The day I was supposed to be leaving for the 2000 Women’s World Longboard Championships in Costa Rica, I got into a car accident that made the news initially as a fatality.

My roommate and I were in the process of moving so my SUV was packed to the roof. We were on the freeway during a very hot California day and I had just put on seatbelt  when I saw a large black piece of something fly up past my windshield (I’d later find out it was my shredded tyre). At that moment, the car lifted and became weightless.

It flipped 5 times,slid up a dirt embankment to the right of the freeway, tore through a chain link fence, severed a cement light pole in three and landed in the middle of an intersection on a road that paralleled the freeway.

My left arm had been out of the window while we slid sideways on my side of the car, so from my fingertips to my elbow I had one giant road-rash laden with asphalt and dirt; all the windows that weren’t open were shattered and particles of it were embedded in our bare arms, legs, chests and heads.

The SUV was a twisted, collapsed bolus of metal around us. The first words we heard were, “Oh my God, they’re alive!”

We were rushed to the hospital after I nearly passed out and we were treated immediately. I had a minor concussion, a very raw left arm and asphalt and glass that required cleaning and stitches everywhere.

STOKED to be years away from that event. I was freaked out when driving for quite a while after it