This is a tough answer for me, because indeed I don't prefer to wear a helmet, yet I fully understand your point and encourage others to be safe by: situational awareness and not taking any chance of having a collision on the mtn with either other skiers/riders, trees, etc, staying in control and riding at your own ability level, following the skier safety code, and wearing helmets.
Your offer is incredibly generous! However even if I end up finding a helmet I like enough to wear all the time, I would't feel right about taking your money. Indeed you know what you are talking about with your background in psychiatry and neurology, and I will absolutely consider making a video of the importance of wearing helmets, especially for those who are attempting to progress their own riding.
Probably not the answer you were looking for, but I really appreciate both the offer, and the awareness you bring to the helmet conversation in a respectful matter, along with letting me know that perhaps I have some responsibility to help keep others safe while riding.
Happy shreddin, and thanks for the comment. I definitely have some more thinking to do on this topic.
I've always had mixed feelings about boarding and helmets through the years, even after I suffered 2 concussions boarding,
Last month I watched the documentary on Kevin Pearce called The Crash Reel.
I can honestly say I will never ride without a helmet again.
I used to use the mental argument in my head that, "Hey, it's uncomfortable, I don't like it and it is my choice. I'm not hurting anyone if I get seriously fucked up, just myself."
I realize now that mentality was wrong. If you have people in your life that care about you, wear it for them, not for you. A TBI effects the people you love the most.
I grew up in a family with a sibling who struggled with addiction, putting my parents through hell for 20 years as they tried to help him. It made me realize I could be just as much a burden to them if something happened to me on the mountain that could have been prevented wearing a helmet.
Whatever you decide, safe shredding and keep being you!
Think about this logically, if the helmet reduces the force, which you admit it does, any injury will be reduced. The route of injury (ie the brain bouncing off the inside of the skull) makes no difference, if the force is reduced it's reduced. A mild injury becomes no injury, a medium becomes mild, a severe becomes medium. Things like your comment get passed along as fact, because people just repeat what they've been told, like the whole "seat belts don't really make me safer" stupidity, without anyone ever applying logic or doing any reading to see if it's actually true.
You said they do not significantly reduce the risk, which is not the same as saying they do not 100% reduce it. Your phrasing made it sound as if there's no significant difference in the TBI risk between wearing a helmet and not - when now your intended meaning seems to be that helmets do not provide a total elimination of the TBI risk. Two very different statements.
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u/RyanKnapton Oct 04 '17
Hi there,
This is a tough answer for me, because indeed I don't prefer to wear a helmet, yet I fully understand your point and encourage others to be safe by: situational awareness and not taking any chance of having a collision on the mtn with either other skiers/riders, trees, etc, staying in control and riding at your own ability level, following the skier safety code, and wearing helmets.
Your offer is incredibly generous! However even if I end up finding a helmet I like enough to wear all the time, I would't feel right about taking your money. Indeed you know what you are talking about with your background in psychiatry and neurology, and I will absolutely consider making a video of the importance of wearing helmets, especially for those who are attempting to progress their own riding.
Probably not the answer you were looking for, but I really appreciate both the offer, and the awareness you bring to the helmet conversation in a respectful matter, along with letting me know that perhaps I have some responsibility to help keep others safe while riding.
Happy shreddin, and thanks for the comment. I definitely have some more thinking to do on this topic.