POLL: Riding helmetless

If you forget your helmet, guess what? You are the shuttle beeyatch!

I dunno, It would be a tough question, and depend on where I was and what I was riding.

Of course This means that I have forgotten my helmet and no other options (I have a spare Skid Lid in my trunk for this reason), but If I had gotten to the trail and didn't have a helmet, it would be a tough decision…

If it were an easy trail (Neds) I might ride without.

If it were something challenging or fast, I probably would not.

Sounds shitty I guess, but in some cases I would say that the risk of riding down the fire road would be more than riding slower on the trail (Depending on tech difficulty). Crashing on the gravel of a fire road could be just as dangerous.

Generally though i wear my helmet for everything. I try to make sure that I will never be without a helmet.

Two things work for me, one I shuttle mostly, so the car is never far away. and two, I have a few helmets, so I leave one in the car just in case.

Never would ride technical trails without a helmet… I worked with head injury survivors for 7 years… call that enough motivation right there.

i climb up without one, but would never ride on a trail without one. i have ridden back to the shuttle truck with it off tho. i dont think there's any trail that i'd ride without wearing one, and if a guy i was with wanted to ride without, i'd give them a hard time. i have a buddy where my group has said we wont ride with him with no helmet, however, he has ridden sfu without it. mind you, he is also the master of the "tuck and roll" technique.

I've got two different helmets, and soon I'll have a third. I don't have any excuse to ride without a helmet. I have done a full on Lawn-Dart to ashphalt back when I was about 16, I have no intentions of repeating that error. I cracked my skull, and had the continent of South America for a scar.

SFU? I've ridden there a few times without a helmet. Especially when I'm taking my 9 yr old nephew out there and I can't pin it. There is also nothing challenging on that mountain and it's like just going out in the woods like when I was a kid and there was no such thing as helmets. Maybe I'm from a different generation because I don't get snowboarding helmets either. I'm sure they come in handy when you land on some ice though. Don't get me wrong - I'm not condoning it and I wouldn't ride much else without one but like I said, I'm from the era when you got towed in by motorcycle to a launch ramp on your skateboard, jumped the neighbor's car on your BMX and did mctwists on ice half pipes - all without ever seeing a helmet.

SFU? I've ridden there a few times without a helmet. Especially when I'm taking my 9 yr old nephew out there and I can't pin it. There is also nothing challenging on that mountain and it's like just going out in the woods like when I was a kid and there was no such thing as helmets. Maybe I'm from a different generation because I don't get snowboarding helmets either. I'm sure they come in handy when you land on some ice though. Don't get me wrong - I'm not condoning it and I wouldn't ride much else without one but like I said, I'm from the era when you got towed in by motorcycle to a launch ramp on your skateboard, jumped the neighbor's car on your BMX and did mctwists on ice half pipes - all without ever seeing a helmet.

What generation is that exactly? I'm 33 and while we didn't think much about helmets when I was young, we got a lot smarter in 20+ years (at least - most of us did)

As for nothing being challenging on SFU - while that's relative to individual's particular skillset (and beside the point). I suggest you buy a watermelon, hold it 5 feet above a rock and drop it. A trail doesn't need to be uber-hardcore to smash your skull, you just have to get unlucky.

This scenario is not about would you intentionally go to the trail without one and ride? but rather would you ride the trail if you forgot it at home and were at the trail head…

If you had ridden (or walked) up fromme and were standign there without a helmet, would you ride a trail down? Would you ride the road down? Would you walk down?

If someone were to say to me, "I would ride the road"… my response would be that it depends on your riding level and how well you know the trail, and how well you are at managing your riding and surroundings.

Someone could argue very easily that to ride the road down would also be dangerous and you could just as easily slide out on the gravel and land on your head.

So….

I don't know of an answer that would suffice besides "I would walk back down to the car". or "I would go back home without riding"

All of this gets strange however when you contemplate a Skid Lid or XC style lid.

Would it be ok to wear a half shell helmet with your face exposed to rock and damage ? Is it really protection from the impacts that the shore provides? I would say that you are slightly less likely to get head damage, but not by much, and only then, from the back.

This scenario is not about would you intentionally go to the trail without one and ride?

Havent I seen you riding around whistler with nothing but a beanie?

What generation is that exactly? I'm 33 and while we didn't think much about helmets when I was young, we got a lot smarter in 20+ years (at least - most of us did)

As for nothing being challenging on SFU - while that's relative to individual's particular skillset (and beside the point). I suggest you buy a watermelon, hold it 5 feet above a rock and drop it. A trail doesn't need to be uber-hardcore to smash your skull, you just have to get unlucky.

I am from the same generation as you and as Jeremy. we are all 30 somethings.

Jeremy is a talented rider and his skill level is higher than most, but he is also a good judge of risk vs. reward. He is also aware of conditions and monitors his riding accordingly. I know this.

As a kid I rode my BMX without a helmet, we all did. I jumped everything known to man without a helmet. No head injuries. Not only that, I don't know of anyone that did have a head injury.

The watermelon analagy is cool and all, but really what you are saying, is that if you tripped and your head hit the ground from standing height, you would do serious damage…this might in fact be true, but do you wear a helmet while walking to work? or to the store?

I am an advocate of wearing a helmet. I wear a helmet when I ride. I believe in teaching kids to wear a helmet. At some point though, we as a whole need to come to terms with the risks of what we do and accept responsibility for our own actions.

If someone decides to ride without a helmet (Against my better advice - and this website's as well) then they need to be ready to accept the consequences.

We in general need to stop trying to find people to blame for our own decisions, however good or bad they might be.

accidental helmetless riding doesnt count

On one ride, a good buddy drove about a half hour and met us at the trailhead without a helmet. At the time he wasn't the greatest rider and I told him to go home because I really didn't want to visit him once a week in a rehab center. Life just wouldn't be as fun with brain damage.

back before my racing days i didnt even own a helmet. evry time i wore one i'd end up in the hospital.. i guess they gave me to much fake confidence. i was pushing to hard. lost my helemt and didnt replace it for 2.5 years, never had a pronblem doing any trail, but i knew my limit. if it got to much fuck up factor i'd ride around the obstacle instead of risking a nice watermelon squish.. now that i race i only ride helmetless when i forget it or after work cruising to the bike sop or sumthin like that. hahah my helmet saaaaaaved my ass at the island cup finals this year.. i embeded my handelbar into an alder bout 2-3 inches flung off and hit my helemt through a buncha rocks in a rock garden, end result= twonie size circular crack right where the jaw piece conncets.. if i hadnt been wearing it who knows what coulda happened

i almost always mtb with one… but if i forgot it for some reason, i'd still ride, but just take it easy.

That was my decision when I forgot it way back when I didnt have a clue what might happen. Oh well, my forehead was about 2 cms from a very sharp rock on my only fall. I'd never FORGET it again.

But on the other hand, riding street I have the Bmx attitude sometimes. When on a BMX never wear a helmet unless I plan on hitting my head :???: , strange that.