The day was an ordinary race day. I packed the truck and trailer and my dad and I headed down to Kentucky. The trip to Kentucky was horrible, it took eight hours through huge hills with lots of twists and turns. Luckily, it was going to be worth the drive. I was going to race my dirtbike and make some money.

When we pulled up to the pea gravel paradise, the racetrack, I could see all my competitors for the day. People I have faced hundreds of times before. People I have beat many times and people I have trouble beating every time. I continued my normal racing routine, unload my beautiful honda crf250r, sign up for the day, and talk to my friends/competitors. The cool thing about flattrack is, no matter what happens on the track, you are still friends at the end of the day.

When I was talking to my friend, he offered me the chance to ride his super fast honda 450. It was modified to the limit with the ability to go around 115 mph. I was quick to say I would love too. He told me to be careful because of the power it had. I decided I would take the bike out in practice to see if I could handle the power of the beast.

As the practice time approached, I got ready to ride. I put my leathers on, my boots, my neck brace, gloves, and helmet. I looked at the practice order and I noticed I was first out on my 250cc. I got on the 250cc and rode it around to warm it up, then I got in line. This is when the butterflies start to build. Then the moment came when they let us out on the track.

I went out there in third place and started flying around on the track. I loved this bike because I have rode it many times and knew all the tricks to it. I was nervous to ride the 450cc because I had never rode it before. To me It was a whole new bike, with all new tricks. Then came the time to finally ride it. I had just finished the first practice and now its time for the second practice.

As I am sitting in line to go out, the butterflies in my stomach are overwhelming. I have \never had butterflies like this before. My dad is trying to calm me down, but it doesn’t work, the butterflies are here to stay.

The moment has come, we are going out onto the track. I went out towards the back of the line, so I would not be in anyone’s way. I give the bike some gas and the bike takes off. I have never been on anything so fast in my life. It was crazy. I start around the track and everything is fine, until my friend flies by me. This is when I realized I needed to pick up the pace. Which at the time, seemed like a good idea.. Sadly, it turned out to be a really bad thing.

As I try to pick up the pace, to keep up with my friend, everything starts to go wrong. At first, everything was fine. I caught up to him and even passed him, but then the bike hit a rough part of the track and high sided. This is when the bike goes from sliding left to all of the sudden jerking towards the right and it launches the rider of the bike. The next thing I remember is laying 30 feet away from the bike and not being able to see.

All I could hear was my dad saying there he is, he is waking up now. This is when the paramedics started with the questions, How old are you? Where are you? How did you do this? They ask these questions to see if I had a concussion. Apparently, if you have to think about the answers to those questions, you probably have a concussion. Even though concussions are a huge deal and can be very dangerous the biggest problem for me was my sight.

I do not know if you have ever lost your sight, hopefully you have not. It was the worst thing that has ever happened to me. It was the most helpless I have ever felt. Luckily, this effect only lasted for about an hour. With my vision back, I thought I would be able to ride again, until my dad reminded me that I still had a concussion.

The rest of the night, I just watched the races and helped other people. I had to take medicine for the killer headaches I had. Luckily, the paramedics cleared me to go home because there was no need to go to the hospital. After hearing this news, I knew that my night was over and it was time to head home.

The effects of the concussion lasted for many days. I had many headaches, I got dizzy at randoms times, and I even would forget what was going on at times. Concussions are a very dangerous thing. They should be treated with extreme care because people could die from concussions. In my case, I got lucky. I may not always be this lucky , either will you, so make sure you treat concussions with extreme care.