Use your helmet and save your melon

Derick, I'm glad you are okay now and that you were wearing your
helmet.

June

"Derick Fay" wrote in message
oups.com...
This came across the caltri list this morning...

To:

Subject: tri-summer Yet another wear your helmet story...and
perhaps
a mouthguard


Summer Cal Triathletes and especially those racing at Donner,





I was up at my family's Tahoe condo this past weekend doing some
altitude
training for Donner and things were going well. Saturday morning I
did
a
15-mile run on the bike path along the Truckee river. Sunday
morning
my
plan was to ride from the condo in Tahoe City to Donner Lake and
back,
then
do a 12-mile run along the Truckee river. Things were going well
until
I
got to Truckee, when my tire picked up a staple from some
construction
on
Donner Pass Road. I super-glued my tire, popped in my spare tube
and
was
back on my way. I figured that would be the only incident of the
ride.
On
the return trip on Higway 89 (for those of you who don't know the
area,

Highway 89 from Truckee to Tahoe City is a 13 mile stretch of
straight
and
flat road with a nice big shoulder--a road made for aerobars),
however,

disaster ensued. About 3 miles away from Squaw Valley, I was on my

aerobars, spinning comfortabley at just under 30 mph when I hit a
crack
in
the shoulder filled with black dust from road re-paving and skidded
out. I
think I landed on my left side first, but I must have rolled since I
have
huge abbrasions on both knees, both sides of my hip, my left
shoulder,
nose,
chin, and upper lip. I also cracked through the left side of my
helmet,
scraped up the front the helmet and knocked out my front and lateral
left
incisors (the front left tooth and the one just to the left of it).
My
bike
seemed ok, just a little scratched, and I was about to get back on
my
bike
and ride the remaining 10 miles home when some guys in a truck that
saw
me
crash pulled over, amazed I was still walking, and offered me a
ride.
I'm
so lucky and grateful since I remember almost nothing about the ride
home.
I know that during the ride home I couldn't remember what I did the
day

before or even that I was up at Tahoe, but I must have been able to
tell
them where to drop me off because I ended up at my Tahoe condo in
Tahoe

City. Shortly after I was dropped off my memory came back and my
family
took me to a dentist in Tahoe City for an emergency root canal, but
even
now, I still don't remember anything that happened during the ride
home. I
do know that my helmet saved my life and cannot emphasize enough
that a

helmet is necessary whenever you're on those two wheels. Even if
you're not
going 30 mph, the pavement is still hard.

On 5 Jul 2005 12:49:26 -0700, "Derick Fay"
wrote:

This came across the caltri list this morning...

What is the point of this story?

JT

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first-june-thanks for the concern-it wasn't me it happened to-was
reposting...but i wear my helmet always anyway

This came across the caltri list this morning...

What is the point of this story?
JT

second-jt-only adding to the helmet thread; i was struck by the fact
that the accident happened without any other riders or vehicles
involved, just from an uneven road surface.

On 5 Jul 2005 19:39:26 -0700, "Derick Fay"
wrote:

first-june-thanks for the concern-it wasn't me it happened to-was
reposting...but i wear my helmet always anyway

Always? What about in the shower? Or at work?

JFT

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Yup, my near death experience on a bike came with no cars or other
cyclists in sight - just a stick popping into my front spokes on a
downhill and tossing me into the ditch.......or so I think, you don't
remember much after a L3 concussion.

bt

I started roller skiing in the early 80's, the group of guys I started
with never used helmets, back then we used exel's and roleto's. I had
my fair share of road rash falls in the beginning, but no big bone or
melon crushing falls, nor did anybody in the group, and this was thru a
couple of decades of regular training, only in the mid 90's did
somebody show up that used a helmet. I took a few years off from
skiing and started roller skiing in 03 again, can count the crashes
I've had over the last 15 years on one hand with a couple of fingers,
but and after reading these nordic chats, I decided to wear a helmet.

It's a good thing.

While anything can happen, I still believe the best safety in roller
skiing is picking the time and the terrain. My midweek roller ski
route starts at 6:00 am before the barbarians wake up and take over the
roads.

sk8


nordvind wrote:
With all the rollerski chat happening lately, thought I'd post a
reminder resulting from a fall I took today. Don't know how I managed
to do it, but I took a mistep at speed and fell flat on my back hard
enough to dent the back of my helmet. Some serious thinking about what
would have happened to my head if I didn't have the helmet on.