****RIDE WITH THE VIKING****

Helmets. What a bunch of over-hyped bullshit. Do they save lives? Maybe, maybe not. People get lulled into this media induced false sense of security about helmets. One of the first things you hear when someone is talking about a motorcycle accident is the obligatory "Was he wearing a helmet?" Inexperienced rider flies around a corner and loses control and slams into a powerpole and dies of massive internal injuries and they ask that fuckin’ question! That in and of itself should tell you that people put way too much unearned faith in a piece of plastic. Like a helmet would have saved him. Let’s get real, people. Then you see the fuckin’ moron wearing sandals, shorts and a helmet. What the fuck is that silly shit. Again, that should tell you that people have too much media influenced ignorance about helmets. A helmet is gonna save my life…BULLSHIT! The people who blindly believe that are some stupid motherfuckers. I say educate yourself first THEN make your choice. Am I anti helmet-definitely not. But if you think I would put absolute faith in a helmet as a "must have" you are way out in left field, Maynerd. Lets not go into all the "positive" aspects of helmets just yet. Lets talk about the shit people don’t know or never stopped long enough to think about.

First off helmets are not aerodynamic thus they create drag. This drag caused by resistance with the wind creates in turn, neck fatigue. This fatigue will manifest itself in your neck, shoulders, back, jaw and elsewhere. Enough fatigue gets created and pretty soon you are not paying attention to the road….bang, you’re dead.

Next, fullface helmets greatly restrict your peripheral vision AND hearing. Double whammy. Can’t see as well as you need and definitely can’t hear worth a shit. Gee, why would that be a big deal? Drunken illegal runs a light and you can’t hear or see him coming so that you can take evasive action. Guess what….bang, you’re dead again.

Fullface helmets, because of their inadequate design, have the definite possibility of stopping the natural rotation of your neck upon frontal impact resulting is a distinct possibility of breaking your neck and or tearing your brainstem. Gee, now if you’re not dead you can look forward to a lifetime of sitting in a wheelchair shitting yourself….fun fun.

Now I could go into all kindsa scientific mumbo jumbo about linear regression, peak impact, hemispherical anvil tests, impact attenuation capabilities, corresponding percentile impact threats…blah, blah, blah and you most likely wouldn’t really get it. Not that my readers are stupid or anything, it just gets really confusing. Let me put it in simple terms that even a window licking retard should be able to comprehend. DOT tests helmets by holding them out and dropping them from a height of 6ft resulting in a 13.66 mph impact. Over 50% of all helmets tested since 1974 have failing that low speed impact. Now factor in that the mass involved in that impact is merely the weight of the helmet and the acceleration of the fall. Lets add the weight of a 180 pound rider and speed the linear acceleration up to an average cruising speed of 40 mph. We will not get too far into applying other laws of physics and Newton’s Laws of motion just to keep this explanation relatively simple. So if 50% of these wondrous pieces of formed plastic and fiberglass fail a low speed impact with just its own mass behind it, what happens when you increase the mass by 900% or more (this takes the mass from a 2 pound helmet to 18 pounds to allow for the weight of your head including the helmet) and increase the impact speed 300% (which takes the test speed of 13.66 to 40.98) and now and the weight of the 180 pound rider as included force behind the acceleration. Now we are talking closer to what the real world would throw at you in a medium speed impact. What do you think the failure rate is now?

Where you strike the helmet in a collision also plays a major part in failure percentages. The closer to the edges the higher the failure percentage.

I could keep going on and on but I am sure you are getting the point. Absolute faith in helmets is completely fuckin’ stupid. You would be a complete moron to think anything different. Fuck, the helmet manufactures themselves know this. Why the hell do you think they put the warning and disclaimer notice inside your helmet (usually hidden under the padding) stating that the helmet is for "cosmetic safety only"? And why do they hide it? Because they want to perpetuate the myth of safety and not get their asses sued off when the helmet fails.

