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July 24, 2010

Who loved Humpty Dumpty?

When I was a wee lad, I had a classmate whose sister fell off her bike and sustained a very serious head injury. In spite of that, years later, when bike helmets became more widely available, I was not what you would call an early adopter. The helmets were uncomfortable. They never seemed to be shaped to fit my head properly. The neck straps dug into my wattle (I don't really have a waddle but I can't think of a better name to call the skin under my jaw). I didn't really care about what they did to my hair - my hair does whatever it wants anyway. Heck, I even developed a theory that bike helmets caused accidents because they threw off the body's centre of gravity.

I started wearing one - sometimes - because it was a local by-law. Heck, I'd bailed tonnes of times and I had never hit my head - proof that helmets cause accidents, right?

Years later, my darling wife starting "encouraging" me to wear a helmet. I ended up doing it because she was worried about me and I didn't want her to worry. She worried about me because she loves me - and I started wearing one because I love her.

Since I started wearing a helmet I've had two bike accidents, both of which where I sustained serious blows to my head - one of which put me in bed for a day and gave me a headache for over a week. I'm not sure if the helmets helped cause the head-whacking or not, but I do know that without them my brains might have been left all over the trail (as opposed to being safely tucked inside my noggin, if somewhat scrambled).

Helmet design had come a long way since I first started wearing one. Today they're highly adjustable and (dare I say it) comfortable. Now, when I look at people who ride bikes without a helmet, I think they're idiots.

But maybe they don't have someone who loves them.

And maybe they would wear one if they got it like this:

2 comments:

Fawn said...

Also: you now have to set a good example for your kids. I think that was the actual convincing argument. :)

Carole said...

Love the video!