A Cautionary Tale

Accidents happen.  It is a fact of life and there are certain actions we take that increase the odds of something bad happening.  Racing a criterium is one of those things we can do that will definitely increase the odds of something bad happening to you.  Having said that, I feel a little sorry for people who are too scared to race a crit.  The thrill and experience of these races generally outweighs the potential negative consequences.

Last weekend happened to be my weekend to get caught up in a crash.  I am still not entirely sure what ultimately led to me going down, but I managed to hit my helmet-protected head on a curb in the process.  Fortunately, the helmet did its job superbly.

You can see that the plastic retaining straps broke in the force of the impact.  I believe it was one of these straps that cut the back of my head requiring me to get a couple of staples.

The other day I was having a conversation with some teammates about helmets.  We were reminiscing about our first helmets and how dorky we thought they made us look.  Helmet styles have not changed much over the years, but our attitude towards them has.  Now when I see someone on a bike without a helmet I can't help but think that it is they that look like a dork.