When you're in your car, you are protected in so many ways: seatbelts, airbags, oh and lets not forget the 3,000 pounds of metal surrounding you.
But, when you're on the open road, there is not a whole lot separating you from the open road below you. And even if you aren't going that fast, it doesn't take much to really do harm. In fact, let me give you a little testimonial.
Last Wednesday, I was having a very stressful day at work. Lots of looming deadlines on projects, I got "the business" so to speak from one of my IT partners. Then I came home and got news that one of my family members is severely ill, and we aren't sure how much longer he will have. I decided to do a bike ride to relieve myself of some of that stress so that I could continue on my day and be helpful to those around me.
I went west on a beautiful trail west of Arvada. Before I hit the foothills, however, I was surprised by a rain/snow/hail mix on the trail. Had I been better prepared, I would have brought a pull-over to keep myself warm. But I didn't, so I felt the need to hurry home more.
While I was hurrying home, I went down a road with some railroad tracks that were placed at a steep angle relative to the road. I was probably only going about 13 miles per hour at the time, but my tire got caught in the tracks and I was thrown about five feet off my bike. Fortunately, it is a well-traveled road, and within seconds, three motorists stopped to help me and called an ambulance for me.
I was under a lot of shock and so it took me a second to get my barings with me. But when I finally did, I realized both my head and my right side took the brunt of the incident. The EMT came to check me out, and thanked me for wearing my helmet. Upon further inspection, the right side of my helmet caved in. I had a pretty significant black eye, but that was nothing compared to what my helmet went through.
They cleared my back for injury, and took me to the emergency room to get CT Scans and X-Rays, just to make sure there were no other problems. Fortunately for me there weren't. No concussions, no broken bones, just a ton of road rash.
When the nurse came back to wash my wounds, I had the deepest wounds on my hands (remember, the other part of my body that took the brunt force of the fall). And while the wounds were deep. Thanks to the gloves, they were mostly clean, and should heal nicely in spite of their size.
So always, ALWAYS wear your helmet. Think of it this way: If you paid a lot of money for college, think of the $100 helmet as protecting your investment.
Also, the cycling gloves did save me from any additional pain and scarring to my hands.
The lesson here is, stay safe, stay covered, and enjoy your ride!!!
