After reading all these posts about crashes, I think I will be more particular about the helmet I buy. My dog chewed the last one, not badly but perhaps i should look into a new one. I am not going to let you guys scare me though. I am going to get out there and have fun. I will probably crash alot while learning though. Been down there 2 1/2 times already. The 1/2 is the time that could have been a biggy but I compensated and stayed up..