My helmet saved me, and broke

Hey all -

I was out in front of the house yesterday, practicing a bit of hopping
on my KH29. After a UPD I mounted up again, and, as I'm sure everyone
has experienced, I placed my second foot a bit too far back on the left
pedal.

Now when this happens, I just unweight that foot and jiggle it forward a
bit. Getting cocky, however, I tried to FLIP the pedal backward under
my foot to reposition it. Too cocky.

I think what happened was I stopped the pedal, but anyway, I slammed to
the ground MUCH faster than I ever have. Too fast to really get my
hands up, and the thing that took the impact was the front, right edge
of my bike helmet.

The helmet's foam got compressed and cracked up the middle. If I hadn't
been wearing it, my forehead/nose/right cheekbone would have smashed on
the pavement.

As it was, the tip of my nose barely touched the road, and I walked
away with a bruised thumb and a scraped knee.

I used to wear the helmet just as an example to my kids and other
neighborhood kids. From now on I'll be wearing one and telling the
story of how a helmet saved my face and head.


--
steveyo - Last will be first

steveyo

"I complained I need new shoes, until I met a man with no feet." -
unknown

"Do whatever steps you want if
you have cleared them with the pontiff"- Tom Lehrer


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Wow, good work.

Argue with that!


--
Brian MacKenzie - Herc tamed him! Tamed him!

'TRAINING WHEEL NOT REQUIRED DVD - NOW AVAILABLE!'
(HTTP://WWW.LBMMULTIMEDIA.COM)

'ps. just watched TWNR, the UW36 on the stairs broke my brain' - markf

'Unicycle Product Reviews'
(http://londonunicyclingclub.ca/unicycleReviews.aspx)
*122* reviews on *79* products, never make an uninformed purchase again!


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I submit that on or about Sat, 27 Aug 2005 08:28:21 -0500, the person
known to the court as "steveyo"
m made a statement
ist.com in Your
Honour's bundle) to the following effect:

The helmet's foam got compressed and cracked up the middle.

In other words, it failed. If it had done this on test it would have
failed the test. You do know that polystyrene foam absorbs very
little energy in brittle failure, don't you?

It never fails to amaze me the number of people who hold up helmets
which have conspicuously failed to work as designed as some kind of
example of how wonderful they are!

Strangely, the number of "helmet saved my life" anecdotes vastly
outweighs the number of people who have ever suffered serious head
injury...

Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote:


[foolishness elided]

I am going to forego my usual polity and circumlocution, getting
straight to the point.

Hey, you bicycling anti-helmet fanatic. Please to keep your irrational
parascientific foaming at the mouth antihelmet ravings over on
rec.bicycles.misc where they are appreciated.

I am serious about this. Your audience here includes about 50X more
kids, earnest impressionable youngsters under 18 -- under 14 even, than
r.b.m. It is unconscionable for you to come over here and spew your
nonsense. You are a menace.

This is not a debate, and i'm not going to get into an
rec.bicycles.misc-style 500-post point-counterpoint about it. Just shut
up and Leave.

Thamk ewe sew mutch.

Kids, ignore this guy, he is clazy in the head. Brave Sir Stupid says
so, so it must be true. Wear your helmets.



..max

aka
"what doe THIS button do?!"

On Sat, 27 Aug, Brave Sir Stupid wrote:

your irrational parascientific foaming at the mouth

followed by ...

Brave Sir Stupid says so, so it must be true.

I don't really think there's anything more to be said. Anyone dumb
enough not to draw the appropriate conclusion from this isn't going to
be convinced by mere facts, let alone truth.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

I submit that on or about Sat, 27 Aug 2005 10:28:27 -0500, the person
known to the court as Brave Sir Stupid made a
statement in Your Honour's bundle) to the
following effect:

Hey, you bicycling anti-helmet fanatic. Please to keep your irrational
parascientific foaming at the mouth antihelmet ravings over on
rec.bicycles.misc where they are appreciated.

Anti-helmet fanatic, eh? That would be why most of the pictures on my
website show me wearing one, then. Oh, wait...

You will also find, parked next to my Brompton and my tandem in the
kitchen, one 24" unicycle.

Please feel free to stick to reality any time you like. And reality,
in this case, means a broken helmet is a failed helmet, and that is as
much an advert for the product as any other failed, broken product.
For unicycling I recommend a hard-shell lid of the sort usually worn
by BMXers. Bicycle helmets are very weak, and modern fitting systems
mean they offer little protection at the back of the head.

Failing that an old-style Bell Biker would probably do. If you can
find one.

Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken

On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 14:46:47 +0100, Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:

It never fails to amaze me the number of people who hold up helmets
which have conspicuously failed to work as designed as some kind of
example of how wonderful they are!

Keep calm Guy - he only does it to annoy, he knows that it displeases
(and if that's not teh case, he's not going to understand).

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

Glad to hear you are ok. Good thing for the helmet; I'll continue
wearing mine but now with a unicycling story to back up it necessity.
Thanks.


--
UNIquelyCanadian - 8~)[==)--O

There are no stupid questions, but there are a LOT of inquisitive
idiots.
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Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
*
Strangely, the number of "helmet saved my life" anecdotes vastly
outweighs the number of people who have ever suffered serious head
injury... (Mikefule adds: presumably, in a unicycle accident?)
*


It also vastly outweighs the number of "helmet made things worse when I
banged my head" anecdotes.

If the helmet was damaged and the head wasn't, then it is reasonable to
assume that in the absence of the helmet, the head would have been
damaged. That has to be a result.

No one has to wear a helmet, so why some people argue so strongly
against their use mystifies me.

(Arguing against compulsory helmet use is a valid stance to adopt.)


--
Mikefule - Roland Hope School of Unicycling

"As it was, the tip of my nose barely touched the road"

(Steveyo, philosophical in the face of near disaster.)
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I submit that on or about Sat, 27 Aug 2005 09:34:44 -0500, the person
known to the court as "Mikefule"
made a statement
list.com in Your
Honour's bundle) to the following effect:

Strangely, the number of "helmet saved my life" anecdotes vastly
outweighs the number of people who have ever suffered serious head
injury... (Mikefule adds: presumably, in a unicycle accident?)

It also vastly outweighs the number of "helmet made things worse when I
banged my head" anecdotes.

Yes. In those cases the translation of linear into rotational
acceleration usually precludes future involvement in Usenet...

If the helmet was damaged and the head wasn't, then it is reasonable to
assume that in the absence of the helmet, the head would have been
damaged. That has to be a result.

No, it is not. If the helmet broke, it is reasonable to presume that
it broke, and nothing more. This is *not* a good advert for helmets!
For unicycling I would recommend a good quality hard-shell BMX style
lid, which gives decent coverage to the back of the head.

No one has to wear a helmet, so why some people argue so strongly
against their use mystifies me.

Me too. I don't do that, of course - I merely argue that those who
advocate their use should base their advocacy on facts, rather than
hyperbole based on misunderstanding how they are supposed to work, and
their failure modes.

Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken