Use Protection, Wear a Helmet

Moronacity Cycling Journal » Equipment, Uncategorized

By Diane Ursu

May 3, 2008 | Comments

It’s interesting how cycling helmets have so much opposition. Excuses for not wearing them are plentiful:

They don’t look cool.

They don’t feel right.

If I fall, the helmet will cause neck injury by rotataing my head on impact (this was part of an Australian study against laws necessitating the use of a helmet).Helmets among cyclists are a great necessity. If you don’t wear a helmet around one of us, you don’t look cool, and you do look funny, and chances are we won’t want to ride with you. Look cool. Wear a helmet.

Give it a week and you will wear a helmet for the rest of your life. I feel naked without my helmet and even a little scared. As a mountain biker, I’ve had quite a few accidents that were nothing because I wore a helmet. Hitting my head on that rock didn’t take me out of commission. Click here for a great story on how my helmet either saved my life, or at least the quality of it. Since I was wearing a helmet, we’ll never really know. The answer to this question should never be known.

I have never injured my neck in a fall. Sure, neck injury is possible, but if you consider how many cyclists hit their heads each year without inducing neck injury, you’ll see the odds are on the helmet-wearer’s side.

Here are a few tips for wearing your helmet:

Helmets come in different sizes. Choose one that fits well and has an adjustment to make it tighter or looser.

Adjust the chin strap so it is snug.

When properly adjusted, your helmet should sit squarely on your head and should not move when you shake your head from side to side or front to back.

Wear it. It may save your noggin.