2 years ago, a memory still in the front of my mind.

It's not often I post up, write about, or even talk about the importance of gear. It would, for most parts, make me a hypocrite, as I enjoy a good sunny day ride around town with nothing but a helmet on for protection.

This may stem from my younger years, growing up on a farm, and riding bikes from such an early age. Most of the time, I went without any protection at all. Summers were just my work boots, pants, a sleeveless shirt, and sunglasses to keep the sun out of my eyes.

I took spills, and falls, but luckily I never managed to seriously injure myself.

My Profile picture, is a good example of my childhood, and how it was spent. The photo, taken back around the early 90's. Somewhere between 92 and 95. I cannot be certain, nor do I really remember the details of that day, as it was just "Another Day", it just so happened to be captured by photo by my friends sister.

But today marks 2 years, where I witnessed first hand, the events on why gear is so important when riding for pleasure on some twisty road in the mountains.

The Day started off like most others. Met up with a buddy of mine (Brian), we met up with a couple more people (Steve and a friend of his new to riding).

We took off up to Mt. Baker, uneventful like most days, just enjoying the scenery, taking in the beauty, and just overall, having a fun ride. For the most part, we were just killing time before heading out that night for Jerome's 21st Birthday.

Coming down the Mountain though, would not be like those other times we had went up to Baker.

Rounding a corner near Mile Marker 40, Brian target fixated on a road sign that was midway through the corner.

He went off the road, got it back under control, came back on, but the back tire gave way from being dirty, than regained traction.

The bike bucked, he went flying, and so did the bike.

Head first Brian hit the pavement, body goes rag doll, and then the bike came down, nose first into his leg, flips over him, than slides down the road.

Stopping, running over to Brian, unconscious, not knowing how severe his condition may be, the first thing I do is check for oncoming traffic.

I run down to the bike to make sure it is visible from the oncoming direction.

Back to Brian I go. His visor was gone, he was on his back, and I could see he was Breathing. What seemed like an eternity (which really was about a minute) he came too, first words "What happend".

I checked him over, careful not to move him. Leg was in a direction it shouldn't be. The other leg, which appeared fine (and was), I squeezed his boot, to make sure he could feel, he could.

Not long after that, would take place a random set of events, that to this day, I am still amazed.

The first car to stop, a couple from Canada. The husband was a an Orthopedic Surgeon.

Not long after them, a second car stopped, and the gentleman was EMS for Lynnwood Fire Department.

They both assured me Brian would be ok, but to go down to the ranger station and get help on the way, and so I did (no cell signal).

When I returned, another car had arrived, and the wife of that gentleman was a nurse. Brian, ended up being in good hands. It took about an hour for the ambulance to arrive, and they took him off to Bellingham.

Brian got away lucky. Busted Femur (Where the bike hit him), busted Ulna, lots of bruising and a concussion.

Everything happened so fast that day, that it took me awhile to really remember the events as they happened. To this day, I look back and realize just how bad it could have been. That day, I could have lost a friend, but instead, he's still with us today, alive, kicken, and just as bull headed as ever.

But to really appreciate the events, I just need to look at this one picture, one picture that brings back every single memory, like a video playing back in my head.