A Personal Story by Anthony Wignall After what seemed like an eternity, the gray sky finally cleared and turned to a brighter blue, showing the welcoming signs of spring. The night rain left its fresh scent. The trees seem to breathe fresh, green air as I pass them. The closer I get to the bike path, the bigger my smile gets and I start to feel carefree. I'm heading to my favorite place in the world, the BMX bike path. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay I walk my bicycle across the last busy road to the hidden path in a forest. I roll through the track gates and feel a great weight lift on my part. Now I find myself in a hidden and secret place where there are no rules. There is no sound except that of the birds. The outside world no longer exists. I could feel myself slipping away into this sanctuary. The filtered sunlight illuminates the many colors of the dirt road. The smooth trunks of the rubber trees stand tall among the green leaves silhouetted against the blue sky. The shades of orange clay darken from red to brown where the water has drained into a reflective puddle. I stop right in the middle of the bike path and feel free for the first time in weeks. To my surprise I'm the only person here. This world is mine, at my fingertips. On the lunar surface surrounding me are deep holes and tall piles of carefully hand-sculpted earth, towering over me, snaking through the trees, sweeping left and right. I turn down the first runway and sail over the first jumps keeping low to maintain speed. I hit a banked curve and go around it, always gaining speed. Starting the straight, my legs start to hurt. Behind me all I leave is a trail of dust suspended in the air, which eventually settles to the ground from where it was disturbed. I launch into the final banked corner, turning it at my fastest pace. Tree trunks whiz by as I speed past them. The shadows of the gum trees pour over me. Among the shadows are thin glimpses of sunlight. They hit me like the orange lights of a car tunnel. The last section of the track approaches quickly and from the speed in my eyes I can distinguish the last, two, big jumps. The ground under my tires begins to harden, causing my tires to buzz like they would on asphalt. I arrive at the first steep ramp and my tires give one last zzzzzzzup, launching me into the air. For the first time I take flight, the world slows down almost to a complete stop. The feeling is incredible! I became invincible. Everything becomes clear and every problem or fear vanishes from my mind. I am liberated. For a split second I reach the pinnacle of my height and my entire body and my bike became weightless. I lose this sensation during the descent and spot the landing ramp. I land on it very softly and gain even more speed as I bring it down. Suddenly I find myself in action; the world becomes blurry and my tires buzz from the speed. Between the two jumps a slow curve was cut in the ground so that the first landing ramp slowly merges with the second launch ramp. In this central part I lose my stomach just as if I were on the first fall of a roller coaster. I hit the second ramp up and am once again launched into the air. There's something terribly wrong! My whole body tightened and my brain realizes that I gained too much speed on the first jump. I'm going too high and too high.