It was time to launch myself off the ramp. I received the ramp from a friend last week for RC cars, but I thought, “why can’t it be used as a bike ramp too?” I had used it for RC cars and I had imagined myself on my bike soaring through the air as the wind rushed past my face. The idea of the amusement that would come from the experience was overwhelming; I just had to do it. So I did.

It was 2021, one year into the Covid pandemic. Because I had nothing to do, my stupidity was at its peak. I was very bored at this time (not so different from other days) so I had to find something to do. Unfortunately, my options were very limited too. I had no sports, I was done with school, and my screen time was used up. 

“Go outside,” my mom said, “or do something productive in the house.” That was code for go outside or do chores. I chose to go outside because doing chores was the last thing I wanted to do and, what else am I to do inside.  

I strutted out the door into the garage. I grabbed the ramp and placed it out on the street. Then I went back into the garage, whipped out my bike and rolled it out onto the street. I was biking earlier that day while it was rainy so my bike was wet. I didn’t care though. The ramp looked intimidating but I thought, “People go off jumps 20 times the size of this ramp, I’ll be fine.” I strapped on my helmet and went around for some warm up riding. 

“This is going to be fun,” I said to myself as I felt the wind rush past my face. The rain had stopped since earlier that day but I could still feel the moisture in the air. Then the wind picked up. It howled as leaves started cascading down from the trees. I felt as if I was in the middle of a hurricane of leaves. I could hardly see, but that didn’t stop me. I dashed to the ramp as fast as I could, focusing on the ramp as I saw blurs of red, orange, and yellow flying past my face. All of my focus was on the ramp. My front tire hit the start of the ramp and I started going up. Then my back tire hit and I wasn’t sure what was to come. The rush of cool air as I flew through the air was like no other feeling I had ever encountered. I felt like a bird. “I’m flying!” I thought. But it was all too good to be true. It just had to be. And it was.

Then, I realized that my left foot had slipped off the petal. When my tire hit the ground, reality came crashing down. I felt a shock of pain shoot through my leg as I rolled to a stop. Looking down, I saw the blood oozing from my shin. 

I thought of how stupid I was as I limped into the house. Then I thought, “Was it worth it? Maybe. Maybe, I shouldn’t do it again, but it was worth it.” 

“What are you doing inside?” my mom exclaimed confusedly from the other room, “I told you to go outside, and I didn’t mean for only a few minutes.”

“Yeah, I thought it was a good idea to use the RC ramp as a bike ramp,” I said as I showed her my leg.

She then went up stairs to grab the hydrogen peroxide, and I went to get a paper towel to wipe the blood off my shin.

I learned that day that you should only use things for what they are made for, not what you think they could be used for. But, it was still worth it, so…maybe next summer I could  put the ramp under my slip-n-slide? Yeah, that would be awesome… maybe.