Always wear your helmet
Today while riding home from a meeting, I flipped over the handlebars on the bike. Riding down Oxford Street, towards Harvard, a van stopped short to avoid a pedestrian. I grabbed the brakes on the bike, started to go over, and put my right hand out to brace myself against the back of the van. The van pulled away, and there I went, flipping over the handlebars, left hand firmly on the brakes (front brakes), right hand trying to find the handlebar. I landed on my left side, head first into the pavement. The phone was recording the trip.
The recording of the crash just past Everett Street
I was just passed Everett Street on Oxford Street. The little zigzag there is how the crash looked to the accelerometer and GPS in the phone. The screenshot is from just now, when I realized the phone probably recorded the entire event. My gloves saved most of my hands from being too ripped up. If anyone suggests that caliper brakes and pads are too weak, I have real world experience that they can lock up a tire at speed just fine.
I almost didn't bring the helmet when I left for the meetings today. Besides some scrapes, bruises, and sore muscles, I'm fine. My head didn't split open and instead, the helmet took the brunt of the force.
Lesson re-learned, always wear my helmet.