Originally Posted by
Six jours
I have an old Masi coming in the mail so have been looking through my picture books of old bike races while I think about how to build it up. And of course I was reminded that nearly the entirety of 20th century bicycle racing was done without hardshell helmets. It's hard for me to fathom how, in just a few years, bareheaded cycling went from being considered normal to being considered suicidal.
Remember you are in America. Most of the rest of the world hasn't yet succumbed to hysteria.
The American psyche is interesting to me. Huge emphasis on personal freedom - in theory - but immense pressure to conform to certain societal norms, and extreme risk-aversion to some things but indifference to others. So, very little attention paid to high infant mortality - which is responsible for the unnecessary deaths of thousands of American children every year - but outrage at the thought of letting a kid ride a bike bareheaded - which isn't.