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Author Topic: Wear your helmet!  (Read 511 times)
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Garry
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« on: April 06, 2008, 04:22:07 PM »

Copied this from the MTBers forum; it can happen at anytime, anywhere. On their site there is a picture posted of the dude with a major severe scar from the front of his head to back and around the ear...

my buddy dallas was in a bike accident on the USF campus in tampa yesterday on his way back to his car from class. He said he was taking a route he usually takes everyday and he believes his front wheel failed and sent him over the bars. he was riding his street fixed bike with out a helmet. when he went over the bars he hit his temple and fractured his skull. He had brain surgery yesterday and had a magnesium plate installed in his head. he is in the intensive care unit at university hospital recovering.
i dont have to tell this crowd to wear your freakin helmets but if you ride with out one you become an example like dallas has likely become for the fixed gear crowd. wish him luck and a speedy recovery. thanks
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Ken
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« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2008, 09:19:53 AM »

Amen, way too many people ride without them! They're not that bad with the right helmet, proper fit and once you get used to them. I actually don't feel right without one. Not a sacrifice for the protection they afford. Alot of people at Wilderness yesterday without them.
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« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2008, 10:38:32 AM »

Hmm, I think I happened to drive by this accident... I was heading back to my office after lunch one day last week and saw a biker down on the side of the road in front of the USF Botanical Gardens... EMS was already on scene so I didn't stop, I figured the rider had been hit by a car however I guess I was wrong.  Regardless, I hope the rider heals and recovers to ride another day. 
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Darrinw2001
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« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2008, 02:33:35 PM »

I wont even let my son sit on his bike without a helmet. I dont want him to get any comfort level with being in the seat without it. It really pisses me off to see people at WTA riding with their kids and they are not wearing one. most make the kids wear one, but they dont themselves. it's like making sure they wear a seat belt but not wearing one yourself. it sets a very bad example and it's just plain stupid. 
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Gregg
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« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2008, 08:00:35 PM »

I wont even let my son sit on his bike without a helmet. I dont want him to get any comfort level with being in the seat without it. It really pisses me off to see people at WTA riding with their kids and they are not wearing one. most make the kids wear one, but they dont themselves. it's like making sure they wear a seat belt but not wearing one yourself. it sets a very bad example and it's just plain stupid. 

Yeah man, that one baffles me! What happens if you are out with your kid, and you fall and crack your scull open? Do you think that might have some sort of affect on them? How is a little kid going to help you? Huh 

I guess it is more important how they look. Undecided
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noble
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« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2008, 09:54:34 PM »

Darrin--do you let your kids say--"it pisses me off"? Roll Eyes
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Mike Cole
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« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2008, 06:46:23 AM »

Darrin--do you let your kids say--"it pisses me off"? Roll Eyes

I Pm'd you Nobel.
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« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2008, 07:59:36 AM »

I crossed that bridge several years ago with my sons.  The first couple of times we rode Flatwoods, my sons had helmets but I didn't.  They didn't really complain about them or why they had to and I didn't but those same arguments hit me.  What kind of example am I setting and what would they do if something happened to me.  I have always set a positive example with them about smoking and seatbelts and all the other good dad things to set an example on.  The only time I ride without a helmet now is while puttering up the streets in my neighborhood (rural area with extremely low and cautious traffic). 

I did find it amusing on a recent ride at Flatwoods, a family was out riding and the older daughter (11 or 12 maybe) was fussing up a storm abou ther helmet being hot and so on.  Neither mom or dad wore a helmet and they finally caved to the whining of the older daughter but made the younger daughter continue to wear hers.  I'd have scratched my head if my helmet wasn't in the way.
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« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2008, 08:24:32 AM »

I never wore a helmet growing up. Rode in the woods in rural southern New Jersey, then in the streets of suburbia Bradenton. Jumped stumps, logs, curbs, stairs and crashed my fair share (even got hit by a truck).

However, once I started MTB I wouldn't hit the trail without a helmet. I still tend to go without one on the road when I occasionally commuted by bike- no idea why I do that Huh
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Garry
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« Reply #9 on: April 08, 2008, 08:29:54 AM »

I crossed that bridge several years ago with my sons.  The first couple of times we rode Flatwoods, my sons had helmets but I didn't.  They didn't really complain about them or why they had to and I didn't but those same arguments hit me.  What kind of example am I setting and what would they do if something happened to me.  I have always set a positive example with them about smoking and seatbelts and all the other good dad things to set an example on.  The only time I ride without a helmet now is while puttering up the streets in my neighborhood (rural area with extremely low and cautious traffic). 

I did find it amusing on a recent ride at Flatwoods, a family was out riding and the older daughter (11 or 12 maybe) was fussing up a storm abou ther helmet being hot and so on.  Neither mom or dad wore a helmet and they finally caved to the whining of the older daughter but made the younger daughter continue to wear hers.  I'd have scratched my head if my helmet wasn't in the way.

