My eyes were the size of Grade "A" Large eggs as I looked out over the front wheel of my mountain bike and... it was no longer there! Too slow to react and get my front wheel over the ledge in front of me, too slow to go around it, too slow to find a soft place to land!

My tuck and roll wasn't perfect, but it was enough to save me from skinned palms or a broken collar bone. It did get me thinking about balance and how it's a lot like the ability to breathe - it doesn't seem very important until you lose it.

Balance is the ability to maintain our center of gravity (my gut) over our base of support (my mountain bike tires - both of them). Failure to maintain balance causes you to lose the "rubber side down" goal of most cyclists and usually results in antiseptic cream and bandages.