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Di Lucca back racing

Aug 13, 2009
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Local amateur race in Abruzzo. No helmet.

Circuito+Amatoriale+particolare.jpg


Someone might have a couple more months added to his two year vacation.
 
Sep 11, 2009
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Piston Pete said:
Are they still drug tested during the suspension years?

As far as I know they do if they tell the UCI they want to continue racing after the suspension is over then they still have to let the UCI know there where abouts for random drug test's.
 
rhubroma said:
I live in Italy, where "safety" is not a religion and corporate imposition is not blindly accepted. In any case, at the amateur races often pros follow (without helmets) to train.

It´s similar here in Spain. Most of the pros I see on the road don´t wear helmets when training, though more and more club cyclists do. They also almost never ride single file, even on small narrow roads. Makes me nervous whenever I ride with them or other groups that pretty much take up their whole side of the road in a double paceline. Still it makes for a very social atmosphere.
 
Tangled Tango said:
It´s similar here in Spain. Most of the pros I see on the road don´t wear helmets when training, though more and more club cyclists do. They also almost never ride single file, even on small narrow roads. Makes me nervous whenever I ride with them or other groups that pretty much take up their whole side of the road in a double paceline. Still it makes for a very social atmosphere.


I has to do with their a more fatalistic approach to life, where things are more natural and less contrived.
 
May 6, 2009
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Tangled Tango said:
It´s similar here in Spain. Most of the pros I see on the road don´t wear helmets when training, though more and more club cyclists do. They also almost never ride single file, even on small narrow roads. Makes me nervous whenever I ride with them or other groups that pretty much take up their whole side of the road in a double paceline. Still it makes for a very social atmosphere.

IIRC isn't it a rule in Spain that a pro cyclist doesn't have to wear a helmet whilst training and can get away by flashing his pro licence. It's also not required when climbing or riding around a city/town square?
 
rhubroma said:
I live in Italy, where "safety" is not a religion and corporate imposition is not blindly accepted. In any case, at the amateur races often pros follow (without helmets) to train.

Should safety be considered a state imposed obligation or simply common sense?

While I am against imposing helmet use (outside of racing), I consider it to be stupid not to wear one at all times.
 
Jul 14, 2009
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rhubroma said:
I live in Italy, where "safety" is not a religion and corporate imposition is not blindly accepted. In any case, at the amateur races often pros follow (without helmets) to train.

The bicycle helmet is one of the most fantastic devices ever invented to be used by cyclists. Costs pennies to make in most cases. Creates double and triple standards about form,fit and function. Lightweight,little to no skid or sliding protection,ill fitting,lightweight straps and fasteners. No real world testing standards(ceramic head model dropped from 6ft straight down) Any other activity that involves speed,pavement and other traffic have a much higher standard.After all the photos of current and ex pros training without helmets I thought all the low mileage silly do-gooders would have been silenced. Big companies marketing will be accepted as gospel by many, they gave us corn syrup, diet soda and GPS,DVD screens and telephones that distract you while driving by design. All in the name of a better travel experience. Hand a modern bicycle helmet to any Italian over 60 and ask them to guess the cost, when you tell them the real cost they will hand the helmet back and think you a fool for buying it. The fact that bicycle helmets can be ruined by dropping,stepping on them should be a testament to the trash like construction that most are made under. I had a 130 dollar helmet ruined from regular airport baggage handling ,with shame I turned in the damage voucher. If they made them optional for people who ride for a living 20% of the bunch would be wearing them,for sponsorship reasons they would get them at the feed zone or in the last K's so the finish photos looked good. Bergamo and Balssano are awesome places to ride and race.
 

buckwheat

BANNED
Sep 24, 2009
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lostintime said:
Imagine the face of the other riders to see "the killer" in their company:eek:

Foam-Dome's are way over-rated.

I was clipped by a car in Sunny Isles Fl, (10 miles north of South Beach, Miami) and went down on my left hip and shoulder, then my head snapped into the ground. I had a Giro Atmos on and barely felt it. I had bad road rash on my left hand knuckles and tore my jacket near my trapezius and neck. A little road rash on my right hand knuckles. I was going at least 23 mph and would have suffered a concussion and torn a piece of my scalp off based on the impression on my helmet.