Helmets are worn IN CASE of an accident, not in anticipation of when and where one will occur.  There is no way of knowing that - henceforth they are called ACCIDENTS.  Just because one rides in the relative "safe and secure" surroundings of their neighborhood does not mean an accident can't happen.  I remember being told a story of someone working on their bikes shifting and riding it down the street a short distance from the driveway, and for whatever reason made a misjudgement and fell and cracked his skull on the curb.  Went into a comma for a few days and died from the injuries.  Very simple - who would have anticipated such an accident?  A helmet would have saved this person and his family.
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Ken
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« Reply #10 on: April 08, 2008, 08:58:10 AM »

I had a similar "accident", while working on my bike  and riding in the road in front of my house. KIds were playing basketball in the street and here comes dad and they pass me the ball. Stupid dad starts to dribble while riding with no hands on the bars. I'm not wearing a shirt or helmet and have my clip flops on. The ball gets behind me and as I turn to bring the ball forward I leaned to the left. Here goes the bike falling to the left and I can't correct because I'm clipped in and have my hands to the right of me. Down I go sliding across the road on my upper left shoulder and left side of my head. I remember hearing this grinding sound which was my head pinned to the road as I slid for about 15-20 feet, not to mention the major road rash on my shoulder and other scrapes and cuts. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Granted this was self inflicted and not an accident, but it turned out okay with just a little pride a hurt. Moral of story" White Men can't jump while ridding bike and playing basketball"
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« Reply #11 on: April 08, 2008, 11:52:40 AM »

I never owned a helmet growing up, I rode in what is now Old fort king trail, which is essentially the East side of WTA..I jumped, logs, rocks, hills, into Hillsborough river in every possible combination, and I crashed alot to, and never had a significant injury. Fast forward 15 years..I began mountain biking and one of the first trails of course was Flatwoods, which as I said, was my old stomping ground before, I knew anything about mountain biking. So I felt at home on the terrain, and trails, and thus I DESPISED having to wear a helmet..until on main  where there is a fork in the road which joins together, I took the right fork, and there was a low branch, I ducked underneath it, but it was a large 6" diameter branch, with a covering of small twig like branches that totally obscured the large branch within it. I didn't duck low enough, and slammed the top of my helmet into it at about 15 mph...it compressed my neck and the impact dame near put me to sleep, for a few seconds, I had tingles in my toes... I had to stop, when I did, I took my helmet off and looked at it, and there was a 1.5" crushed in hole on top of it an inch deep. I wear a Bell X-Ray, very strong, well built helmet, and it crushed it like egg crate. That could have been my skull with the 1.5" hole crushed into it...not to mention, a direct impact without the helmet would have surely knocked me out cold, and I wouldn't have been able to call or ask for help. I likely would have bled out before help arrived.
I still don't wear my helmet as much as I should, not wearing it, to go to check the mail, or to go to the corner store, but I NEVER ride off road without one period, and never allow anyone to ride with me who doesn't have one. First question I always ask when someone, I never rode with asks to go riding, is if they have a helmet.
When I used to race Motocross, I needed a new helmet, and was going to buy a $50 helmet just to get on the track, and a very wise man gave me some good advice...

"If you have a $10 helmet, you have a $10 head, if you have no helmet your head is free for the taking."
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« Reply #12 on: April 08, 2008, 07:31:37 PM »

I know how it feels to have your skull crushed and a plate put in.  It was a motorcycle accident and after the doctors removed the crushed skull( 1" X 5" ) and sewed me up, I went around for 6 months with just a skin flap over the injured area.  Then the neurosurgons installed a (synthetic-polymer) plastic plate.  I had it now for 23 years).  So now everybody that knows me, that is what is wrong with me. Grin
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noble
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« Reply #13 on: April 08, 2008, 08:06:30 PM »

Thanks to you guys I have been wearing my helmet the majority of the time.
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Mike Cole
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« Reply #14 on: April 08, 2008, 09:33:48 PM »

I grew up the same way, living in the sticks up in Mi. Kinda like Jeff Foxworthy said, turn off the PAVED ROAD, LOL. Never wore a helmet, didn't wear a helmet when I rode in Germany in the mid '90's either. As soon as I started riding down here again I always wore a helmet, and it saved me one day. Was riding at Carter Rd by myself one day, was up on Rollercoaster (for those that don't know the trail it is a narrow ridge about 2ft wide and 30ish ft above the water to both sides) and was going up a small climb after a birdge around a tree. Grinding up that climb I had my head down and never saw the branch above the trail. It about knocked me out, and by some miracle I managed to get my feet down before I fell off the top of the ridge. Cracked my helmet, which I stupidly kept wearing for a few months. Since then I've seen more than enough incidents in both my group and running into others on the trail that I will never ride anywhere without one, even if it just doing trackstands in the driveway.
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