I appreciate my helmet. I treat it with respect. I never leave for a ride without it. I replace it after a crash or even after helplessly watching it bound down the stairwell like some kind of deformed styrofoam slinky-dink after allowing it to slip from my grasp. (This activity also typically involves some assertions questioning what it does in its spare time, its origins of birth, and things of that nature.) Community member @chaz also recently suggested that, in accordance with motorcycle tradition, we ceremoniously cut the strap on the helmet and hang it in the VVorkshop in deference to the purpose it served us.
Suffice to say, I’m grateful for the advances technology offers us when it comes to protective headgear, because staying alive is in alignment with my strategy. But progress is the slayer of ritual and tradition, and I can’t help but look back longingly to the days when helmets were rarely worn and if they were, they consisted of thin strips of leather that, assuming it stayed on, would do little more than keep your cranium from coming apart after cracking it to bits on a cobblestone or some such object.
The hairnet was the coolest cranial accouterment ever designed, with the insulated cycling cap that fit over it being a close second. The cycling cap on its own was, of course, also a class piece of kit to be worn forwards, sideways, or backwards – made cooler only by perching a set of cycling-specific shades on top of it. A helmetless head saw hair slicked back by the wind as a byproduct of the V as riders raised their arms in triumph over the finish line. The bare noggin on the high mountain passes was a beacon of Purified Awesome, allowing us to see in all their glory the suffering faces of the riders as they moved sur la plaque over the summit.
Take a moment, fellow Velominati, to honor the Useless Headgear of our past.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/Headgear/”]
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@Nate
Yeah, I'm just about to start my third roller ride this week as well. I've been stuck taking care of the kiddos while the VMH has been Christmas shopping so I do not get to leave and ride, but am okay to ride the rollers for an hour plus while they do homework, etc. I'll take what I can get!!!
@Oli, @Buck Rogers
Exactly - in one a wheel-sucking masterclass.
@frank
Wasn't the amazing Bruyneel in the break that day as well?
@frank
How did one not bash their knees on those? Of course compact frames didn't exist then AFAIK.
@gaswepass
I have a pair in my garage. The drop in part was forward of the top of the bar, so unless you had them severely rotated forwards (bringing the bottom of the bar towards the rider) they wouldn't be in the way of your knees.
I really admired Indurain...he was someone for me to admire as a young American suffering from the departure of LeMond from the front of the TdF. His ability to climb extremly well for a giant man, and then blow the field away in the TTs was impressive. He truly was dominant in a few of those Tours- rarely could anyone hold a candle to him in the ITTs. Plus he had that cool stat of 28 bpm heart rate.
@Ron
@frank
Yea, I second that about the killer lead photo. Maurizio looking super-bad in the sleet and hoops, who could ask for more.
All those years riding with no helmet and now it feels taboo to ever ride without, it's weird. I did rock the headband like Eric Vanderaerden.
The days of old are behind us. As classic and inspirational as they are; we have moved forward for the better on some levels. May I be bold enough to suggest a Rule #88? Wear Your Helmet.. with the explanation as a direct quote from the father of @Ron? 'as my dad says.. if you're not wearing a helmet, you don't need one.
F'n hilarious!
Common sense and words of wisdom from a father..
@snoov
seems like only a full face helmet would've helped save your teeth. My feelings regarding ghosts and helmets are similar. I don't necessarily believe in either of them but I sure as hell don't want to be proven wrong. By believe I mean I don't think riding without one is the russian roulette of bicycling some make it out to be.
I always wear a helmet just a habit I've had since mtb'ing.
I think we forget how lucky we are. Early helmets (the first generation after hairnets) really sucked. Hot, uncomfortable, poor-fitting and f-ugly. Our choices today are enormous and for a very reasonable price one can get a top-of-the-line bucket that is stylish, well-vented and built to high standards.
Back in 84, after a bad collision with a car door in a TT (concussion and 6 stitches - could have been WAY worse) I started wearing a helmet in races (a low-profile plastic bucket which I think it was actually a track helmet). I didn't wear it training despite the fact that 90% of rides were training. If I'd had an accident it might, might, have helped stop my brains splash all over the road. I was young and dumb. Now I wouldn't ride to the mailbox without my helmet.