Jon George
Mamil and couldn't care less
- Location
- Suffolk an' Good
DISCLAIMER: this post is not intended to set off the for/against debate, it's just my observations based on the last seven days when I haven't been using a helmet when using my road bike.
Some history. I've always had a bike or BSO, but about four years I really got bitten. This also coincided with being clipped by a car down a country lane and I went for the full MAMIL - including helmet. I also began using it for trips to the pub and into town on my hybrid.
Then, last year, I acquired my father-in-law's retirement present of City Gent Halfords bike from the 80's that he had seldom used. It promptly became my pub bike and I could not bring myself to wear a helmet when using it - it didn't 'feel' right to do so.
So, six weeks ago I started dispensing with the helmet when riding my hybrid. And for the last seven days, I've been doing the same while out on my road bike.
I have read that there some evidence that drivers give helmetless riders a little more room and, even though this is a far from scientific study, I believe I have noticed a subtle difference. Yes, I still get some close passes, but not as often as they have been, and it also 'seems' as though I'm generally getting a little more breathing space than I have been used to from the rest. Okay, I've also become far more willing to adopt Primary and perhaps that confidence is somehow relayed to others drivers through body language, but I really feel as though I have regained something of the purity of cycling.
Oh, I have just acquired a bandanna - with a pirate motif. What mid-life crisis?
Some history. I've always had a bike or BSO, but about four years I really got bitten. This also coincided with being clipped by a car down a country lane and I went for the full MAMIL - including helmet. I also began using it for trips to the pub and into town on my hybrid.
Then, last year, I acquired my father-in-law's retirement present of City Gent Halfords bike from the 80's that he had seldom used. It promptly became my pub bike and I could not bring myself to wear a helmet when using it - it didn't 'feel' right to do so.
So, six weeks ago I started dispensing with the helmet when riding my hybrid. And for the last seven days, I've been doing the same while out on my road bike.
I have read that there some evidence that drivers give helmetless riders a little more room and, even though this is a far from scientific study, I believe I have noticed a subtle difference. Yes, I still get some close passes, but not as often as they have been, and it also 'seems' as though I'm generally getting a little more breathing space than I have been used to from the rest. Okay, I've also become far more willing to adopt Primary and perhaps that confidence is somehow relayed to others drivers through body language, but I really feel as though I have regained something of the purity of cycling.
Oh, I have just acquired a bandanna - with a pirate motif. What mid-life crisis?
