As the weather improves I see more and more folks out riding their bicycles. Enjoying the sunshine and feeling the wind blow their hair about...Wait...HOLD ON...If their hair is blowing all about it means they are not wearing a helmet. Not wearing a helmet???!!!??? You need to protect your noggins people.
Now I will readily admit bike helmets are not very attractive. Bike helmets might even feel dorkier than they look. But I spent a lot of money and time filling my brain with knowledge, both important and trivial. I love knowing that there are 26 bones in a foot, and that relámpago means "lightning" in Spanish. I would hate to lose that valuable information because while cruising on my bike my head accidentally came into contact with the car of an errant driver, or the pavement, or a light pole. You don't wear helmets because you are a crazy cyclist, you wear them because sometime cars don't stop when there's a red light, and because occasionally off leash dogs wander into the street, or because some pot holes are practically invisible.
So enjoy your bike and protect your brain. And why you are at it - get a bike light. Biking on a warm night is such a pleasure, but make sure you can be seen.
Please, please - pretty please.
Only
Marshall Ward
Beach Time
guilty!
1Yep, I will totally admit (to you, not my kids) that this is the reason I haven't bought a bike. Because I don't want to wear one but don't want to be a hypocrite in front of the kids.
At least I'm not riding without one, right??? **cough, cough, mandie, cough**
2A good friend of mine was walking her huskies while rollerblading and slipped and fell and hit her un-helmeted head. She had a severe concussion and needed a whole mess of stitches in her head, and getting the dried blood combed out of her thick, long hair was an awful experience. The whole experience--including the notion that if she had been knocked unconscious, the dogs would have run and could have been lost, hurt, or killed as well--was so cathartic for her that she bought not only herself, but also those of us that are close to her and participate in blading, biking, etc., a helmet asking us to wear them because she loves us.
I already made my kids wear helmets, and now I proudly wear one too! And every time I do, I feel loved.
3that's so sweet!
4This is harsh and totally worked on me: If you're afraid to look like a dork wearing a helmet, just imagine how you will look if you have to have your head shaved for brain surgery after having an accident not wearing one, plus you will definitely not look cool if you suffer brain damage.
A helmet wearing friend said this to me and it worked on me....
5GASP! was that a dig at lil ol me butrfly?!?!
you bad, bad girl.
LOL!
6I've been in a bike accident (and completely tottally the car, btw...When I do something I do it right) and wore a helmet. Helmets works!
7Ugh, you said it! There's no excuse for not wearing a helmet...
8i don't think that i don't wear a helmet because i don't want to look dorky (although the thought has crossed my mind), i really don't wear one because i like to wear my hair in a high ponytail sometimes, and ponytails don't fit under helmets. this derision of helmets really started when i was a young kid, about 12 or 13, and i have naturally curly hair, so you can't change your hair once you've styled it to be up. it's not like i could just take my hair out of the ponytail, basically.
i got a ticket when i was 16 for not wearing a helmet (rather than wear it, i'd dangle it from my handle bars). instead of strapping it on and riding away from the cop, i defiantly walked my bike the entire way home, which was probably two miles. i totally would do the same thing to this day, i hate authorities telling me how to live my life.
9btw, fitsugar, if you wanted to tell people that it's not dorky to wear a helmet, you should have picked a less dorky picture to post. i'm sorry, but that girl looks like a high school science teacher who doesn't wear make-up.
10I didn't wear one for the longest time and I actually hit a car. I was knocked unconscience for two hours and had immediate surgery for stitches across my browline to the back of the head. 44 altogether, not to mention that the car that was parked but who's paying any attention to that right?! I also had a similar incident when snowboarding but with a tree. I was wearing a helmet that time, I highly advise wearing one then too!
11mandie - Who...me???
12Put me down in the pro-helmet all the time category! I love to bike, but one of my accidents involved me getting distracted by something to one side and slamming head first into a sign post. (It was not quite as stupid as it sounds - the sign was across nearly the entire bike path and has since been removed.) I was wearing a helmet, but was still knocked out for a few seconds and had a concussion. I was just so thankful I had on that helmet and it was nothing worse!!
Although I am a defiant rule-breaker when it suits me, I don't wear a helmet because it is the law; I wear a helmet because I really need my brain, and I want to keep it as safe as possible!
13butrfly - Yes you!
lol!
14We don't have a choice in Australia; helmet-wearing is a law here. I miss the old wind-in-the-hair bike riding I could do when I was little, but, yeah, the idea of coma/stitches/scarring/death kind of outweighs the dork factor. Besides, I'm never going to look sexy on a bike anyway...
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