I wish I'd had a helmet when I was about 9 or 10 years old and wrecked my bike while riding down a hill during a bike-a-thon event. All I remember is going down the hill, all of a sudden my handlebars started shaking and my bike went out from under me. Hit the pavement with my face and had to have stitches on my upper lip and on my chin. Also scraped up my knees. Still have the scars to this day. But if I'd had a helmet with a visor it may have protected my face somewhat. Luckily no concussion or head trauma. When I got my bike the rear tire was flat, so I'm pretty sure that was the cause of the crash since I don't see how it would have gone flat from a crash.

I had a *very* minor crash where some ******* pushed me off the road right after a stoplight, so I wasn't going very fast. Hit the curb and went down, *very lightly* tagging the side of my helmet on the pavement. I didn't really even see birdies. Barely a scuff on the helmet, but it was a solid hit. Without that helmet, it would have been a trip to the ER. Likely a bad concussion, contusions, scalp stitches, maybe even a skull fracture. I had always been pretty religious about wearing my helmet, but at that point I became a fanatic. Helmets aren't just about saving lives, they're about saving pain, injury and incredible inconvenience. (ie: I was able to go home and throw a BBQ for 10 guests, instead of ending up in the ER/hospital for god knows how long.)

Also, since that accident, I make sure to wear brightly colored Biking clothes, and flashers front and rear. (The guy claimed he "didn't see me", of course.)

My wife and I ride both bicycles and motorcycles. I rode my Goldwing up to northern Indiana from western Kentucky last Friday, temps were in the mid 90s for most of the ~400 mile ride. Was really tempted to remove the jacket, gloves, and helmet - but just couldn't do it.

On motorcycles, the phrase is "dress for the crash, not the ride". Same thing on bicycles, but not to the same degree.

Yeah there are times I'd like to not wear a helmet, but I've seen the results of several bike crashes where the rider wasnt wearing one, and it was life-altering for them. I'd feel even stronger about that on motorcycle.

I had a crash a few years ago shortly after I first started riding again. I was 58 at the time. Memory gone, broken ribs, punctured lung, bruised or broken tailbone, blacked out, woke in a hospital, repeatedly asked the same questions. Many of the same things you had. Broken ribs are no treat but they did mask some of the effects of the concussion at first. Eventually I realized my right foot dragged a little when I walked and I tended to walk into the left sides of door frames when I walked through them. Got an appointment with a neurologist, gathered all the x-rays, etc that he wanted, waited the long wait to for my appointment to come up, and then the morning of my appointment his office calls me at work to tell me he decided to skip town that day instead to attend some conference. By then the symptoms had disappeared so I just told them don't bother when they wanted to reschedule me. For the record I was wearing a helmet at the time, otherwise I'd likely not be here to tell the tale, or as much of it as I remember anyway! I'm a big fan of helmets, now and before. And if you continue to have concussion related effects do see a neurologist, like I say I only opted out because he ditched me and my symptoms were gone.

Got back on the bike as soon as the ribs would let me. Got clipless pedals for the first time ever shortly after, I switched to platforms last year but that's a whole 'nuther story. A year later I rode my first century. A year after that some buddies convinced me to try the last three days of RAGBRAI and I've been hooked ever since. Life got back to normal for me pretty quickly, I hope it does for you as well.