In most states it is the law to wear a bicycle helmet, and it is just good sense. It is clear that if you have an accident where your head is struck that wearing a helmet increases your chance of surviving.
I always wear a helmet. I would never get on a bicycle without one, even if it was just to go a few yards to test the tire pressure or the breaks. My helmet is old, I know I should replace it every few years but I am very attached to the many adventures this helmet and I have had together.
Lately I have had a new appreciation for my old helmet. In my community there are a lot of tree lined pathways and parks; the streets are thickly wooded where the edge of the road is the edge of a forest like preserve. It makes a pleasant place to live. The problem is the need to constantly keep overhanging branches trimmed; the road crew and park maintenance just can't keep up. It is one thing to wander on a path with a few leaves brushing your cheek but another thing when you are breezing along to be slapped by a twig. I ride some pathways to the sound of branches slapping and banging my helmet over and over again.
One of the worst areas is not an obscure back street but a main and heavily traveled road where I sometimes twist and dodge overhanging growth that hangs like a dangling minefield. I crouch low over my handlebars to get past some branches and sway around others.
Arriving at work one day I took my helmet off and saw a long green and brown smear where a hard swipe against a branch must have happened that morning. Where it not for my helmet I would have needed stitches. I hope I never need my helmet in a collision but for the sake of the trees I am glad I wear one.
I always wear a helmet. I would never get on a bicycle without one, even if it was just to go a few yards to test the tire pressure or the breaks. My helmet is old, I know I should replace it every few years but I am very attached to the many adventures this helmet and I have had together.
Lately I have had a new appreciation for my old helmet. In my community there are a lot of tree lined pathways and parks; the streets are thickly wooded where the edge of the road is the edge of a forest like preserve. It makes a pleasant place to live. The problem is the need to constantly keep overhanging branches trimmed; the road crew and park maintenance just can't keep up. It is one thing to wander on a path with a few leaves brushing your cheek but another thing when you are breezing along to be slapped by a twig. I ride some pathways to the sound of branches slapping and banging my helmet over and over again.
One of the worst areas is not an obscure back street but a main and heavily traveled road where I sometimes twist and dodge overhanging growth that hangs like a dangling minefield. I crouch low over my handlebars to get past some branches and sway around others.
Arriving at work one day I took my helmet off and saw a long green and brown smear where a hard swipe against a branch must have happened that morning. Where it not for my helmet I would have needed stitches. I hope I never need my helmet in a collision but for the sake of the trees I am glad I wear one.
