Put a Lid on it

Ellis Brigham website manager Rob had the misfortune to learn the hard way why wearing a helmet can be so important while riding his bike this weekend. Here, he discusses what happened, and the consequences of wearing a lid.

I'm glad I wear a helmet...

When I was a seasonaire I would never wear a helmet. It just wasn't cool. I now look back and think, what an idiot.

One hard tumble and everything could have changed! I write this now as I was out cycling, enjoying the winter sun on my road bike. It was pretty mild, no rain about and there weren't many cars on the road. Everything was going great until I hit a pothole.

Now normally you avoid these sorts of things but it came at me so quick and the road was greasy. There was nothing I could have done about it. I tried to ride it out but my back wheel slipped out and that was it... CRASH BANG WALLOP (What a video).

As I got up blood was streaming from somewhere on my head but everything felt ok. Nick, the chap who I was riding with was calm and cool as he normally was and sorted everything out, scraping me up and my bike off the road. I took my helmet off and thankfully there was nothing bleeding apart from a deep cut to my eyebrow caused by my broken sunglasses.

After I got my breath back I had a good look at myself and miraculously nothing serious was broken, including, importantly, my bike. (One thing a cyclist always does is worry more about their bike than themselves).

It was only when I looked at my helmet that I noticed how lucky I had been… A nice 1 ½ inch dent of shattered plastic and polystyrene right on the corner where the front of my head would have been if I hadn't been wearing it. Safe to say, I'm so glad I wear a lid. It probably saved me from severe brain injury or worse.

I find it incredible nowadays that some people don't wear helmets to do sports such as climbing, skiing, snowboarding and cycling. In light of a pretty famous Formula 1 driver last year who took a really bad crash on the mountain and at not particularly fast speeds, I personally think everyone should wear a helmet. It only takes a split second to fall and your life could be irreparably changed..

Below is an image of the damage to my helmet which could have been the same damage to my head. The best piece of advice I can give anyone who does extreme sports or anything that could potentially damage your head...
...WEAR A HELMET

Has Rob's near-miss got you thinking about wearing a helmet? You can view our selection of ski helmets and climbing helmets, or read our ski helmet or climbing helmet buying guide.