OK, I’m back on the Campaign to Ride a Bike, a loose gee-up I’m waging on my blog – and beyond – to get more people riding. You can catch up on some of my rants here and also here.
But a big barrier for a lot of people is the goddamn helmet. How to preserve one’s vanity and the planet?
(PS. The cat in a melon hat was sourced by my new (!) assistant Jo Foster who has an incredible knack for finding obscure factoids, cricket trivia and pictures for this blog. She also likes threatening me with Dance-off Tuesdays and Sing-a-long Wednesdays in my office. Performance terrifies me. Jo finds this funny…ANYWAY…)
I personally struggle. I promote riding unencumbered by style restraints. But helmets just ruin the whole flow, especially for a chick. Plus. Um. Confession: I don’t always wear a helmet. Like when I scoot down the road for dinner, or to the beach in the morning. Illegal I know. And irresponsible. But I must come clean. I sometimes debate the protective worth of them (the Sydney Morning Herald ran a story recently on whether bike helmets do any good if you’re interested). And I rationalise things in my own head thus: I’ve been riding for 32 years (and have never pranged); if I have an accident, I want my brain to go along with my body; and riding sans headwear makes for some very defensive riding.
That said, if I’m going far, or cross-country, or racing, I wear one.
And I’ve recently found some styles that are getting me a little more excited about wearing them more regularly. I’ll share a few: