A funny thing happened at the velodrome, or ... why helmets are a good thing!

I've been riding bicycles for a long time, and ridden, in the last 5
years, over 90,000km on the road. I've seen a lot of weird things, and
experienced a lot of funny, dangerous and irresponsible things - I've
been egged, had beer bottles thrown at me, been slapped on the arse by
a carload of teenage girls, had cold water sprayed on me on a hot day
(thanks lads!), chased by dogs, swooped by magpies, dragged off by
people on ratty old MTB's when on recovery tootles etc etc .... I'm
sure anyone here who rides a lot has similar experiences.

But here's one I think is pretty unique :

The Blackburn velodrome is situated in a sporting field complex. A
photo of it is here :

http://www.aboc.com.au/Members/carl/BBN-HQ/

In itself this is nothing too remarkable.

Yesterday, I'm sitting on my track bike, waiting to start a race, while
teams are organised for a team sprint event. Everyone's lined up on
the fence around the track, sitting on our bikes, and holding the fence
for balance.

*smack*

I get a belt across the head!

WTF was THAT?!

Looking around, there's no-one within a meter or so of me. It can't
have been a friend stirring me up or anything, there's no-one near
enough to have done it.

I look down, there's a cricket ball rolling down beside me into the
middle of the track. I look up, the cricket field next to us, everyone
there is looking at me, the umpire calls out, rather loudly "Six!".

I suggest to the fielding side that they should stop giving England
bowlers a run in their team.

No damage done, helmet isn't damaged in any way that I can see, but I'm
mighty glad I was wearing it. It hit just above the temple. If I
wasn't wearing it, I reckon at least I'd have a pretty decent headache.

Sometimes, no amount of defensive riding can protect you from
randomness!

Bleve wrote -

*smack* .... I get a belt across the head! WTF was THAT?!

Its this irresponsible bloody Gilchrist attitude that is doing so much to
harm serious cricket.... bring back the Corpse with Pads [G. Boycott Esq] I
say ...

On the old Sunday ride, before they opened the olympic archery centre at
Homebush, my normally loud and laughing bunch used to go a bit quiet as we
rode past the target end [the butts?] - Er, we don't want the lads and
lasses to lose their concentration do we ...

Whilst the odd 6 and out in suburban cricket might be dangerous, televised
cricket makes spine bashing on the couch after a hard morning on the saddle
seem entirely justified - you still go to sleep but now you are vicariously
participating in sport ...

And if you were in LA, there would be lawyers at 20 paces by now - thank
heavens we just laugh here - best, Andrew

Bleve wrote:


I've been riding bicycles for a long time, and ridden, in the last 5
years, over 90,000km on the road. I've seen a lot of weird things, and
experienced a lot of funny, dangerous and irresponsible things - I've
been egged, had beer bottles thrown at me, been slapped on the arse by
a carload of teenage girls, had cold water sprayed on me on a hot day
(thanks lads!), chased by dogs, swooped by magpies, dragged off by
people on ratty old MTB's when on recovery tootles etc etc .... I'm
sure anyone here who rides a lot has similar experiences.

But here's one I think is pretty unique :

The Blackburn velodrome is situated in a sporting field complex. A
photo of it is here :

http://www.aboc.com.au/Members/carl/BBN-HQ/

In itself this is nothing too remarkable.

Yesterday, I'm sitting on my track bike, waiting to start a race, while
teams are organised for a team sprint event. Everyone's lined up on
the fence around the track, sitting on our bikes, and holding the fence
for balance.

*smack*

I get a belt across the head!

WTF was THAT?!

Looking around, there's no-one within a meter or so of me. It can't
have been a friend stirring me up or anything, there's no-one near
enough to have done it.

I look down, there's a cricket ball rolling down beside me into the
middle of the track. I look up, the cricket field next to us, everyone
there is looking at me, the umpire calls out, rather loudly "Six!".

I suggest to the fielding side that they should stop giving England
bowlers a run in their team.

No damage done, helmet isn't damaged in any way that I can see, but I'm
mighty glad I was wearing it. It hit just above the temple. If I
wasn't wearing it, I reckon at least I'd have a pretty decent headache.

Sometimes, no amount of defensive riding can protect you from
randomness!


Nice story. Plenty of shock and awe about the 90,000 km, too. Many of us
wouldn't do that distance in a car in 5 years.

