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/”]
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
@snoov
@frank
I love Obree. He is a genius - I see that he's just released his training manual: "The Obree Way". I think I've left it too late to expect it for Christmas but it might be the very thing to transform me into a lean grimpeur in the new year. I shall read it whilst drinking beer and eating pies.
After making that post about Obree I picked up Flying Scotsman The Graeme Obree Story just to read the Moser foreword. Apart from stopping for food, although I had it in my hand while cooking, I haven't been able to put it down yet! Unbelievable man, dare I say Hardman!
@frank
@ChrisO Really? Really? I just had a big off... overlapping wheels at 50kmh and Boom! Roadslave... Tarmac. Tarmac... Roadslave. Introductions a little too brief for my liking. I have road rash all over my face, knees, elbows, and MY HELMET IS CRACKED IN TWO. Yes, my head was what my body saw fit to use as a brake. I never read the health and safety spiel, I have no idea what crash test limit my helmet is tested to, but I know two things: 1. I'm writing this post right now (which I wouldn't've been had I not been wearing a helmet); and 2. I have exactly the same helmet as the one that cracked in two as my new helmet... because I know it works. Don't understand why you'd never wear one. No matter what the physics says. If I've misunderstood your post, apologies, but really? really?
@frank
Yup just got a Lazer 02 for my birthday & while it is as comfortable as all get out I'm struggling for a good spot for my Radars to sit. There is one pair of vents that nearly works but it also feels like I'm stretching the arms too much.
Whilst the photo quality is a little poor, the two images below are the reason I always wear a helmet. January 2004 - went over the high side of my Baum Espresso at 95kph (turns out the bike gets speed wobbles at 94kph - a better rider might have recovered it, but a better rider wasn't on board).
I was immediately knocked out, mangled my hands (including grinding of the top of my middle finger), busted a collarbone and lost much skin on legs, arms, back, etc. Not a mark on my head or face.
The Baum survived!
No doubt good luck was heavily in play. Leaving aside the probability that the helmet saved me from potential brain damage, I KNOW that if it was my head making contact with the road instead of my helmet - well there would have been lots more very important bits of me left on the road...
But each to their own in the world of helmet choice...
Rudy Project Sterling is tits. Looks very very pro and fits awesome. Plus they seem to be rare around here so it's unique.
@Marcus
Wow. Looks like you wore it to a house fire!
Hey ChrisO...you can come back now. No one's calling you reckless, stupid or ignorant. Sure, the weight of opinion is against you but the reaction seems to be surprise rather than scorn.
But why? Helmets are comfortable, look cool and might help your head in a crash? What's the downside?
We like you, ChrisO, and we like your brain.
And if you reconsider, we'll still respect you (in the morning...).
@ChrisO
Based on the above, presuming the helmeted rider in your avatar isn't you, who is it? He looks PRO.
@Marcus
Speaking of avatars, I'll be darned (Landised?) if I can figure out how to set a custom pic as my avatar on the site. Do I need to hack into the LNDD computers or something?
@Eightzero
You use Gravatar. I would have never figured that out if I didn't ask.