This is what happens when...

[Boris Bajic]

I went for a 19-mile ride with my 13yo son today in the gorgeous morning sunshine.

He wore a helmet and sunglasses; I wore a cotton cap and sunglasses. It doesn't take a genius to guess what happened.

We rode together to his pal's house and then I left him there and headed home. Lovely to be able to pour water onto a cotton hat and feel it gradually cooling the scalp as it seeps down.

In the hills south of Hereford, I was able to get up to 40mph while riding alone.

Then... I had to swerve round a pothole I hadn't seen in the bright sunlight. I was doing well over 30mph on a sweeping descent.

No hassle, no wobbles, no crash. I just rode round the hole. Then I got home and had a shower.

It made me think, that did.

 

[Dayvo]

What did it make you think? That you didn't need a helmet, or that you should have been wearing one? (serious question, BTW).

 

[Boris Bajic]

What did it make you think? That you didn't need a helmet, or that you should have been wearing one? (serious question, BTW).

Then I must give a serious answer.

On reflection, it didn't make me think much at all.

If I thought anything it was that on a sunny day the cotton cap is God's gift to cycling. He might even have made it in the image of a cycling cap he wears. I'm not sure if deities can suffer head trauma, so this may be OT as He wouldn't have to consider wearing a helmet.

But back to caps:

The peak is just right to keep the sun off the eyes - and it is adjustable for angle!

The cotton allows water poured on a cooking skull to seep round and cool the scalp gently.

You can scratch an itch, which my helmet does not allow me to do.

 

[screenman]

I always wear a cycling cap under my crash helmet, for many reasons.

 

[StuartG]

Nothing nicer than riding without headgear. I wear a cap when:
* I need the peak to shade my eyes
* In rain
* Its cold
That is when it makes the ride nicer than without. If I had to wear a helmet it would not feel as nice and there is all the palaver of finding it, storing it, trying to pick up a loaf while holding it and wheeling the bike. Hence I would ride less. So yes, it would lower the chances of a cycling injury to my head, legs and butt. Hence less cycling KSIs. Happy now?

 

[gavroche]

I was wearing one yesterday on a steep downhill at about 35mph. A gust of wind knocked it off my head so had to stop and walk back to pick it up!

 

[Boris Bajic]

Nothing nicer than riding without headgear. I wear a cap when:
* I need the peak to shade my eyes
* In rain
* Its cold
That is when it makes the ride nicer than without. If I had to wear a helmet it would not feel as nice and there is all the palaver of finding it, storing it, trying to pick up a loaf while holding it and wheeling the bike. Hence I would ride less. So yes, it would lower the chances of a cycling injury to my head, legs and butt. Hence less cycling KSIs. Happy now?

I wear a cap or a wooly hat almost all of the time... But then where I live it is either sunny, raining or cold (or all three) almost all of the time.

I am happy now, thank you; but in your penultimate sentence (quoted above) I would be happier still if 'fewer' had been used instead of 'less'.