I've sustained 3 minor crashes over the last 2 years. I think I hit my head on the road or ground all 2 times, but at low speeds.
The back of my helmet has some scratches from contact with the road. There is no indication of compression of the foam. Is it really a single use item?
Helmet makers stress that a helmet needs to be replaced after any crash in which one head hits the ground. OK ... I replaced it.
What do I do with the old one? do I save it in case my son needs a helmet when he's visiting? Do I put it in the trash and risk someone picking it up and getting hurt? Do I destroy it and put the pieces into the trash? Give it to a co-op?
I keep thinking it would be great for it really to be safe and to be recycled by someone who can't afford to buy a helmet. It would be awful if the recycler was hurt in a crash because the helmet really is single-use.
Thinking out loud here ... I'm leaning pretty strongly to destroying it. The injury risk of recycling a helmet that crashed is too high.
Any counter-arguments?
It's a Bontrager Rally MIPS, BTW. It scores very well in VPI's helmet testing.
*****
Beta blockers
Last Saturday I had a terrible ride in beautiful weather. I turned around at 4 miles because I was feeling so lousy and cut over a mile from my route to get myself home, and I was unable to move much for hours after I did struggle home.
Monday I talked my doc in to changing a med from Toprol to atenolol, both beta blockers, both slow down heart rate, both can sap energy. I've hated the Toprol for as long as I've taken it (18 months or so) because I have no appreciable energy on it.
Today I rode 14 miles in the same time it took me to do 7 Saturday. I didn't need to stop and rest. I came home, sat and told plainsong about my ride, changed out of bike clothes and into normal stuff, and proceeded to do what I wanted to do. 'Recovery' took no more than 45 minutes - would have taken less if I had had to get somewhere. I'm hoping atenolol will govern my BP better than Toprol did AND let me have more energy.
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Bugs
Fucking bugs - literally. Today I kept riding into clouds of bugs. A lot of them stuck to my jacket. I brushed a lot of those off, but I looked at them at a red light. (I stop at red lights. It really screws up drivers, because they expect me to contest the intersection with them. But I'm a grown-up, and I learned not to get into contests with cars - oh - at least 2 years ago.)
Anyway, lots of the 'bugs' were really 2 bugs attached to each other at their rear ends. I never had a picture in my head of copulating bugs. Now I do. You really can learn something every day.
I did not like riding through the clouds of bugs, but I feel so great knowing that atenolol may be MUCH MUCH MUCH better than Toprol.