You can't always get away with what you want.
Let me put it in perspective: My brother, a friend, and I hit the top of a sweet single-track trail this afternoon for some fun riding. Immediately we spot a fairly sketchy root-drop. It has to be dropped. My friend rides up to it and launches off of it, landing it pretty well. I take my turn, pedal hard to the edge and pull up like none other. I'm waaay up there, like atleast a foot in the air. Well, I took the wrong side of the drop. On the left side where I went off there's another root beneath it and *clip* my tire hits it on the way down. I bounces off the pedals, foward from the saddle, hit the landing, my right foot flys off to the side, left calf finds a nook between the rear suspension and chainring. I slam into the ground on my right side, the only thing keeping me from going over the bars is my wedged left leg. As I stand up and assess my situation, I look at my leg and its gushing blood everywhere. Being atleast an hour from medical care, stitches are no longer an option.
We clean out the cut with water, I get out my first-aid kit, we alcohol swab it down, oooh the burning. Then take a bandaid and put it over the largest puncture wound, and wrap the rest in gauze. Sock gets pulled up over it and all is good. Sock keeps getting bloodier though. We had a good ride the rest of the way down.
I get home, peel off my sock, its drenched in blood, tear-off the guaze its drenched in blood. Look at my leg and its all dirty and nasty in the wound. Try to clean it out... but other than gauze I have nothing to cover it with, so I'm walking around with a 6-hole battle scar on my lower left calf. An infection is the last thing I need. Oh well, no stitches, gonna be an awesome scar, scars have stories, chicks digs scars with stories.
No Pain, No Gain!
Let me put it in perspective: My brother, a friend, and I hit the top of a sweet single-track trail this afternoon for some fun riding. Immediately we spot a fairly sketchy root-drop. It has to be dropped. My friend rides up to it and launches off of it, landing it pretty well. I take my turn, pedal hard to the edge and pull up like none other. I'm waaay up there, like atleast a foot in the air. Well, I took the wrong side of the drop. On the left side where I went off there's another root beneath it and *clip* my tire hits it on the way down. I bounces off the pedals, foward from the saddle, hit the landing, my right foot flys off to the side, left calf finds a nook between the rear suspension and chainring. I slam into the ground on my right side, the only thing keeping me from going over the bars is my wedged left leg. As I stand up and assess my situation, I look at my leg and its gushing blood everywhere. Being atleast an hour from medical care, stitches are no longer an option.
We clean out the cut with water, I get out my first-aid kit, we alcohol swab it down, oooh the burning. Then take a bandaid and put it over the largest puncture wound, and wrap the rest in gauze. Sock gets pulled up over it and all is good. Sock keeps getting bloodier though. We had a good ride the rest of the way down.
I get home, peel off my sock, its drenched in blood, tear-off the guaze its drenched in blood. Look at my leg and its all dirty and nasty in the wound. Try to clean it out... but other than gauze I have nothing to cover it with, so I'm walking around with a 6-hole battle scar on my lower left calf. An infection is the last thing I need. Oh well, no stitches, gonna be an awesome scar, scars have stories, chicks digs scars with stories.
No Pain, No Gain!
I got my thigh pretty good. Luckily, they fade with time, but it's the cuts that get the oil in them that tend to scar I think. 
