So, the other day I’m out for a ride with my friend. He forgot his helmet at home that day. We meet up with two guys at an intersection and they start giving him sh!t as we roll up the hill. At the next traffic light, they continue to yap about seeing a guy crash once and split his head open.
I really could give a shit about your opinion on helmets. Shut up and ride your bike. What gives you the right to tell me or my friend how he should live his life. We’re all grown ups, we can make our own decisions.
They were trying to help your friend. They probably saw you didn’t care about his life, and he wasn’t thinking with common sense, so they tried other tactics.
Exactly, they don’t have to ride with you and you don’t have to ride with them. We were neither riding with them nor were they riding with us. Is it, therefore, necessary for a random cyclist to be a self righteous prick?
I keep waiting for this to happen to me when I ride with my friend who only wears his helmet on descents. His helmet comes off for the uphills and the flats. So far everyone has acted like an adult but I have a pool going as to when he’ll receive unsolicited advice.
When I was team coordinator for a roadie team, I had to, on more than one occasion, call up a guy and remind him that wearing a helmet (when wearing his team kit) was part of the contract he signed. After that, it never became an issue.
If you had a flat tire I would stop and help you. Cycling Law # 1 Help other cyclists in need! That gives us the right! fool.
By you or your friend not wearing a helmet there’s a possibility I’ll have to help you by scooping you dumb-ass brains off the road side. Not something anyone wants to do.
The fact that you’re upset by the other cyclist comments means you know they are right.
So please don’t forget your helmet.
Yep, I would comment also. Just like if I see a person drunk trying to get into a car to drive, I would probably at a minimum
call 911. Or, when I see folks smoking how I ask why are they slowly killing themselves. Just like when I see someone
let their dog dump on someones yard and try to walk away, I tell them to clean up after their dog.
Or when I see adults letting their young kids ride bikes with them w/o helmets, yep, I make a comment.
We are grown-ups and therefore we can take a little criticism without flying off the handle…right? Even if that criticism involves our lack of helmet, and even if it is vociferous, spit-flying criticism. What gives those people the right…? Well, in common law countries like most of the English-speaking ones…
Three different uses of ellipsis: sorry.
I’m a fence sitter here: I wear a helmet if I’m training or racing, but only rarely if I’m riding errands about town.
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So, the other day I’m out for a ride with my friend. He forgot his helmet at home that day. We meet up with two guys at an intersection and they start giving him sh!t as we roll up the hill. At the next traffic light, they continue to yap about seeing a guy crash once and split his head open.
I really could give a shit about your opinion on helmets. Shut up and ride your bike. What gives you the right to tell me or my friend how he should live his life. We’re all grown ups, we can make our own decisions.
I agree, but IRL I make my “Helmetless rider = Organ donor” comments out of earshot of helmetless riders. They won’t change their ways because some stranger made a remark. All my remark would do is annoy them.
Did anyone see that 20/20 segment where they showed motorists attitudes toward helmeted riders are more dangerous than un-helmeted riders. This has nothing to do with my decision to wear a helmet or not. I just thought it was interesting. They also showed that drivers are more friendly to female cyclists. By the way, I’ve been kicked in the head so many times my head has adapted into it’s own helmet.
I wear a helmet more to protect myself against a single bike accident than out of fear of cars. I enjoy living and I also have people who depend on me.
I crashed last Thursday at high speed: road rash, broken collarbone, cracked helmet. No question, without my helmet I’m dead.
People can do what they want. I choose to ride with a helmet.
I’m gonna go and question that you would have been dead without your helmet. There really is no way to know that. People survive absolutely stunning head injuries sometimes, including cracked and crushed skulls.
I think as Americans we really don’t have anything real to worry about. So we latch onto any little problem and blow it way out of proportion. You might include death as a worry, but, as it is inevitable I personally don’t worry about it.
