"Jay Beattie" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
>
> Tony Raven wrote:
> > Cathy Kearns wrote:
> > >
> > > Worked for me for my children. One continues to ride a bike. The
other
> > > decided it wasn't worth it, and gave up bike riding when she entered
junior
> > > high. Prefered to walk the 1.5 miles each way. As we were looking at
> > > colleges I was surprised to hear this child that gave up bike riding
at age
> > > 11 wouldn't mind getting a bike for transportation when she goes away
to
> > > school, as by then she won't need to wear a helmet. (In California
adults
> > > (age 18) are not required by law to wear helmets while cycling.)
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Which is an excellent illustration of one good reason many of us oppose
> > mandatory helmets - they put people off cycling especially children and
> > there is no clear evidence of any compensating benefit.
> >
>
> I am a little confused, though, why the daughter gave up riding when
> she got into junior high. Did she give it up because she had to wear a
> helmet? I understand the current comment made what, four years later,
> that she wouldn't have to wear a helmet when she goes to college, but
> did she say back in junior high that she was quitting because she had
> to wear a helmet?
>
> That is always hard for me to believe, but I don't
> have a daughter, and apparently they have different agendas than sons.
> My 10 year old son wears a helmet. He cares how he looks, so there may
> be some helmets he wouldn't wear if they made him look too dorky. But
> otherwise, it is no big deal. Getting him to ride at all, though . . .
> that's a big deal. Kids are so lazy these days, and it is usually easy
> to get a ride in the car from mom and dad, so the incentive to ride
> just isn't there anymore. -- Jay Beattie.
>
Yes, she did say she was quitting because she didn't want to wear the
helmet. It's not that helmets look dorky. It's that even after you take
the helmet off for the day you look dorky until you can restyle (blow-dry,
hot iron, whatever) your hair. And that is not an option at school. And no,
it's not like she got to drive to school instead.
I know real helmet enthusiast tend to poo-poo the hair thing. But I
remember asking my hair stylist if she could recommend a hair style that
would withstand a bike helmet. Note, I'm not that picky about hair style,
heck, I drive a convertable, wind blown is just fine. I was going on a tour
of France, and when I got off the bike to tour the towns and cathedrals I
just wanted to look presentable. She had no answer at all. She had a few
other clients that were semi pro lady cyclists, and even the pony tail look
still gave them matted ridges after a long ride.
After my daughter gave up her bike I started thinking about it. And I found
that, since I have car keys, if I had just showered and finally wrestled my
hair into submission I would drive rather than ride my bike to do errands,
even when it would obviously be faster to ride the bike. (We have a ton of
cut through paths around here, routes on a bike are often much shorter than
the same route in a car. Also parking around shops and schools are such
that parking a car would require a much longer walk than parking a bike.)
So then I started to think about the helmet, and whether I needed it to run
errands on the same streets I'm willing to walk or run on without a helmet,
and decided if the deciding factor for biking or driving was really the
helmet, I'd just leave the helmet at home and ride the bike. The safety
factor of the helmet was offset by the extra exercise I was getting.
Note: when I do personal risk assessments I take into account I've been
biking for many years, including the 4+ years I went to college in Davis. I
have never fallen and hit my head while on a bike. I have hit my head on a
curb while running and knocked my self out taking a flying header into the
ice playing broom ball. Neither time was I wearing a helmet. Neither time
did I die. (Though the injuries from the fall while running did look
suspiciously like I wiped out on a bike, road rash all the way down one
side...) Even in my 40's I was willing to go for headers in soccer,
figuring I didn't need those brain cells anyway. And for the life of me I
don't get why we have no problems with kids heading soccer balls if we are
so worried about them losing brain cells. I've seen the studies on that.
