I bought a helmet

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Colin63
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I bought a helmet

Post by Colin63 »

Some years ago (1995 I think) I bought my first helmet. I was in Washington DC and as I was unfamiliar with riding bicycles there I decided that a helmet was no bad idea (the following year in Phoenix I lost my bearings and one of my nine lives by riding straight across a busy three-lane highway after looking the wrong way for traffic). I bought a Giro for $69.00 from a little shop in Maryland. It looked like a mushroom and I stuck with it for quite some time when back home in the UK, but I didn't really like it and so it ended up in the cellar where it quickly went mouldy and was eventually turned into a hanging basket.
This week I've started riding again after a longish period of illness and injury. After just two trips through Lancaster city centre I'm feeling unease among the traffic. I can't take my full weight on my left leg at present and feel that same vulnerability as I felt on the roads of DC. I'm afraid that a sudden stop will see me lose balance and end up on the pavement, so this morning I paid £86.00 for my second Giro helmet - in real terms much cheaper than my first - and I feel more confident already.
My initial impression is surprise at just how comfortable/unnoticeable this modern helmet is (it's called an Agilis if that's useful). The mushroom was sweaty and only roughly head-shaped, this new one is as light as a feather and adjusts to a perfect Colin-shaped fit. I'm rather annoyed at having to part with so much money on something so soulless and mass-produced, but my prejudice against helmets per se has taken a battering by the advances made since 1995. I'll be replacing my down-tube shifters next!

If only lbs were as easy to lose as £s.
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mjr
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by mjr »

Well done getting riding again.
Colin63 wrote: 12 May 2021, 5:37pm [...] this morning I paid £86.00 for my second Giro helmet - in real terms much cheaper than my first - and I feel more confident already. [...]
Danger Will Robinson! That is almost the literal definition of "risk compensation".

Sorry to tell you now, but I think you would have done much better spending £86 on Bikeability skills training.
Last edited by mjr on 12 May 2021, 7:46pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Jdsk
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by Jdsk »

Colin63 wrote: 12 May 2021, 5:37pmThis week I've started riding again after a longish period of illness and injury.
Well done on getting back on the saddle.

Jonathan
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Colin63
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by Colin63 »

Jdsk wrote: 12 May 2021, 5:57pm
Colin63 wrote: 12 May 2021, 5:37pmThis week I've started riding again after a longish period of illness and injury.
Well done on getting back on the saddle.

Jonathan
Thanks Jonathan. It's an absolute joy! Yesterday I rode out along a disused railway to the estuary of the River Lune and sat on a bench watching waders mooching around the water's edge. It's what cycling is for! Tomorrow I ride up the river valley (I can't manage hills too well yet) and am looking forward to it enormously.
Steady rider
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by Steady rider »

This week I've started riding again after a longish period of illness and injury.

Good luck and sounds like short rides may be the way to go. Blackpool to Fleetwood on the seafront is almost traffic free from memory, flat and lots to see. Looks like no head impacts in your life perhaps?

I'll be replacing my down-tube shifters next!
I would keep them.
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
What ever makes you feel confident and well.
Its your choice!
From a fellow lid wearer.
I have broken two helmets in that many years.

Today on the morning show was a tip for cleaning white trainers.........................."£200-300 in not much to spend on trainers" :?
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
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Colin63
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by Colin63 »

Steady rider wrote: 12 May 2021, 7:15pm This week I've started riding again after a longish period of illness and injury.

Good luck and sounds like short rides may be the way to go. Blackpool to Fleetwood on the seafront is almost traffic free from memory, flat and lots to see. Looks like no head impacts in your life perhaps?

I'll be replacing my down-tube shifters next!
I would keep them.
Yep, the down tube shifters are staying! The suggestion of Fleetwood to Blackpool is excellent, thank you. I'm only 30 minutes away from Fleetwood and so can easily get my bike there. My physiotherapist has suggested that I stick to flat terrain so that's a great idea to add some variety as I recover.
ClappedOut
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by ClappedOut »

Colin63 wrote: 12 May 2021, 7:31pm
Steady rider wrote: 12 May 2021, 7:15pm This week I've started riding again after a longish period of illness and injury.

Good luck and sounds like short rides may be the way to go. Blackpool to Fleetwood on the seafront is almost traffic free from memory, flat and lots to see. Looks like no head impacts in your life perhaps?

I'll be replacing my down-tube shifters next!
I would keep them.
Yep, the down tube shifters are staying! The suggestion of Fleetwood to Blackpool is excellent, thank you. I'm only 30 minutes away from Fleetwood and so can easily get my bike there. My physiotherapist has suggested that I stick to flat terrain so that's a great idea to add some variety as I recover.
I see a muscular skeletal practitioner and have knee and ankle damage, I have gone from ending up in hospital and housebound to unable to walk round the block as allegedly fibromyagia - I can ride 8-12 miles, which is far further than I can walk.
My shoes are altered by hospital and mountain bike terrain is a no no.

My advice is gradually build up the distance, it's better to be gradual and get home each time than marooned.

We have significantly cheaper Aldi/lidl helmets but I'm sure yours is a nicer model and if it gives you confidence and fits well a positive outcome.

Well done
Steady rider
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by Steady rider »

The area the other side of the river at Fleetwood has some lanes, a bid a few rides their about 4 years ago.
ClappedOut says
I see a muscular skeletal practitioner and have knee and ankle damage, I have gone from ending up in hospital and housebound to unable to walk round the block as allegedly fibromyagia - I can ride 8-12 miles, which is far further than I can walk.
My shoes are altered by hospital and mountain bike terrain is a no no.
I am just wondering about the bike you use, I expect a low cross bar at least?
ClappedOut
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by ClappedOut »

standard bicycle flat bar and flat pedals
brakes on, pedal at 11am or 2pm and tilt over
Swiss bike bit large frame- mount saddle once moving
Tandem the same.
Raleigh Superbe smaller and rides really well.

So tilting my method, a mixte step through or dutch bike would be my other choice :D

Good luck and enjoy your cycling :D
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pjclinch
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by pjclinch »

mjr wrote: 12 May 2021, 5:43pm Well done getting riding again.
Colin63 wrote: 12 May 2021, 5:37pm [...] this morning I paid £86.00 for my second Giro helmet - in real terms much cheaper than my first - and I feel more confident already. [...]
Danger Will Robinson! That is almost the literal definition of "risk compensation".
Though there can be a mind game where performing at a decent level is undone by nervousness: remove the nervousness and performance goes up. You can, of course, go out the other side and up your effective risk factor, but it's not a given. A classic case of confidence bringing benefit is being able to take primary, or just getting out of the gutter. If (and it is an "if") a helmet (or a lucky rabbit's foot, or a St. Christopher medallion, or anything) can give the boost to ride more assertively it can be a useful thing, even if it's nothing to do with crash protection.

Such benefits are, of course, at the individual level. There's no way we can predict if/how it'll work on a random subject.
mjr wrote: Sorry to tell you now, but I think you would have done much better spending £86 on Bikeability skills training.
Training can give you more confidence too, and useful practical help beyond that. It might also be available free or subsidised, depending on where you are.

Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
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Colin63
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by Colin63 »

So… an end my tale.

I went for another ride this morning out along the riverside path. A squirrel hurled itself under my wheels, I hit the deck and my Giro encased head hit the ground. Totally unexpected and only the 5th time since 1981 that I've gone down. Also it's the second time that a squirrel has tried to ruin a ride (the first time was when one fell from a tree and landed on the road about a metre behind me). The good news is that neither my head nor my injured leg have been hurt and the squirrel was last seen disappearing up a sycamore shouting 'Bloomin' cyclists!'
Jdsk
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by Jdsk »

Sorry to hear that. Glad you're OK.

Jonathan

PS: You should read what the squirrels are saying about this on their web forum!
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Colin63
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by Colin63 »

Jdsk wrote: 19 May 2021, 4:23pm
PS: You should read what the squirrels are saying about this on their web forum!
I looked. They're divided. Some some suggesting treeability training for all, others insisting that they they're innately arboreal and agile and should be allowed to choose whether to run across trails or leap from limb to limb. Reds and greys obviously sit in different camps (reds being more agile). Occasionally a pine martin troll joins in with its own interpretation of woodland lore but they tend not to understand woodland ecology and are always thinking about their own next meal without seeing themselves as a part of the bigger picture..
Jdsk
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Re: I bought a helmet

Post by Jdsk »

: - )

Jonathan
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