John E

I have worn and advocated bicycle helmets since circa 1970, before they were fashionable. The only logical objection to them is "risk compensation," the idea that some people will ride less cautiously because they think the helmet makes them invincible. I always ride with a helmet, but I ride as though I just realized I forgot to put it on.

I lost a valued friend, mentor, and cycling companion in the 1972 Los Angeles Wheelmen Double Century (Grand Tour), partly because he wasn't wearing a helmet and partly because he kept going after taking a fall resulting in a bump to the head. I begged him to call it a day with me at the 200-mile mark, but he headed out with one of my college buddies to make it a triple century. Twenty miles later he hit Lee's rear wheel, just as he had hit mine sixty miles before, hit his head a second time, and went into a coma from which he never awoke. This is why I don't draft and why I always wear a helmet.