Helmets

I don't like to wear helmets. i think that I must be related to my mother since she will do almost anything to avoid wearing a helmet.

It's not that they're not really uncomfortable or anything, it's just that they cause a major inconvenience to most women and some men: helmet hair.

You've all seen or experienced this type of hairstyle at one time or another, and I have too. Of course when I was a kid, I always wore my helmet no matter what. Right before my 18th birthday, I went for a bike ride without a helmet and everything went very well.

Well the other day I was pining for something to do, something that was active and would get me outside into the beautiful fall weather. My brilliant thought was to take our family dog and teach him how to trot alongside a bike.

The first two days want swimmingly. After a ten minute warm up in the court, Cocoa did wonderfully staying with the bike. This is going to be awesome, I thought.

After coming home the second day, my dad pulled me aside and told me that I needed to be careful, very careful.

"Make sure to wear a helmet," he cautioned.

The next day I decided to go out for a little ride. I leashed up Cocoa and mounted my bike. We gently rolled down the driveway and into the street. Everything was going well, that is, until we got to the street across from ours.

As soon as Cocoa saw the straight stretch of road with nothing to stop him, he took off running. Unfortunately, he didn't run in a straight line. Curving right in front of me, he made a sharp turn into the bike.

The next thing I remember, I was laying on the ground calling Cocoa back over to me and my body was shaking terribly.

As I limped back to my house a block away, I remembered that thing that my dad had said about wearing a helmet and realized I wasn't wearing one.

So if you see me in the next few days, I still have a pretty little shiner over my eye. And my advice about bike riding is this: WEAR A HELMET!!!