Originally Posted by
wphamilton
I'll do that in three situations, maybe more that have slipped my mind.
1. I'm near the end of a commute, stopped at a light in the Summer morning sunshine, and don't want to walk in with a sweaty head.
2. I decided during a ride against the hard training I had planned, and don't need the helmet at the relaxed pace and deserted streets.
3. I went to a group or event which requires a helmet but I wanted a faster or longer ride afterwards and don't really need it.
None of those seem like very good reasons to me.
1. I of course don't know, but many of the people I see aren't anywhere near someplace they're likely to be going to work. And if you've been sweating, you're going to be sweaty. A few minutes without a helmet aren't going to change it. Good grief! A SWEATY HEAD!
2. You're just as likely to bash your head when NOT doing "hard training". It's never going to happen when you expect it. On the MUP I sometimes go on (I totally stay away from those places during the pandemic) a real danger is being caused problems by the various idiots you may come across: walking, running, running with a baby carriage, roller blades, skate boards and of course, other cyclists. And it doesn't take that much to wind up hitting your head on the pavement.
3. I didn't know that riding a helmet makes you slower, but I would suspect that if it does, it's not very much. I've been riding for 21 years, and I always wear a helmet. I have NEVER ONCE hit my head, but I know that I'm safer with a helmet, t even though there are things that a helmet can't protect me from. God, I hate to think of all the precious seconds of speed I've lost over 21 years of helmet wearing, and all of the humiliation I've been dealt by having a "sweaty head". My approach to the sweaty head for when I commute is the towel in my office that I wipe my head off with.