Fignon Quote: "Blame it on bad luck" What a F****** Idiot !

His death prompted his team doctor to call for the wearing of helmets to become law - as it
currently is in Belgium.

Doctor Jean-Jacques Menuet claimed that wearing a helmet would almost certainly have saved
Kivilev's life.

"The injury Andrei sustained to his skull is located at a point that would have been protected by a
helmet," said Meunet, who called for the authorities to bring in stiffer measures.

"Riders are free to wear a helmet or not, even though as doctors we would all like to see it become
obligatory."

However Fignon defended riders' rights not to wear helmets.

"We can't blame anything except for bad luck," said Fignon, a former cycling prodigy who twice won
the Tour de France. Fignon was among the leaders of a protest against the obligatory wearing of
helmets at the Paris-Nice in 1991.

He added: "If you land on your forehead, a helmet is still not going to protect you. It doesn't
change a thing."

This is exactly the attitude that keeps the UCI from making changes and keeping the riders safe. The
never is any 100% guarantee that a helmet will save your life, but it's stupid not to take advantage
of technology to increase your chances of survival. I guess Fignon knows a lot more about head trama
than emergency doctors do.

OMC

 

"OMC" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]... I
guess Fignon knows
> a lot more about head trama than emergency doctors do.
>
> OMC

Fignon is also the idiot who lost the Tour by 8 seconds to Lemond. Wind tunnel test later
showed that had he worn a helmet (and tucked in that dumb ass ponytail) he would have actually
won the Tour!

Crystal

 

"Crystal" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> "OMC" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> I guess Fignon knows
> > a lot more about head trama than emergency doctors do.
> >
> > OMC
>
> Fignon is also the idiot who lost the Tour by 8 seconds to Lemond. Wind tunnel test later showed
> that had he worn a helmet (and tucked in that
dumb
> ass ponytail) he would have actually won the Tour!
>
> Crystal
>
>
Any comments, Kunich?

 

he had the "CHOICE" to wear one or not. he chose not. its his choice as is your choice. nothing
wrong with having a choice in life is there?

 

"Suz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Crystal" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > "OMC" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]... I guess Fignon knows
> > > a lot more about head trama than emergency doctors do.
> > >
> > > OMC
> >
> > Fignon is also the idiot who lost the Tour by 8 seconds to Lemond. Wind tunnel test later showed
> > that had he worn a helmet (and tucked in that
> dumb
> > ass ponytail) he would have actually won the Tour!
> >
> > Crystal
> >
> >
> Any comments, Kunich?

Most head traumas from a crash have little to do with the wearing of a helmet. It has more to do
with the brain banging around inside your head, helmets do not stop that from happening. Dave

 

"Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Most head traumas from a crash have little to do with the wearing of a
helmet. It has more to do
> with the brain banging around inside your head, helmets do not stop that
from happening.
> Dave

However... the helmet will "cushion" the blow the brain....

Crystal

 

"Crystal" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> "OMC" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> I guess Fignon knows
> > a lot more about head trama than emergency doctors do.
> >
> > OMC
>
> Fignon is also the idiot who lost the Tour by 8 seconds to Lemond. Wind tunnel test later showed
> that had he worn a helmet (and tucked in that
dumb
> ass ponytail) he would have actually won the Tour!
>
> Crystal

Didn't he make up for it in later years by sporting the "aero forehead" ?

-T

 

"JTN" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> he had the "CHOICE" to wear one or not. he chose not. its his choice as is your choice. nothing
> wrong with having a choice in
life
> is there?
>

This isn't the Harley-Davidson newsgroup. Don't be stupid, wear a helmet.

 

"Crystal" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:TSNba.29395$cB3.1[email protected]...
>
> "Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Most head traumas from a crash have little to do with the wearing of a
> helmet. It has more to do
> > with the brain banging around inside your head, helmets do not stop that
> from happening.
> > Dave
>
> However... the helmet will "cushion" the blow the brain....
>
> Crystal

Not that I want to get into the great helmet debate, but I have had 3 friends die from head
injuries sustained WHILE wearing a helmet. None had any skull fractures. One died in a fall from a
motorcycle in soft dirt at about 20mph with a motorcycle helmet which offers far more protection
than a bike helmet. If you think that a bike helmet "cushions" the blow, take yours off and hit
yourself in the head with it. The styrofoam in helmets is fairly hard, the amount of force to take
a mass the size of your head and make an indentation in the foam before it breaks (crumple zone
effect) is far greater than the force it takes to slam the brain into walls of the skull and cause
fatal injury. Dave

 

In place of brain damage, I suffered only a severe concussion (enough to be medivac'd to the
hospital) when I crashed. My helmet was shattered.

