[Neela]

Hypothetical (especially if you know my wife).

You carpool with a bunch of guys from Los Gatos to Demo. Upon arriving you let out a loud F*** as you realize your helmet is sitting in your car in Los Gatos. It's 3pm, everybody is ready to go...

Do you :

a. sit in your car bummed out for 3 hours while your buddies rip it up? :madman:
b. Ride up and down a fire road? :madmax:
c. Get on your bike pissed off and "be careful"? :skep:
d. Who gives a damn I'm here, I'm going to get some air no matter?

To add a twist, the hypothetical rider may or may not have kids aged 1 and 3.

 

[bdamschen]

sucks.

I'd improvise a quick helmet out of my camel back bladder, some bike tube and three zip ties and go ride... carefully.

 

[pmarshall]

I would fashion a helmet Bear Grills style out of twigs and branches and lash it together with some bamboo strips. Even though there is no bamboo there, I usually have some in my pocket. Then I would look for a bee hive and dig my hand in to get the honeycomb out. You could use that as the foam cushion. Never mind the pissed off bees. Then I might start a fire just to prove that I belong at demo with the other men around me. Yeah, no real reason for the fire other than to keep the bees away. If that doesn't work, look for one of the tweakers cars around that used to steal stuff from us MTBr's. First break their side window even though it is probably not locked since most 1983 cutlass's stopped working a long time before. Then after you rip the seat cushions apart to fashion a helmet, cut the seat belt and secure it to your head. Then just for kicks, pee all over the car. Your probably pretty jacked up at this point and your going to set a few climbing PR's. This is not for everybody but it is something that I might do should that ever happen. Now where is the world did I leave my knife? Must be in the back yard lashed to a stick that I used as an ax. I am always losing things!

 

[leaguerider]

The design spec for standard bike helmets is 12 miles per hour with an impact to the top of the head. If you are going faster than 12mph or land on the front or side of your head all bets are off.
You are trading off regular exercise and all the cardiovascular benefit of that vs. the risk that you crash slower than 12mph.

 

[squashyo]

I'd say ride and hope for the best...however Murphy's Law will send you over the bars on this particular adventure.

I once brought two left footed clipless shoes to Skeggs. That is a LONG drive to turn around and go home. I rode but my big toe on my right foot never forgave me.

 

[xls]

Best reply so far: pmarshall

Aside from that I would

1) Agree on a route that your buddies are riding.
2) Drive back, get your helmet.
3) Ride agreed-upon route in opposite direction until you meet.

A friend of mine forgot his front wheel (I know , but I'm sure I'll forget mine one of these days) and we did exactly the above. I would not ride without a helmet at demo. I know I would have a hard time riding "carefully", whatever that means. I've also crashed at demo unexpectedly (front tire washed out). Too many of my friends crashed, two briefly lost consciousness (despite wearing helmets) and I would bet money that they'd be worse off had they not worn their helmets.


:madman: <-- probably hurts with or without helmet...

 

[TC]

what about...

losing an elbow pad on the pedal up to a rocky, techy downhill trail? weird feeling heading down with only one, and feel really dumb not wearing any. which arm do I wear it on?

or

i forgot gloves once. another rider loaned me his spare pair...only they were a mismatched pair...and pretty ripe at that. what a terrible ride that was.

helmet? I only forgot it once when I was driving away from my ride; ironically, i had crashed that day (head first into a manzanita bush)...must have been a little loopy.

a buddy of mine showed up once without his clipless shoes. we had to swap his pedals for flats and he rode in his tennis shoes. he was HATING LIFE!!! i thought it was pretty cool that i actually had flats in my truck and did the roadside switcheroo for him.

 

[Bernhardt]

DOH! You have a few choices here: 1)Casually ride down hihns mill(my friend calls it the road of death), and then up Tractor/Ridge to Niscene/Buzzard Lagoon and back to car. 2)Decide which friend you like the least & club over the head with one of the many available sticks. Use their helmet for ride. Afterwards convince victim(once conscience again) that they crashed and are suffering amnesia. 3)Break another rider's bike in the parking lot & borrow helmet. 4)Drink all the post ride beer pre ride yourself & go ride helmetless. Drunk people never seem to get hurt in accidents & if you do get hurt you have an excuse(drunkeness). 5)Do the Mt. Bache/Highland/Ormsby loop. Hmm that last might not be such a good idea w/o helmet either - never mind boring.

 

[Buzz Cut]

I would go for a run on the trails. I won't ride any bike anywhere without a helmet [although thats how I rode from 1960 to 1982].

 

[ak77]

I did turn the car around to get my helmet once, but I was only 20 mins from home. In this case, I think I'd go for the 'be careful' thing. I would actually be more careful, too. Probably safer than not being careful with a helmet on. Helmets don't prevent broken arms legs ribs etc.

 

[DrWheels]

This is why I keep an old helmet in the back of my car, along with tools, duct tape, spare tubes, flat pedals baby, wipes (best degreasers in the world) and about 10 pounds of accumulated sand, dirt, compost and powdered Fruit Loops in the back of my car - you never know when you or a buddy is going to forget something, and I lack the skills to McGuyver a fix.
Lacking that, I'd probably do Bernhardt's option #1 and make a climbing day out of it.

 

[metrotuned]

Yes, I would ride demo without a helmet, with gold aviators/glass lenses no less. On top of that, superman yardsail off a jump requiring emergency room surgical suture to tie up my elbow that looked like a lobster tail. And still ride out of the forest with a busted knee and blood runnin' down my arm in full shock and adrenaline.

 

[grrrah]

I did this once.

after the ride, I thanked d-bug for carrying a spare helmet.

remembering back, I was planning to head home and do a different ride closer to home had there not been a spare. I usually have a helmet in my car at all times, but I remember clearing my trunk area for a snow trip where I needed the cargo room.

 

[squashyo]

You could also just start wearing a helmet at all times. At first people might think you are odd but after a while they will respect your sense of safety and resourcefulness.

 

[cmdrpiffle]

Ask yourself: how many times have I ridden Demo?

How many of those times did I crash where I impacted my helmet on something?

Calculate the odds..

weird huh?

 

[Ryan G.]

I would be doing time trials on Hihns. And climb up Braille and Sawpit yelling "Biker up!"

 

[grrrah]

Ask yourself: how many times have I ridden Demo?

How many of those times did I crash where I impacted my helmet on something?

Calculate the odds..

weird huh?

Having many crashes, and at least one (that I can remember) broken helmet at Demo, the odds say to wear one. I'd probably ride "easy" at most of the other places, but demo has a lot of lines where that's difficult to do.

 

[89hawk]

A friend did this. He rode very slowly. It was just a slow ride in the woods for him

From what I watch on TV, wearing a helmet or pads lowers your street cread. It looks like anyone who rides a skate board or BMX does not wear a helmet.

As for me, It is when I have all the pads and the full face on that trouble finds me.

 

[Neela]

Good thoughts everyone. If you're curious what I did...I took option C. Rode "carefully" down Sawpit. Reduced speed by ~30%, no dropoffs > 1 ft, a few rollovers slowly, walked down a couple steep pitches even though I was 90% sure I'd be fine riding down them. Thanked my guardian angel when I get to Hihn's Mill.

 

[Finch Platte]

losing an elbow pad on the pedal up to a rocky, techy downhill trail? weird feeling heading down with only one, and feel really dumb not wearing any. which arm do I wear it on?

Kind of a dumb question. If you're right-handed, wear it on the right arm.

Solved!