Cheers,

Vince

On 2006-12-17, Bleve (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

I've been riding bicycles for a long time, and ridden, in the last 5
years, over 90,000km on the road. I've seen a lot of weird things, and
experienced a lot of funny, dangerous and irresponsible things - I've
been egged, had beer bottles thrown at me, been slapped on the arse by
a carload of teenage girls, had cold water sprayed on me on a hot day
(thanks lads!), chased by dogs, swooped by magpies, dragged off by
people on ratty old MTB's when on recovery tootles etc etc .... I'm
sure anyone here who rides a lot has similar experiences.

Nope. Only ever been slapped on the arse by a carload of guys.

****! What am I doing wrong?

--
TimC
Ah, so many of life's little problems can be solved by head
vaporisation. -- Zixia in ARK

Andrew Price wrote:
Its this irresponsible bloody Gilchrist attitude that is doing so much to
harm serious cricket.... bring back the Corpse with Pads [G. Boycott Esq] I
say ...

Come on, surely Chris Tavare deserves a mention here. I remember
watching him on TV in one summer of the 80's and we were running a
competition on how many balls it would take for him to score his next run.

Just did a quick search and Tavare was rated second slowest specialist
Test batsman in history.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Cricket/I...020331408.html

"TimC" wrote in message
...
On 2006-12-17, Bleve (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

I've been riding bicycles for a long time, and ridden, in the last 5
years, over 90,000km on the road. I've seen a lot of weird things, and
experienced a lot of funny, dangerous and irresponsible things - I've
been egged, had beer bottles thrown at me, been slapped on the arse by
a carload of teenage girls, had cold water sprayed on me on a hot day
(thanks lads!), chased by dogs, swooped by magpies, dragged off by
people on ratty old MTB's when on recovery tootles etc etc .... I'm
sure anyone here who rides a lot has similar experiences.

Nope. Only ever been slapped on the arse by a carload of guys.

****! What am I doing wrong?


Could have been the ponytail Tim.......get a haircut and a real job!!!

Gags

years of growin up playing baseball taught us the one and early thing
you learnt was to yell out 'HEADS!!!' if a ball was going anywhere in
the same hemisphere as another fleshy thing, or collingwood supporter


too many ball sport idjyots watch to see what happens and then react to
the repercussions before going "Oh. sorry mate..."


--
flyingdutch

In article . com,
"Bleve" wrote:

I look down, there's a cricket ball rolling down beside me into the
middle of the track. I look up, the cricket field next to us, everyone
there is looking at me, the umpire calls out, rather loudly "Six!".

No damage done, helmet isn't damaged in any way that I can see, but I'm
mighty glad I was wearing it. It hit just above the temple. If I
wasn't wearing it, I reckon at least I'd have a pretty decent headache.

If it's a square on hit, I'd think there would be enough force to be the
equivalent of a full speed crash. If so, wouldn't the safe thing to do
is to throw the helmet away?
--

Artoi wrote:

In article . com,
"Bleve" wrote:

I look down, there's a cricket ball rolling down beside me into the
middle of the track. I look up, the cricket field next to us, everyone
there is looking at me, the umpire calls out, rather loudly "Six!".

No damage done, helmet isn't damaged in any way that I can see, but I'm
mighty glad I was wearing it. It hit just above the temple. If I
wasn't wearing it, I reckon at least I'd have a pretty decent headache.

If it's a square on hit, I'd think there would be enough force to be the
equivalent of a full speed crash. If so, wouldn't the safe thing to do
is to throw the helmet away?

I'll certainly have a good look at it tonight and make sure there's no
sign of any deformation or cracking. It's only my track racing helmet,
not my good road one, so if I have to turf it, it's not a lot of cash
to drop.

Bleve Wrote:
Artoi wrote:

In article . com,
"Bleve" wrote:

I look down, there's a cricket ball rolling down beside me into
the
middle of the track. I look up, the cricket field next to us,
everyone
there is looking at me, the umpire calls out, rather loudly
"Six!".

No damage done, helmet isn't damaged in any way that I can see, but
I'm
mighty glad I was wearing it. It hit just above the temple. If I
wasn't wearing it, I reckon at least I'd have a pretty decent
headache.

If it's a square on hit, I'd think there would be enough force to be
the
equivalent of a full speed crash. If so, wouldn't the safe thing to
do
is to throw the helmet away?

I'll certainly have a good look at it tonight and make sure there's no
sign of any deformation or cracking. It's only my track racing
helmet,
not my good road one, so if I have to turf it, it's not a lot of cash
to drop.

head + speed + concrete = bad news dude Get thee to a helmetry asap!!!
Don't risk it. It's already had a massive shock absorption, which is
its job - your helmet's mission is complete and it's time to replace it
with some excellent insurance in the form of a quality helmet.

end of lecture.


--
warrwych