helmeted, thankfully) I managed to bash the shit out of my elbow. An injury which continued to nag me for months after the event.

So, moral of the stories boys and girls? Wear your helmet. Always. Cuz them parking lots are dangerous places. Especially if you're an idiot. Like me.