Recently Carl and I were out on our weekly Wednesday afternoon mountain bike ride at Swinley Forest having a great ride. 2.5 hours into the session whilst going through some of the intricate single track that Swinley has to offer, Carl took a tumble and put his helmet to the test. Over the handle bars he went and landed head and shoulder first into the dirt.
What happened next wasn’t very pretty, but, all I can say is the helmet saved him from having very serious head and neck injuries. Now on the subject of the helmet, it didn’t come out well at all. Cracked from back to front. The only thing stopping it being in two pieces was the thin plastic outer shell. I guess you can say that it did the job that it was meant to. Fortunately we can have a laugh about it now and we shall ride another day.
So many times that we go out riding as a roadie or mountain biker we see people riding with no helmet. I feel it’s like driving with no seat belt, there is a great feeling of guilt when you don’t wear it. This is the same when I ride. I wish everyone had the same feeling.
Anyone fancy coming along to our Wednesday afternoon rides? They are generally at about 2.30pm at Swinley Forest. We ride them as a bit of an interval session, taking it in turn to lead each one – they are great fun (on the whole).
Alex
