In about 25years of cycling, I have had two nasty spills where I cracked my helmets. The last one was on a slow mountain bike cruise on a beach trail on a fourth of July, when suddenly a drunk teenager dashed out and plunged into me. My fork was ruined, but I was fine. I had to call my wife for a ride home.

Later, as I was going over my helmet, there was a huge dent on the rim, just above my right ear. I did not remember hitting my head. I was very thankful that it was the helmet that got dented.