i was bicycling the other night on the way to the gym, stood up to climb a hill. Probably riding at 15 mph and 3/4 of the way up, i believe my chain slipped off first causing the left pedal to fall out from under me. In less than 1 sec I had my left temple bouncing off the pavement as I slid to a stop on my left shoulder and oddly my right knee. after scrabbling from the middle of the street, brushed myself off and surveyed the damage. chain slipped off, somehow snapped a spoke on my front wheel, tweaked bars, i can move my arms/legs/neck, just right knee raspberry. would probably have been a neat youtube vid. Mult walkersby stopped and made it seem like a scene from I, Robot taking turns repeating "are you okay?" before wandering away.

looking at my helmet, there's a good flat spot across the left brow region, didn't crack the styrofoam, but def flattened it a bit. I was always skeptical about the little bike helmets, but gotta say it worked a charm. would definitely have cracked my skull w/ the force i hit the ground with.

as I walked back home, pushing the bike on the rear wheel, i thought about how quick it all happened. I had zero chance to reach out and break my fall. I was up and then the next moment my head was into the ground. on the walk home, handfuls of hipsters passed me by on their fixies, only perhaps 1-2 wore helmets. natural selection in the process i suppose.

a call to the hospital advice line recommended that i stay home on concussion watch x 24 hrs (no NSAIDS or rx painkillers, no sleeping more than 2 hrs continuously without a check on my level of responsiveness). Almost there and feeling fine 'cept the bruised knee.

life is short, minimize your risk of cutting out earlier than you planned, wear your lid...even on push bikes. stay safe everyone!

Probably a good suggestion ... I am guilty of only rarely wearing a bicycle helmet, and never one for skiing.

The summer before my final year in college, I bought a new ten speed to tool around campus. I put it together myself and was giving it its shake down voyage in my neighborhood. My mom was leaving to go play bingo or something and no one else was at home.

Anyway, I come tearing down my street in ninth gear, probably going 30-35 mph, I shift into 10th and the chain jumps off the sprocket and lodges between the frame and sprockets. To this day, I still cannot comprehend the physics of what happened next, but suddenly I'm upside down clutching the bike, and landed square on my noggin - still clutching the bike. This was 1984 when real men didn't wear bicycle helmets!

When I got to my feet, it felt like someone was pouring warm water on my head. I reached back and when I looked at my hand it was covered in blood. I started applying pressure to stop the bleeding, but knew I was in for a trip to the hospital. So, I went to a random neighbor's house, who I didn't know, and rang the bell. A nice 30 something YO lady answered and I explained to her that I needed to call my mother in a hurry. In order to drive home the importance of calling my mother, I showed her my blood drenched hand. She tried to call my mom, but mom had already left, so she drove me to the hospital (those were the good old days).

I ended up with a thorough scrubbing of my road rashed noggin and 8 stitches. So, yes boys and girls, always wear your bikey helmet.

Good thing you are ok! Yeah it's a tough lesson to learn and a painful one at that. I too have had one of those falls and was so glad I was wearing a helmet. Accidents really do happen in a split second and anytime your noggin hits a hard surface, your head is going to take most of the damage. I had concussion effects that lasted nearly six months after that spill. I guess it just reinforced for me that no matter what fast moving sport you do, whether it be skiing, snowboarding, cycling etc. you gotta protect your melon.

by the time i was old enough to drive/ride on the street, helmets were req'd by law in CA. i remember my dad goin round w/o a helmet on his R90S but he's been wearing a helmet 100% for at least 25 years....although on his bicycle he'll still go w/o a helmet ...hard for me to imagine all that being thought of as the "good" old days