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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@frank
I wasn't making a call on the race, just the riders.
Headgear doesn't protect players from concussion.
@frank
I was suggesting Tirreno-Adriatico, based on Joop wearing #1 as he won the previous year. But the fact that they were wearing hairnets suggested they were in the Low Countries, not Italy -- I always associate hairnets with northern racing as I understand (please correct me if I am wrong) there was a period when Belgium and the Netherlands required headgear
@Nate
Gerrie Knetemann won Amstel in 1985; perhaps he wasn't able defend his title so the Number 1 dossard went to the World Champion?
You're right about the helmet rules, certainly in the case of Belgium (can't recall about the Netherlands).
Just read that Greame Obree is gonna have a go at the human powered vehicle record and is hoping to achieve a speed of 160kph (100mph). Current record is 83mph. I hope he does it he's got plenty of awesome running through his veins.
The key to getting people to wear helmets is to buy them a Lazer with the Rollsys adjustment. When I did my best astro-boy impersonation after being T-boned by a taxi and landed on my face, mine didn't move a millimeter. I happily bought another one as you might imagine.
I don't get mad when I see others without helmets. Not my head really.
I told my mom to "Rule 5" yesterday.
@Oli
Dutchland had the same regulation, as far as I know. That pic is one of my favorites, and I believe Joop was pulling upwards of 40 years old at that point. Rooks was another favorite. Loved those guys. Long live the Queen!
@snoov
Absolutely love Graeme. One of my all-time favorite riders! He was fixing to go after the Hour again as well, but I think he abandoned his plans.
Class act, that.
@rhys
+1 - I had a Lazer and loved it. My only issue with it was it wouldn't take my shades in the helmet vents. Show stopper for me. Super comfortable, though. Glad you're OK.