http://ozreport.com/data/Accidentspot.kmz


It wasn't until about two years ago that I started wearing a helmet when I rode
my bicycle. I grew up in a time where bicycle helmets were unknown and for fifty
seven years I had not really seen a need for one. I had never had an accident
that would have necessitated a helmet to keep me from harm.


Still I had worried from time to time when I was in traffic or when drivers
deliberately attempted to do me harm. I just used my wit and quickness to avoid
problems.


It wasn't until I was wandering through an REI store one day that I looked more
closely at bike helmets and finally found one that fit my large ( 7 5/8")
misshapen head and was actually adjustable. It was over $100, but with Belinda's
encouragement, I felt that it was a reasonable purchase.


That doesn't mean I started wearing it right away. I had been doing just fine
without one for so many years, ever since my dad got me that really little
yellow bike and sent me on my way.  I didn't feel a great need for the
helmet, after all I had survived numerous thousand mile rides through the
western US and eastern Canada.


The helmet looked dorky, made me feel dorky, and was a bother. At least this one
fit and didn't weight much, and was generally reasonably comfortable, while not
being quite as nice as letting the wind run unimpeded through my short hairs.


But, I did notice that I got a little more nervous when riding on my road bike
down hills at over 35 mph, at times thinking about whether I would be able to
handle all the problems that might occur at this speed and just what kind of
shape I would be in if I had a problem. Also I avoided heavy traffic due to
unease about the other drivers. So I started to wear the helmet a little more
often and started to get used to it.


Then this summer while in Jackson Hole, I purchased a used rental road bike.
This bike was much faster than my twenty five year old Davidson or my Trek 4500
mountain bike. I felt a lot more comfortable wearing my helmet while riding this
bike.


I didn't mean to buy this bike. I had ridden my Davidson in to Fitzgerald's to
get the bottom bracket greased, and just needed another bike to ride around town
while they worked on it. Unfortunately, I really loved riding the bike on the
wonderful bike paths found nearby, and it became a puppy dog sale for them.


Whenever I rode my Jamis Ventura I wore my helmet and when we got to Cathedral
City here next to Palm Springs I wore it every day as I went for an hour or two
of cross country riding along the main thoroughfares to Palm Desert and up
highway 74 to the visitor center or Vista Point.


One day, a few weeks back, I was returning home on Gerald Ford and stopped at
the light at Plumley. I noticed that there was a narrow patch of water a hundred
or so feet ahead of me  parallel to my path.


Now here in the desert you notice water and sand if you ride a bike with thin
(23 mm) high pressure (120 pound) tires. Thin sand on a turn can mean that you
slide out. Thick sand can bog you down and put the bike out of control. Water,
on a turn, can cause your tire to lose its grip and send you sliding.


Because this is a desert the only water that you see on the streets comes from
the sprinklers that water the golf courses, lawns, and ornamentals that line the
road side. It is a drag seeing this precious water going to waste (of course,
many feel that watering a golf course in the desert is a waste in and of
itself).


I saw the patch of shallow water ahead and since I wasn't turning through it I
wasn't too worried about it. But, as soon as I came into the puddle, my bike
went sideways and I hit the ground hard. Especially my head, which had the
furthest to fall.


I did not have time to react, take evasive maneuvers, recover or do anything but
fall. I didn't have enough notice to put out my hand, or protect my head. I just
went down sideways instantly, with my head banging against the pavement.


Fortunately, my head was surrounded by crushable foam that was placed there in
my bike helmet just to deal with this kind of situation. I could feel that I had
hit hard, but I was up and thinking about it instead of having a concussion or
worse and being in the back of an ambulance.


I have a small mirror that is connected on an adjustable plastic arm to a
rotating plastic pivot on the side of my helmet. It is plastic piece that hit
first, put a dent in the foam and was torn off. If that hadn't have been there,
the impact would have spread more evenly on the side of the helmet.


I suffered a scratched and bleeding calf, bruised and bleeding hip, and bleeding
shoulder. My head was fine the next day.


Why did I fall so fast while going straight? It turns out that particular
location always has at least a thin puddle of water and over time a layer of
slime has grown up under that puddle. The pavement was very slick and the wheels
had zero grip there.


So, I'm glad I had my helmet on on that day, and I wear it even more now. If I
look like a dork, when at least I've got an intact brain to make up for that.


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.