Helmets look stupid

gavin11756

The almost non existant death rate from head injuiries would no invrease!

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Gavin

jcjordan

Funny thats not the view of Stuart O'Grady. He mentioned on a Cyclingnews interview that he was glad for the helmet rule. Having spoken to a number of riders at the Tour Down Under I was surprised to hear that they bring 3-4 helmets per rider to each race as its not unheard of destroying one or two in simple crashes at multi stage races.


I have tried to find a summary of injurys in relation to crashes but it does not look like the UCI keeps those sort of records. Which makes it hard to say whether they are useful or not, I dont think that doing a google seach in relation to historical incidents is a effective method of determining how effective helments are. But then again neither are my observations at club races here in Canberra, but the general opinion of members are that helmets are a essential piece of kit when racing and would wear one even if they did not have to. It might be interesting to note that if you look at pictures from Pro Tour team training camps the majority wear helmets, but not all. Guess they have made their choice as well

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"Pain does not last, bones heal and chicks dig scars"

Virenque

No. Big majority don`t wear helmets. I was surprised when I saw 5 riders from CSC with helmets.

Pb_Okole

Have you ever heard of Fabio Casartelli? HE was not a doper, he died of a head injury in the Tour. A helmet probably wouldn't have saved his life but we will never know for sure....

wiredued

Preventable head injuries are stupid also. But it is amusing to ride my bike in Maine on vacation and see some motorcyclist with no helmet doing 3 times my speed something is wrong there. Either I should take my helmet off or they should put one on.

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Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. http://www.earnharts.com/html/reala...ecific.asp?id=3

Brothrmark

Before Columbia, foam insulation shedding off the space shuttle's external tank wasn't seen as a problem. They knew it happened and up to that point it hadn't caused any catastrophic problems- so why worry?

keydates

Imagine if, instead of a bunch of 170some top of the line professionals, you had 170some Cat 5 racers riding together on these roads. If only 3-4 crashes occurred each stage it would be a miracle. My point remains that pros have better handling skills, so they are less likely to crash, and thus less likely to sustain head injuries. When you look especially at the lower levels of bicycle riding/racing, helmets are very helpful.

slowdave

Mate what are u thinking? I came off about 2 months ago closed circut cri hit the deck at about 50kph not to bad i thought on the first bounce, then i saw the gutter. I cracked a perfectally good helmet, took some skin off my ear elbows knees and hips but i can still walk talk and toliet myself, without a helmet i would be in a nursing home with lots of old people. Yeah i am not racing in euro nor will i ever, but there were no cars on the course it was well marshelled, the guy i crashed into was a paramedic/EMT so i was in great hands. If you like no helmets watch only uphill finishes on the tour and you will be happy. My last point have you ever been affected by a head injury, i see them every month years of recovery, pain etc. They are mainly kids with out helmets who dont hit cars but just fall off or do dumb stuff. If helmets didnt work they would not make us wear them. off my soap box now.

gavin11756

Yes Dave I see what your saying. My pooint however is to leave the rider in charge of his own destiny. Give them choice about helmet wearing. I was watching a doco on SBS last night about the tdf and not too many instances of head injuires except the usual stuff. No mention of wheelchairs bound types after prangs, although I'm sure they exist.

Basically I'm trying to say if racers were given a choice they would take the risk as they deem the risk minimal given the stats, which are way on side with the riders

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Gavin

slowdave

I also see that you feel that the wearing of helemts should be left to the individual, i agree in most instances big brother is too big. However sometimes legislation is for the best. Maybe your post should read Racers choice-Helmets, rather than Helmets look stupid which they do esp TT helmets.

LeojVS

having spent sooo many years wandering around brain injury wards at hospitals, man, you would be flat out mad not to wear a helmet. Fully functioning people like you and me, reduced to having someone wipe drool off their chin. Thats really worse than trying to impress the guy you just passed. In Oz, its law all the time, so we dont have that problem, but shit, dont destroy your life by not strapping on.

This is not directed at the author, just a call in general

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Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy

cheapie

i am absolutely astounded that people actually think it's dumb to wear helmets. i guess it's the same people that don't want to wear seat belts or motorcycle helmets either. than God they're usually in the minority.

gavin11756

I am talking about racing only. Good enough for no hemets almost the entire life of the tour, that means since it's inception. Good enough now!

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Gavin

Virenque

I agree. I remember I hated junior races because there was a fall at least 5 times per race. Now I`m U23 and there are almost no crashes. It`s a big difference.