Advocacy & Safety - Wear your helmet...always!

So I'm heading out the door to go out for a ride yesterday. I walk down the first couple of concrete steps with helmet in hand. Halfway down I slipped on my cleats and smashed the back of my head on the corner of a step. Now I have a huge lump on my head, a raging headache, and missed a day of riding.

So wear your helmets boys and girls!

This posting emphasizes the importance of helmets, even on low-speed rides (walks?).

Rule to self: Wear helmet before walking with cleats. (Use Kool covers with LOOK cleats when possible.)

OK, this is where one may learn from another person's mistake.

Hope you can ride soon, Mirona.

Look on the bright side, if you had hit your helmet you'd need to replace it and therefore could not ride until you've done so. Saved a few bucks by landing on your head, heh.
Hope it wasn't a hard fall, if your head still hurts in a few days get it checked out, it doesn't take much to cause brain damage.

Most of the low priced Walmart helmets will cost way less than a doctors visit and meds...

my .02

kb0tnv

:)

What happened to walking carefully?

Seriously, the only time I've fallen wearing cleats was when I started walking like I was in regular shoes.

I work as a Construction Project Manager. Wearing hard hats on all my jobs is mandatory. I get so used to wearing it, I feel naked without it. I often find myself in my truck 5 miles down the road with my hard hat still on.

Due to this, I'm also not affected by my cycling helmet. I've gone riding, loaded up and driven home only to find myself still wearing my helmet. The site of me driving down the road with a helmet on must have made other drivers wonder about my driving ability. (not to mention sanity).

Come to think of it, no one got in my way!!!!

L8R

sometimes if i have a drink, i'll put my helmet on first. it always cracks people up. :)

What happened to walking carefully?

Seriously, the only time I've fallen wearing cleats was when I started walking like I was in regular shoes.

It's not like I was running or anything. I always take slow deliberate steps when wearing my cycling shoes especially on stairs and linoleum or hardwood floors. This time just happened to be one of those 1 in a million deals.

Due to this, I'm also not affected by my cycling helmet. I've gone riding, loaded up and driven home only to find myself still wearing my helmet. The site of me driving down the road with a helmet on must have made other drivers wonder about my driving ability. (not to mention sanity).
L8R


I had to laugh when I read this. I too have driven away in the helmet. I stopped at a friends and got out with it on and his comment was "looked like the special kid on the short bus going to school"

At least we're safe...LOL

Cheers

Note to self:
Don't use cleats.

I work as a Construction Project Manager. Wearing hard hats on all my jobs is mandatory. I get so used to wearing it, I feel naked without it. I often find myself in my truck 5 miles down the road with my hard hat still on.

Due to this, I'm also not affected by my cycling helmet. I've gone riding, loaded up and driven home only to find myself still wearing my helmet. The site of me driving down the road with a helmet on must have made other drivers wonder about my driving ability. (not to mention sanity).

Come to think of it, no one got in my way!!!!

L8R

Good for you. Head injuries happen at job sites, on bicycles and, just as likely, in cars.

The only reason you may have thought it funny to wear your helmet in your car is that no one else does this so you're different, but I remember a time not so long ago when cycling advocates didn't wear helmets because they considered the risk of a head injury to be as remote on a bicycle as a head injury in a car accident. Now, despite the majority of cyclists in the world going bare headed, there seems to be a paranoia of head injuries with cyclists amongst some.

I read an article at ScientificAmerican.com recently where the author describes stories about highly improbable events. "The implication is that if I cannot offer a satisfactory natural explanation for that particular event, the general principle of supernaturalism is preserved."

read it here:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?SID=mail&articleID=00094511-E068-10FA-89FB83414B7F0000&chanID=sa006

I have my own title I put on this type of thinking that I call the Lottery Syndrom. As long as people keep thier eye on the prize, they think they will win it, despite the odds. I'm not saying there are not lottery winners, it's just far, far more likely that you will be a lottery loser just as I'm not too terribly worried that I'm going to strike my head while I'm on a bicycle any more than I'm likely to do the same while driving my car.

So maybe a2psyklnut is onto something here. Don't think it's odd for wearing your helmet in the car, it's only giving you protection that would need just as much as you need when riding your bike.

:)