The people in a bar I went to a few days after my crash looked at my hands and thought I beat the $hit out of someone. You bleed like crazy from your scalp too.

The foam definitely saved me from a brain injury and I wouldn't ride without it. To each his own though.
 
May 6, 2009
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A helmet has saved my life after a collision with a Land Rocer. I was partly at fault for the accident, and on the right hand side (where the car clipped me, and remember, we ride on the left hand side) of my helmet, it had broken off completely and was only hanging on to the strap. Imagine if that had been my head?
 
buckwheat said:
I was clipped by a car in Sunny Isles Fl, (10 miles north of South Beach, Miami) and went down on my left hip and shoulder, then my head snapped into the ground. I had a Giro Atmos on and barely felt it. I had bad road rash on my left hand knuckles and tore my jacket near my trapezius and neck. A little road rash on my right hand knuckles. I was going at least 23 mph and would have suffered a concussion and torn a piece of my scalp off based on the impression on my helmet.

The people in a bar I went to a few days after my crash looked at my hands and thought I beat the $hit out of someone. You bleed like crazy from your scalp too.

The foam definitely saved me from a brain injury and I wouldn't ride without it. To each his own though.

Have you ever noticed that the folks that don't think helmets are very useful sound like they are talking out of their ass
 
Mar 10, 2009
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He's not racing, he's riding. I think even being banned for two years, he's allowed to ride a bike :rolleyes:

He's also not sequestered to his house so he can pretty much ride where he wants and when.

Maybe I'm going out on a limb on this one :p
 
ElChingon said:
He's not racing, he's riding. I think even being banned for two years, he's allowed to ride a bike :rolleyes:

He's also not sequestered to his house so he can pretty much ride where he wants and when.

Maybe I'm going out on a limb on this one :p

F*ck me, I thought being banned meant they were sent to the moon for 2 years :p
 
Feb 21, 2010
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These modern helmets serve their exact purpose delightfully well, displacing impact. Bell/Giro go well beyond the testing standards to design safety into their products. They own an american football helmet company as well, which they draw data from regarding strength and engineering.

Consider the impact zones on a car. Looking at a car after even a moderate speed crash, you'd think everyone dead. but you and I both know it is made to go to bits to protect the contents.

If you can't figure out a way to take care of your own stuff a bit better, then consider a hard case for your helmet, much like eyeglasses. Just because Gianni never wore one, and wouldn't pay to cushion their squid, I guess that is the guide by which we should decide? Most of them also smoke cigarettes. remember how everyone USED to do that, too?

once kivilev expired, the bunch got smart. when durand tried to "protest" by taking off his helmet, then attacking right into a motorbike, it was over.

yes, some will choose not to wear a helmet. I used to never wear one if it was over 30c, forget it.

now, I would not consider riding to the corner store without one. but by all means, knock yourself out, literally.
 
Colm.Murphy said:
These modern helmets serve their exact purpose delightfully well, displacing impact. Bell/Giro go well beyond the testing standards to design safety into their products. They own an american football helmet company as well, which they draw data from regarding strength and engineering.

Helmet makers compete with each other by designing the lightest and flimsiest helmet that still passes the minimum test standards. They deliberately make their cheaper helmets heavier and with fewer ventilation holes to encourage people to buy their more expensive models. It is likely that the cheaper helmets are actually safer than the more expensive ones.

Helmet sales are not about safety. They are about selling two dollars of styrofoam, plastic, and nylon in a sixty cent box for a hundred and fifty dollars. If helmets sales were about safety then how far a helmet exceeds the minimum standard would be stressed in marketing material. You would see marketing material that give information like, "Our older model subjects a five kilogram weight dropped from two meters to a deceleration of 292 Gs, and our new helmet comes in at 270 Gs even though it weighs the same. This is 5 G's better than the leading competitor best product." Instead we have seen helmet makers advertise their products as "Courage for your head."

Helmet makers are interested in over-selling the benefits of their product, increasing people's perception of risk, and taking advantage of people's irrational behavior. The same person who won't swing a leg over the top tube of his bike without wearing a helmet will gleefully bomb down a twisty mountain descent at 90 km/hr even though the risk from the descent far exceeds riding on the flat without a helmet.
 

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