As I took up mountain biking in the 90's the idea of wearing one of the new cycle helmets was completely alien to me and I much preferred wearing a baseball cap when cycling.
It was not until I moved to the Metropolis and cycled there in that I started to wear a helmet - and if truth be told that was only because it was a job requirement, but as I saw what was going on around me, and I got older, it was obviously the sensible thing to do.
Just recently I have not had to cycle in the city and only use the bike for the 2 mile journey to and from the train station and as a consequence was not wearing the helmet. Partly because the bugs wear getting caught in it and I cycled every day convinced that there was a wasp about to sting me, preferring to wear a watch cap style hat that kept me warm on the early mornings when it can still be quite cold.
But the wife moaned and for a quite life I started wearing it again, which is just as well. Cycling home last week the local building project had closed the road but left the pavement open, as I cycled between the builders fencing and the garden walls and hedges I miss judged a gap and my handlebars were caught and span me over the top. In the way that time slows down, I landed on my head with a very hard thud, and as I did so, I said to myself just as well that you are wearing your helmet. The rest of my body came next and somehow managed to contact the asphalt with both elbows my shoulder and my knee. Thankfully I have always worn gloves so my hands wear saved.
I picked the bike up and cycled the rest of the way home feeling worse for wear. As I walked through the front door I thought that I might pass out and had to get the wife to help me off with my back pack and out of my T Shirt. The pain in my shoulder was severe and blood had soaked through my clothes. For a while I thought that I had broken a collar bone, unable to raise my arm without severe pain. After some powerful drugs I got my head down and managed a surprisingly decent night sleep – all things considered.
That was last week, as I type things are much better but I can still not hold my arm away from my torso.
I don’t know if the bang to the head would have killed me or would even have been life changing, but I am sure that one way or another it would have been a lot worse if I had not got the helmet on. On close inspection I can see that the polystyrene has cracked, so I will be looking for another. This time when choosing, I will be a little less begrudging to pay the £70 odd pounds.
No shooting for a while I think, the thought of the recoil is actually quite sickening,
DM
Or did the wife hit me with the Iron?
(Unlikely I don't think she knows where it lives)!