Helmet? Really? It looks so goofy!

One of the most important things to wear when you get on a bike is a helmet. It will protect the most precious body part you have – OK this is debatable -- your brain. Brain injuries happen when riders don’t wear helmets and they crash, hitting their heads on hard things like pavement, rocks, sidewalks, etc. And brain injuries can end your life as you know it. They can make you unable to speak and limit your food intake to sipping soup. So, really it’s a no brainer, pardon the pun, to wear a helmet.

But this notion, unfortunately, isn’t as widely shared as it ought to be by bike riders. I’ve noticed that most mountain bike riders and road bike riders wear a helmet. They’ve seen enough injury causing crashes, or have experienced enough crashes themselves to get it. But this is many times not the case among the more casual riders on urban and suburban streets.  

It never fails to amaze me when I see a rider blithely not wearing a helmet. One of the most common sights I’ve seen is a family riding together. The kids will usually have helmets on, but not the parents! This translates that they’re worried about their kids’ safety but not their own. They apparently aren’t worried that they might crash and get a brain injury, that could very well render them useless as a parent to their kids. I have a riding buddy who will confront helmetless parents on family rides and tell them his problem with their unprotected heads. Most people don’t want to be told what to do, but he doesn’t care. He’s a soft-spoken guy, but feels passionately about helmet safety. He figures he’s looking out for the kids. And whether the parents like it or not, they can’t deny one thing. He’s right.

I used to ride without a helmet all the time, back when things like seat belts were considered a nuisance. A few years ago, after I got a cruiser bike to do short rides near my house, I didn’t wear a helmet. Like a helmet-less parent, I rationalized to myself that I wasn’t riding that fast on the cruiser and so my chances of falling and smacking my head were minimal. But I struggled with this because deep down I knew I was in denial. There was no doubt I needed to wear a helmet while riding the cruiser. So I eventually went to REI and bought one, a Bell round style one that has a leather skin on it. I bought one I like to wear, so it doesn’t just sit in the corner.

I think a lot of bike riders don’t wear helmets for vanity reasons. They think a helmet makes them look goofy, or less than cool. But one crack of the head without a helmet will make you look a lot goofier, with a concussion, fractured skull or brain injury. So it’s really a worthy investment to go find a helmet you like, buy it and wear it every time you ride.

With that, it’s off the soapbox, and on to a toast: Here’s to not needlessly becoming a soup sipper from crashing your bike and your head, unprotected by a helmet.

Til next time, remember, strap on a way cool looking helmet before getting on your bike, and most importantly, keep the rubber side down!

--Mark Eric Larson

Mark Eric Larson has written two books of essays, "The NERVE...of Some People's Kids," and "Don't Force it, Get a Bigger Hammer. To read, visit: 
http://www.scribd.com/Mark%20Eric%20Larson/shelf