YMMV.

Kirby.

"Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> "Crystal" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> >
> > "Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > > Most head traumas from a crash have little to do with the wearing of a
> > helmet. It has more to do
> > > with the brain banging around inside your head, helmets do not stop that
> > from happening.
> > > Dave
> >
> > However... the helmet will "cushion" the blow the brain....
> >
> > Crystal
>
> Not that I want to get into the great helmet debate, but I have had 3 friends die from head
injuries
> sustained WHILE wearing a helmet. None had any skull fractures. One died in a fall from a
motorcycle
> in soft dirt at about 20mph with a motorcycle helmet which offers far more protection than a bike
> helmet. If you think that a bike helmet "cushions" the blow, take yours off and hit yourself in
the
> head with it. The styrofoam in helmets is fairly hard, the amount of force to take a mass the
size
> of your head and make an indentation in the foam before it breaks (crumple zone effect) is far
> greater than the force it takes to slam the brain into walls of the skull and cause fatal
> injury. Dave

 

OMC wrote:
> "We can't blame anything except for bad luck," said Fignon, a former cycling prodigy who twice won
> the Tour de France. Fignon was among the leaders of a protest against the obligatory wearing of
> helmets at the Paris-Nice in 1991.
>
> He added: "If you land on your forehead, a helmet is still not going to protect you. It doesn't
> change a thing."
>
> This is exactly the attitude that keeps the UCI from making changes and keeping the riders safe.
> The never is any 100% guarantee that a helmet will save your life, but it's stupid not to take
> advantage of technology to increase your chances of survival. I guess Fignon knows a lot more
> about head trama than emergency doctors do.

anti-helmet position, which has some merit.

--
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

 

The helmet might reduce the severity of the "banging around", or slow it down, as the helmet
material compresses.

Dave wrote:

> "Suz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> > "Crystal" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > > "OMC" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > > news:[email protected]... I guess Fignon knows
> > > > a lot more about head trama than emergency doctors do.
> > > >
> > > > OMC
> > >
> > > Fignon is also the idiot who lost the Tour by 8 seconds to Lemond. Wind tunnel test later
> > > showed that had he worn a helmet (and tucked in that
> > dumb
> > > ass ponytail) he would have actually won the Tour!
> > >
> > > Crystal
> > >
> > >
> > Any comments, Kunich?
>
> Most head traumas from a crash have little to do with the wearing of a helmet. It has more to do
> with the brain banging around inside your head, helmets do not stop that from happening. Dave

 

"Colin Campbell" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> The helmet might reduce the severity of the "banging around", or slow it down, as the helmet
> material compresses.

This from Cyclingnews.com "with Kivilev going over the front and hitting the ground face first. He
broke two ribs and fractured the base of his skull, immediately going into a coma".

I am pretty sure they are referring to a Basal Skull Fracture. which I believe is caused by the head
either moving forward or backward abruptly. This is the type of injury that race car drivers wear a
Hans Device for.

Don't get me wrong, I think helmets can lessen the chance of injury sometimes, but in this case it
seems that it wouldn't have mattered.

I typically don't wear a helmet when I am out riding by myself, bu8t I do when I ride in a group.

Either way his death is a tragedy

Dave

 

"Callistus Valerius" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "JTN" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > he had the "CHOICE" to wear one or not. he chose not. its his choice as is your choice. nothing
> > wrong with having a choice in
> life
> > is there?
> >
>
>
> This isn't the Harley-Davidson newsgroup. Don't be stupid, wear a helmet.
>
>

Yup Harley Davidson riders don't have to wear a helmet either in New Hampshire. It is a choice, I
don't agree with not wearing one but I do not agree with taking away peoples' choices either. Maybe
this isn't understood well in Europe or other very liberal states but it's "Live Free or Die" where
I live. I "choose" to live and wear a helmet religiously but I'll be damned if I'll force my views
on someone else..

I knew we'd get into one of these "Helmet War" threads; part of me thinks it's pointless. Education
may keep people from making bad decisions but in the end it is a decision. When it comes to racing,
I don't know how it works in Europe but it would be IMPOSSIBLE for the USCF to get insurance if
they did not force helmet use.

Danny Callen

 

If you think that bicycling is that dangerous let's just outlaw it outright instead of pretending
that everything will just be OK if someone wears 7 ounces of foamed plastic.

