[Closed] Forget your helmet +solo ride. What would you do?

Pootle

For me, I'd have gone home. I would be conscious of not having my helmet and that'd mess with my riding proper like and I would surly fall off and do a Humpty Dumpty...

Fashion something from foliage, leaves etc.

Might get a few odd looks, but I have metallic copper-brown hair so I'm used to that.

It wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest.

Probably done most of my cycling without a helmet, so it wouldn't have bothered me.
Would have avoided any dockside trials riding though, and would have avoided using the phrase "watch this".

Go for the ride and enjoy it even more - I guess that's option 4?

Bigdan6. I thought of that. I remember a broken arm/rib and shoulder wasnt as bad as the concusion/post crash confusion etc a few years bacj. However I thought of it as a challenge. Thats when I relaxed.

Sbob my own nemesis words are 'wow, lets do that again'!

Ride a more gentle route in a slower manner

Done sam marino without alid as ourt mate forgot his and would not ride it without so we shared one and Donk did the Ice cream run without one iirc

Never forgotten any clothing though i arrived at the foot of the high street with a bike without a chain 😳

Have faith in your ability, don't ride scared

Wooly hat would do for me.

You're not entered in a DH race you're just going for a ride.

Pootle, BUT if you see any wimmins get off and push as, if you stay on, you will try and show off, you will then fall off and die. Of shame and embarrassment. You my also hit your noggin.

Give yourself a medal?

Skids. Thats it- I mostly ride worried about job/life etc anyway instead of leaving things at the trailhead. Today I chilled for once.

Bloodynora. Im now a Colonel. I was promoted post-ride 8)

Until recently I'd probably have just ridden without, but I've got off on my head far too frequently of late for some reason, so I'd definitely just head back home. The wife would kill me if I ended up in A and E again because of not wearing a lid.

I've ridden off road once without a helmet and even though I was only pootling, and even though I've never fallen on my head before, I just couldn't enjoy it at all.

I can only presume that all of you that would not have riden would not have taken up mountainbiking before helmets became fashionable...

I'd just ride. Depends on where I'm riding, but I know the likelihood of bashing my head severely is very low. I'd probably be a wee bit more cautious, might let it influence my route a little, but that's all.

Done it before in the Lakes and set out with the intention of pootling but ended up riding like normal after a short while. It's not like you generally hit your head that often is it?

Arm usually goes out and into a roll. If its a silly side etc off head is clear. Only twice have I twanged my head- one was on sheet ice on a commute

Ive had a Giro Madmax in annual use since 2004. It must be bloody magic.

Happened to me a few weeks ago. The missus is fed up of my helmets sitting in the hallway so they now hangin the garage, which has mucked up my routine. I got 4 miles along the canal feeling very odd before I realised I was sans helmet. Was only going to some very tame trails, so just was extra cautious.

A difficult one that! I know that when I'm out riding I always have one on and ensure my son and mates wear theirs. It's just one of the things we do! None of this macho sh!t...oh we'll be right, I'll just crack on!
A mate of mine broke his fox helmet when hopped up a curb at speed. His cleat came out of his pedals and he hit a concrete fence post head first. Luckily he didn't have any head injuries, but he did compress his spine. This guy was a British expert trials rider and a very handy mountain biker as well, but things happen when you least expect them to and to the people you wouldn't expect. I'll not ride with out my helmet... What others do is their choice, but I'd encourage everyone to where one when riding!

On the other hand, I always ride with my son, so I'd nick his and make him wait in the car 😉

Ride anyway. I'm not superstitious.

helmets are a bit of a fashion thing. managed 20 yrs offroading without one.
ride with a bloke who has ridden offroad since 1958. he managed without one too.

I always wear a helmet. But if I got to the park w/o it, I would probably just ride and take it easy. There are a couple of places that I ride which are technical and rocky; I don't think that I'd ride there if I forgot my helmet.

My mate forgot his helmet and decided to ride anyway. A passing rider told him he should have a helmet on.

Ride anyway.

I spent my whole childhood riding without a helmet and still sometimes go without one on nice warm days...it just feels nicer, like being a kid again....for me that is priceless, the rigmarole of wrapping up safe for just about any physical activity these days sucks the fun out of things.

What helmet? I never wear one on road or off. Though I have one in the garage for when I get round to going out with the local club. That said I ride more on road/towpaths and easy natural stuff when off road. WHW, Corrieyairick/Cairngorms loop type stuff.

Ride! I always wear one when off road, but would pootle if I forgot mine, rather than miss riding. Quite often don't wear one on road

Go home and think about packing. I've ridden since I was a kid with one one and it's saved me enough times. I've seen too many simple but unexpected crashes.

I would carry on regardless... I only started riding in a helmet last year. (edit: oops its 2013 nearly 2 years)

If your a crap rider and fall off lots and land on your head lots and die horribly each time, then go home. If however you do not see the need to land on your head and die horribly, then carry on safe in the knowledge that your more likely to get struck by lightning on the ride and die horribly, than your chances of hitting your head

I'd ride but be a bit more chilled... Hospital food... never a good option....

