7.06.2008

Thank you helmets

I'd like to send a personal thank you to my husband's bike helmet for protecting his noggin this weekend; Dan went ass over titties while he was riding trail in the burbs and managed to break his helmet open (as well as parts of his face and his collar bone). He'll be healed and ready to go in a couple months, but it wasn't lost on me that things could have been way worse. For all my friends who read this and still ride without helmets, I'll repeat my request that you please go out and buy one. Sure, they may look stupid, but they certainly beat the alternative; judging by the damage to his helmet, I have no doubt that Dan would not be with us today had he not been wearing his (note the bruising on the forehead from the helmet shifting a bit on impact - helmet pics to follow maybe when I get back into town).




I know most of you just ride on the street and don't choose to go barreling down wooded hills like he does, but it doesn't matter - all it takes is a quick wipe out after hitting a rock, or getting doored, or just having a couple too many (you know who you are) and you suddenly find yourself in a coma or worse.

So yeah, that's my request for the day - go get a helmet and rock it; you can even get one of those stupid Bell Special Ed-style ones I hate so much - I won't make fun of you (too badly).

5 comments:

emily said...

Ho man, I'm glad he's ok! I feel the same way about helmets. I wear the Pryme 8 in a shocking baby blue.

The other day a hipster wearing only a sweatband around his head laughed at my Big Blue Helmet as I rode past him. Guess what? Your stupid, ironic sweatband won't do jack shit when your cranium meets curb, buddy.

julie said...

if anyone needs a helmet, i have a pretty black and pink helmet i never wear, women's S/M.

yeahdog said...

Thanks ladies for the offers and agreement! As for hipsters laughing at helmets, I guess she who laughs last laughs best ;)

The Good Eater said...

I am glad to hear he is mending.

I will never forget the Sunday I got the call from a hospital in MD. I'm in NC. The guy in the emergency room said my son had a little bike accident. I was sure he had been run over by a car. No, the ER guy said, he just fell off his bike and he can't remember his wife's new cell phone number. Thirty minutes later my daughter-in-law calls from the ER to tell me he was riding out of the city for a training ride when some road debris got caught somewhere and brought the bike to an unexpected stop. Over the handle bars he went landing on his head. He ended up with over 20 stitches in his face, a broken collar bone and damage to spinal discs. There is no doubt that if he had not been wearing a helmet, he would be dead or brain damaged. The helmet broke but his head did not. He healed well and is fine now. The point is, he was not doing anything risky, just riding down the street.

yeahdog said...

Frightening story, Travel Girl - glad to hear that everything went all right though. Dan has had scrapes before - sometimes through his own doing, but more often than not through circumstances out of his control, like the road debris you mention. Riding can be so unpredictable that I can't fathom why people don't use helmets more, especially in hectic urban settings; thankfully we know some level-headed guys who believe in protecting themselves!