Did anyone in the race prevent Kivilev from wearing his helmet on that day? Creed - were you
there holding him back and telling him he'd be an idiot to wear a helmet? Maybe you ought to put
your foot down and tell Mike that he can't ever ride again unless he's wearing a helmet. See
where it gets you.

Fignon, one of the great cyclists makes a comment and some old fool can criticise him.

"OMC" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> His death prompted his team doctor to call for the wearing of
helmets
> to become law - as it currently is in Belgium.
>
> Doctor Jean-Jacques Menuet claimed that wearing a helmet would
almost
> certainly have saved Kivilev's life.
>
> "The injury Andrei sustained to his skull is located at a point that would have been protected by
> a helmet," said Meunet, who called for the authorities to bring in stiffer measures.
>
> "Riders are free to wear a helmet or not, even though as doctors we would all like to see it
> become obligatory."
>
> However Fignon defended riders' rights not to wear helmets.
>
> "We can't blame anything except for bad luck," said Fignon, a former cycling prodigy who twice won
> the Tour de France. Fignon was among
the
> leaders of a protest against the obligatory wearing of helmets at
the
> Paris-Nice in 1991.
>
> He added: "If you land on your forehead, a helmet is still not going to protect you. It doesn't
> change a thing."
>
> This is exactly the attitude that keeps the UCI from making changes and keeping the riders safe.
> The never is any 100% guarantee that a helmet will save your life, but it's stupid not to take
> advantage of technology to increase your chances of survival. I guess Fignon
knows
> a lot more about head trama than emergency doctors do.
>
> OMC

 

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (OMC) wrote:

> This is exactly the attitude that keeps the UCI from making changes and keeping the riders safe.
> The never is any 100% guarantee that a helmet will save your life, but it's stupid not to take
> advantage of technology to increase your chances of survival. I guess Fignon knows a lot more
> about head trama than emergency doctors do.

Professional riders know the risks of riding without a helmet. It's not like they're being prevented
from wearing them. At some point, it's about taking personal responsibility instead of being
regulated.

--
Steven L. Sheffield stevens at veloworks dot com veloworks at worldnet dot ay tea tee dot net bellum
pax est libertas servitus est ignoratio vis est

 

"Crystal" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> Fignon is also the idiot who lost the Tour by 8 seconds to Lemond.
Wind
> tunnel test later showed that had he worn a helmet (and tucked in
that dumb
> ass ponytail) he would have actually won the Tour!

And if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you. Or maybe you haven't noticed some riders still
aren't wearing helmets and are dong rather well in the TT department?

 

"Danny Callen" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> "Callistus Valerius" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> > "JTN" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > > he had the "CHOICE" to wear one or not. he chose not. its his choice as is your choice.
> > > nothing wrong with having a choice
in
> > life
> > > is there?
> > >
> >
> >
> > This isn't the Harley-Davidson newsgroup. Don't be stupid, wear a helmet.
> >
> >
>
> Yup Harley Davidson riders don't have to wear a helmet either in New Hampshire. It is a choice, I
> don't agree with not wearing one but I do not agree with taking away peoples' choices either.
> Maybe this isn't
understood
> well in Europe or other very liberal states but it's "Live Free or Die" where I live. I "choose"
> to live and wear a helmet religiously but I'll be damned if I'll force my views on someone else..
>

A couple of months ago a legislator in New Mexico proposed a bill whereby non-helmeted motorcycle
riders who died as a result of crashing their motorcycle would automatically become an organ donor.

Once the bill became public knowledge, it was withdrawn after just a few days.

 

On Thu, 13 Mar 2003 03:47:36 GMT, "Steven L. Sheffield" <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>
>Professional riders know the risks of riding without a helmet. It's not like they're being
>prevented from wearing them. At some point, it's about taking personal responsibility instead of
>being regulated.

.....or here in the US, once you involve insurance companies/legal system.

If memory serves me, the USCF had to institute a hard shell helmet law for races to be able to
purchase liability insurance. it had NOTHING to do with the USCF board or riders debating the issue.

gopher

 

>And if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you. Or maybe you haven't noticed some riders still
>aren't wearing helmets and are dong rather well in the TT department?

Yep they are doing well but they would do better if they wore one.

Thats like saying a kid who didn't study for a test but gets 95% did a great job. Sure but if they
studied they would have done better.

Helmets lower TT time's. Its a well known fact. Ask Cobb, Coggan or anyone else who does wind tunnel
testing. Did your wind tunnel testing prove otherwise Tom?