About three months ago, I took a dive onto the asphalt. I still don't know the cause, I was riding one minute and down the next. Result, broken collarbone (which has developed into a "frozen shoulder," a malady of which I was previously unaware) and will miss the entire tri season because I can't rotate my shoulder far enough to swim.

It certainly could have been worse, however, because I also whacked the pavement pretty damned hard and scrunched my Pneumo. Had it not been for the helmet, I'd probably be dribbling my dinner down my chin in some rest home about now.

Don't ass-u-me that you won't crash, that's just stupid. There are only two types of people who ride, those who have crashed and those who are going to...

It's possible - even likely - that you belong to both groups...

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

Amen!

There are two kinds of cyclists. One who has gone down, and the other who will go down.

Damn bunny, I'm glad you were able to walk away from this one as well. This year hasn't exactly been good for you, although I suppose you could look at it by saying you've been lucky to not have been seriously injured as well.

I was fully convinced of helmeted riding many years ago, when I met with a car door and then a curb in rapid succession. Other than a slightly strained neck and some superficial cuts, I was fine. Plenty pissed off, but just fine. 3 years ago I crashed a motorcycle and walked away from that as well, thanks to a helmet of a different kind.

I'll never understand the people who think that they're smart enough to avoid trouble on the road... Much of the time, it ain't the rider's fault!

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<If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough>
Get Fitter!
Proud member of the Smartasscrew, MONSTER CLUB
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Glad to hear you're ok bunnyman! How's the bike?

Just to pile on, I can tell you that the first thing the police, medical crew, insurance companies, and lawyers ask is if you were wearing a helmet. If I had not been wearing a helmet I would be facing a real battle to get any satisfaction out of his insurance company, despite the fact that my head never hit the deck. It can happen to any one of you. Do you want to be the one who leaves your family high and dry because you died from a head injury and you weren't wearing a helmet? You wpn't seem so cool then! The insurance companies aren't so ready to fork over $$ these days. You've got to do everything right. And even the, if you think you're not at risk, go back and read my post "You never know when. . ."

I second that one Doug-

At Blackwater earlier this month, I was "the one" that people came across @ mile 7.5 on the bike with blood all the way down the front of my singlet...

...and a cracked LG Aero Helmet on the ground...

That thing saved my head and life. To make a long story short, a competitor went down in front of me as I was in the process of starting my pass- At 27mph. They lost control of their bike, fell into the road (fracturing their clavicle), and then I hit them in the tailbone (fracturing that on impact). Happened in less than 2 seconds. The only thing I remember is hitting them, looking down, seeing "27" on the spedometer, and going head-over-heels, skidding on my head, arm, and leg.

My helmet took most of the hit, followed by my left arm and leg. The helmet cracked clean through the aero "earpiece" (the part that makes the teardrop shape on the sides), lots of road rash, 7 stitches in the chin, and @ $700 damage to the bike.

Point being- WEAR YOUR FRIGGIN' HELMETS!!! None of us is the best, and none of us will be, so that also means we are not bulletproof. You look like a fool if you don't wear a helmet, and you are a disgrace to the sport if you don't. I use to take a stand and not go on group rides where some of the "wanna-be's" would not wear a helmet. Now, I yell all sorts of immature comments to anyone riding without one.

It will happen- sooner or later- so wear 'em. If you are in a accident, you will live to race again.

Rob

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http://www.reathcon.com

Bunnyman,

Amen, brother!

Just this afternoon I was descending a long hill at about 25 mph when a 16 year old girl driving an SUV in the opposite direction turned into a driveway in front of me. She never saw me. I locked up both brakes, skidded off the road, augered in the front wheel, went over the handlebars, slid, and stopped abruptly against a 4"x4" wooden mailbox post. Amazingly, I walked out of the emergency room with no broken bones. Banged up, really sore, and a good case of road rash...but otherwise everything intact.

My helmet did its job and I'm thankful to be in one piece tonight.

Michael Bey

P.S. My Yaqui Mariola is in one piece tonight too!

Bunny, what a year. Let me add to today's dumb people moves. I'm doing a run in one of local parks. Cyclist goes by, sans helmet, wearing a bright reflective vest... something to ponder. He's rubber necking checking out a bongo-band when a van comes rolling down the bike-only path right at him. For the life of me "CAR UP" will not come out of my mouth, but "HEADS UP!" did and on the second one he looks and just avoids planting himself on the van who has yet to slow down. Geesh.

Last weekend it was mature triathlete not given to making mistakes who was head-down on the bars and rear-ended a stopped truck @ 20+mph. He survived it, back at work, perhaps only because he was wearing his helmet. It only takes a moment. Be careful out there.

Amen!

Friday I was out trying to sneak something of a run in between thunderstorms. Midway through the first of the usual loops, Eglin base cop goes by. We're a civilian area outside their usual boundaries so something big must have happened. Little bit later, two fire trucks go by, a little bit later followed by the county mounties and an ambulance. I flip around for loop tow, and it's obvious that there was a car-bike incident on one of the side streets. It's regarded as a bike-friendly area with a 25mph speed limit, but someone in a rice rocket has plowed into a little kid biking along.

They ended up airlifing him to the trauma center in Pensacola, and according to the paper fortunately his condition was not considered life-threatening. Not sure if he was wearing a helmet or not.

I hate hearing these sad stories. It makes me really sad.

I keep wondering if I should not wear some sort of body armour when I ride. I am tired of getting banged up.

It reminds us that bicycling is a VERY dangerous sport, and we should be festidious about taking care while we ride.

Cuz,

Good luck with your frozen shoulder. I had it bilaterally three years ago. Couldn't even get my wallet out of my back pocket (which came in handy when dining out!) Lot's of stretching and exercising under the guidance of PT's, and I now have about 90-95% ROM in one shoulder and virtually 100% in the other. As a triathlete, you probably have a high pain threshhold, which comes in handy during the stretching sessions. You'll get better!

Bunny;

On Friday during my commute from work, I saw some dude riding his bike in rush traffic WITHOUT a helmet. I was so tempted to scold him but held in my comment and drove away in disgust. SOme people just don't get it.