Have you ever took time and looked at all of the things you have done in your life? Even look at the mistakes you have made. The mistakes are what we learn from. Have you ever wondered what you favorite mistake was? That may sound weird but people do have their favorite mistake. Normally these are the ones that we learn the most from. I have my favorite mistake. It was something little but is cost a lot to get it fixed and I learned a lot from it. I forgot to put a masterlink in my chain all the way. This was a pretty dumb mistake.

It was a hot summer day. I was planning on going riding that day but, I was waiting for my new chain to come in the mail. I was waiting all morning for it. I just figured if it did not come I would just have to use the one that was on it. I heard a knock on the door and saw someone walk away. My new chain came and I figured I would go out and put it on. I bought the bike outside and started to take the old one off. It took forever to get the master link off the old chain because there was so much dirt stuck in it. I then took the new one out of the box. It was hard to get it on because the chain had so much oil on it. I put it on and then I got a phone call. I grabbed my phone and when I did this the chain fell back off. After i got off the phone I had to put the chain back on. This time it was easier because there was not as much oil on it because it was all over my gloves. I slid the master link in part way just to keep it from falling off again. At this point I was hungry so I decided to go inside and get something to eat. When I got done eating I realized what time it was. I only had an hour till I had to go meet up with my uncle. We were going to go ride through the trails in his backyard. I had to hurry up and get all of my stuff together to go ride. I then had to go get the dog and bring him inside so I could bring my truck through the gate to load up my bike. During this time I completely forgot about finishing my chain. Then I loaded up the bike and the chain did not fall off so I still did not realize that I did not finish it. I got it all loaded up and left to go to my uncle’s. When I got there I hurried up and unloaded it. He has already been out back riding by the time I got there. I put gas in the bike and put all of my gear on. I started the bike up to let it warm up. Then I took off to meet up with him. We went through the trails for five mins. I kept hearing a weird noise but did not think anything of it. I was going through a sandy part on the trail and the part of the master link I put in just to hold it fell out. The chain came flying off and in the process it got caught on the shifting rod. When it did this, it bent the rod and cracked the whole case across the bottom. It put me to a dead halt and when I looked down all I saw was oil dripping out of the bottom. I got a sickening feeling and knew that this was not good. I had to push the bike all the way back to my truck. That was not even the worse part. I had to go home and explain it to my dad about what just happened. It was my first time taking it out since I put a new piston in it. He was not very happy.

This ended up being a good mistake for me. It was a good learning point in my life.It showed me that I should always double check everything that I do and I should never stop a project in the middle so I can not loose anything or forget to finish it. It always made me have to take responsibility for my mistake.