You would turn down a ride because you forgot your helmet???

😆
😆

I've seen a few helmets get smashed, and you dread to think what would happen without them.

But I rode mountain bikes for years and years without a helmet back in the 1980s.

So I would ride by in an 80s style humming Jesus jones tunes and stopping for beer at £0.90 a pint.

Anyway you don't a helmet when you have proper hair..

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If your a crap rider and fall off lots and land on your head lots and die horribly each time, then go home. If however you do not see the need to land on your head and die horribly, then carry on safe in the knowledge that your more likely to get struck by lightning on the ride and die horribly, than your chances of hitting your head

+1 Agree. In the main its people saying 'oh no helmet dude, you'll die imminently' that puts the frighteners on you and causes nervousness.

Erm, you should be concentrating on what you are doing rather than listening to someone else's opinion of your lack of hat'idge.

We rode for years racing on the road before helmets were made compulsory, never in that time did I see anyone fall off and sustain any head injury.

Mind, in saying that I would not do any DH racing without one.

Anyhoos I spotted a very nice ladyeez wearing a White Kask and full on Black Rapha in the lanes last night... Ponytail of blond locks flowing behind her, blooming good look that. 😀

Mind, in saying that I would not do any DH racing without one.

I remember (a good few years ago), reading an article/bizarre rant regarding the 'myth' of helmet safety.

The argument centred around the rotational effect on the neck and brain during a crash, created by the increased diameter of the head caused by the helmet.

The writer believed that the only real solution was a helmet designed to simulate the sheering effect of the human scalp [i]sliding and separating[/i] from the skull in a glancing-type impact. As such a helmet didn't exist at that point (mid 2000s), he asserted that one should never wear a helmet under any circumstances, as the naked human head provided superior safety mechanisms!

Frankly I thought he was fairly insane at the time, but fast-forward to today and that helmet design is now available to buy:

[url= http://mipshelmet.com/how-it-works ]MIPS [/url]

[url= http://www.pocsports.com/en/product/1391/trabec-race-mips ]POC MIPS MTB Helmet[/url]

You only need 1 thing to ride. And that's your helmet. You can always 'run-what-you-brung'

Cedric Gracia had to ride one of the World cup rounds in his jeans and T-Shirt as they lost his suitcase full of riding gear.

Aye but he was riding and jumping some gnarly shit. As mentioned above if its DH/table top- cleaning stuff then its a given.

In the end who cares we can chalk it up to darwin. There are not many I fell off not wearing a lid posts.....

I would no more forget my crash helmet than I would forget my bike but if I did, I wouldn't ride.

For me at least it's not so much the crash protection issue it's the comfort and convenience. Low flying branches, low sun, clouds of insects, heavy rain/hail it's great to just duck and and let the helmet brush them aside.

Also works quite well for helmet torches 😉 and somewhere to put my gloves & glasses when I stop

In the end who cares we can chalk it up to darwin. There are not many I fell off not wearing a lid posts.....

Ok. I fell off my bike when I was about 12 broke my front teeth clean out and cut my head a little... I didnt die (note to everyone though...because it has here with been spoken about on a forum, your teeth will all die unless you wear a gum shield)

I fell off my bike once and landed on a very hard rock.. My head hurt a bit, but I didnt die.

if you aren't capable of pootling along without the risk of brain injury then you should probably give up on mountain biking as a hobby.

so I say pootle. feel the wind in your hair. its great...

Thats the funny thing (I say funny with irony) - even with a helmet our jaw/ability to eat and communicate with others can be severely impaired yet we think of wearing a xc lid as safe.

The first thing we tend to do is roll or put an arm out or go off sideways no? I've been OTB many times- always into a roll.

mikewsmith - Member
In the end who cares we can chalk it up to darwin. There are not many I fell off not wearing a lid posts.....

if i look back at my most serious crashes on a bike i wasn't wearing a helmet during any of them, and i didn't hit my head, or die, but that doesn't make for a sensationalist evangelical argument, but it does provide balance

in answer to the OP i'd simply go for a ride, just like people did in the 100 years or so before helmets and the internet were invented

falling off a bike whilst avoiding injury is a fine skill to have, a lot of people don't...

pootle and probably ride like a plonker as a result

(loved CTBikemonger's post)

falling off a bike whilst avoiding injury is a fine skill to have, a lot of people don't...

I've had a lot of practice.

I'd ride my bike without the helmet, it's no big deal.

Schurely if you're riding in a more risky manner just because you've got 300 grams of polysterene loosely strapped to your head you're undoing the marginal safety benefit of wearing a helmet in the first place?

I'd partially inflate my spare inner tube and then wrap it round my head.

In the event of an off I should be fine unless I land on thorns!