Protect Your Pumpkin

This afternoon I decided to head out for a nice casual coffee shop ride (mostly b/c I was hungry for the delicious GF lemon poppy bread at Zoe's Coffee), then decided to go for a cruise around the 'hood.  On my way home, I was turning into my development only to find a truck blocking the intersection and a woman lying on the ground with blood everywhere and an overturned adult-sized tricycle nearby.  My first thought was "oh  no!  The truck hit her!"  The man outside of the truck told me that he was on the phone with 911 because he saw the woman lose control of her trike while taking the turn too fast.  While he was talking to the operator, I rushed over to talk to the woman and try to keep her seated until help arrived.  Needless to say, she wasn't going to sit and relax.  She wanted to go home.  I did my best to delay her by "looking over her bike" to make sure it was ok.  But she insisted she lived nearby and wanted to leave.  This was my first time ever having come across another cyclist who was injured...and I feared it could be severe.  Not wanting to argue with the 68 y/o woman (as I later found out), I walked my bike and hers the 2 blocks to her home.  Trying not to be too harsh, I stressed MANY times that she absolutely MUST have a helmet before she rides again.  I told her that helmets have saved my life twice (or at least...prevented my brains from being too badly scrambled).  When I left, the guy in the truck was still close-by and had given the police her address for her to be looked over.  I really hope she's ok.

While riding home, I  kept thinking how bizarre it is to me that people would hop on a bike and just take off without even thinking of strapping on a helmet, but as my husband reminded me, not too long ago, cyclists were racing without helmets!  The older generations today (and even some of us from the 80s), grew up where you didn't wear a helmet as a kid, so it's not a big stretch to imagine why my neighbor wouldn't think she needed one tonight.  This doesn't make it right though.  I think it would be a shame if everyone had to go through what she did in order to realize the value of a helmet.

In an effort not to be too soap-boxy, I will just say this....always always ALWAYS wear your helmet!!  :-)