The moral of today’s ride is simply this: wear a helmet.
I don’t care who you are, male or female, old or young, experienced or newbie. You get one head. Protect it.
Unfortunately today I witnessed a horror crash.
For the route today I tried to stay off the main roads, which led me on a fairly typical route of mine involving various side streets and cut throughs. One of which is notoriously slippy, even when it has been dry for a while.
Well, today, on my second lap around (repeating the same ~15km route), I was just about to head back up from the Golf Club to Eastway when a string of young lads (early teens at a guess) came tonning it down that path just as I was slowly making my way past the bollard that deliberately blocks the way to slow people down.
When I went through, the first lad saw me, seemed to panic, locked up and went face first over the bars, slapping his skull against the concrete. Quite the noise. Actually the noise is about all I can vividly recall.
Had he been wearing a helmet, his almost certain concussion would have been avoided. Scrapes and bruises, less so.
There was nothing I could do. And equally, as best I can tell, nothing I did that caused it. I was going slowly because I know that part is dangerous. I wasn’t expecting a bunch of riders bombing it down, but equally I was taking it slowly on the off chance someone was coming.
I feel really bad for that lad. He needed to go to A&E in my opinion. But with all his mates around him, he put on a brave show of it and I carried on. Nothing I could do.
However that was basically it for the rest of the ride. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Could I have done anything different? I don’t think I could. I don’t feel like I did anything wrong, but I feel for him all the same. That’s going to hurt, no doubt about it.
Beyond that, just a tempo-ish ride today. Deliberately easy because I said I’d take it easy on Thursday, and then didn’t.
It’s an increadibly nice day here today. I’m hoping that weather continues into tomorrow. However it does mean there’s way more people out walking, and on bikes. I just wish they’d think about putting on a helmet. I see so many cyclists round here without one. And not just mountain bikers or whatever either. Daft.
Shame though, can’t stop thinking about it. Hopefully he went to hospital and got checked.
If you heard it, he felt it! Bet he saw more stars than Oscars night on his ride home.
I rode to work once forgetting my helmet, didn’t realise till I was 80% the way there. Felt naked once I realised and ride home was extreme caution.
That’s why I gave up MTBing, kept landing on my head. Took it as a sign from the universe that MTB is not for me.
brutal 😀
I’ve fallen a couple of times where the helmet has genuinely saved me from much worse injuries. I get it – I never wore one as a kid either, because I was too cool (ridiculous) and I believed it made you look like a dork.
But yeah, absolutely nuts not to protect your head. Poor kid, hope he was alright in the end.