Now lets take a quick look at the flipside. At a high speed skid down the race track or down the interstate (which sometimes is the same thing) the helmets would most likely be more effective because its not an complete head on impact. It’s like skipping a stone on a lake. And it’s better than nothing, right? That’s debatable. Would you rather pass on to that eternal run in the sky or be a veg? That’s for the individual to decide. I for one, would rather pass on and ride with the motorcycle gods for eternity then to have my family wait on me hand and foot while I shit my bed. I would think the stress of caring for a person in that state would be greater than if they would have died. And I would not want to live like that. I would rather die doing something I enjoy. Here is a real world example or two from my personal life. My friend, Steve was on his way to work. Some fuckin’ bimbo on a cell phone darted out in front of him. He had to lay his bike down in a ditch to avoid hitting said bimbo. A piece of rebar tore a huge chunk out of his helmet right above his ear thus more than likely saving his life. Flipside-Another friend of mine was riding up in Wyoming. Flagging crew fucks up in construction and sends traffic coming both ways down a blind one way construction zone. Gordie has to lay his bike down to keep from getting creamed by a cement truck coming around the blind corner. Gord always swore by his helmet. Now that his neck fracured around the base of the helmet and the vertabrae damaged his spinal cord when it broke, he has the honor of being partially paralyzed and can't feed himself, bathe himself or get to the bathroom without soiling himself. Thats just a tasted of the many great things  he now gets a lifetime of looking forward to. I am sure that many, many people have "life saving" experiences with helmets but I have seen people die while wearing them too. Or at least wish they had.

Ultimately, when the god of your choosing decides to call you home, there is not much you can do. Your ticket is gonna get punched one day or another, whether it be on a bike or not. You have to accept your own mortality someday. We all do. So I say ride what you like, wear what you like. Freedom is about choice and it should be your choice. Fight against government mandated helmet laws. Its nothing more than "big brother" trying to get you to give up a little more each day. The laws are passed by ignorant motherfuckers who claim they are taking your freedom of choice in behalf of your best interest. Which is complete bullshit. If that were truly the case then they would pass mandatory helmet laws for people taking showers. It’s a FACT that more people suffer traumatic head injuries due to slip and falls in their own bathroom than on motorcycles. It’s a FACT that more people suffer head injuries in car accidents than on motorcycles. Motorcycle accidents account for less that 1% of all traumatic head injuries. So tell me where the logic is? The majority of vehicle vs. motorcycle accidents are a direct result of the vehicle driver having their head up their ass. Heres an example from 10/18/08....

"SECURITY, Colo. -- A Colorado Springs motorcyclist is dead and police are looking for the driver of the vehicle involved in a hit-and-run crash that killed him. The Colorado State Patrol says 52-year-old Craig Highline was riding a 1999 Kawasaki motorcycle and had stopped at an intersection near Security about 9 p.m. Thursday when a 1998 Mercury struck him from behind.

 The impact pushed the motorcycle into the intersection. The driver of the Mercury fled the scene.Highline was taken to a hospital. Authorities say he was wearing a helmet but died from his injuries. "

The single vehicle motorcycle accident is usually due to some inexperienced rider riding way past his or her limitations and usually because of the uneducated false sense of security from wearing a helmet. Like this example from 10/20/08:

"DENVER (AP) - A Boulder man is dead after the motorcycle he was riding slammed into a car that was making a left turn in Jefferson County. The Colorado State Patrol says 27-year-old Conor P. McMahon was riding westbound on Colorado 74 about 9:45 a.m. Sunday when he tried to pass several cars, just as the driver of a 2001 Audi sedan was attempting to turn. McMahon braked hard and laid the bike on its left side before crashing into the Audi's left rear.

McMahon was thrown from the bike. He was wearing a helmet but was pronounced dead at the scene. "

So its your choice. Wear one if you decide its in your best interest. If not then don’t wear one. But whatever your decision, make it an educated one. And have fun. That’s what riding is all about.