Thanks LeBron

Nothing draws attention to cycling like a celebrity spotting.  I mean, if celebrities are gonna jump on the saddle, then maybe— just maybe— us mere commoners can.

OK.  Enough with the snarky comments on my part.  When I ran across the link whose title started with “LeBron Rides His Bike To Work…” I thought I’d have to at least give it a glance.  However, I found that the actual title had a little more to say than that: “LeBron Rides His Bike To Work, Thinks Safety First” [emphasis mine].  I could feel my eyes rolling.  Sure enough, the predictable helmet stanza was highlighted in the otherwise short article:

Not only did he lower his carbon footprint, he did it while giving children a great example of someone not “too cool” to wear his helmet.

My frustration, for those unfamiliar with my many, many, many ramblings on bicycle helmets, it that this article is fostering a stereotype and misinformation regarding bicycle safety.  The idea that the only reason someone would ride a bike without a helmet is because of fashion or “coolness.”  That assessment is patently false.  There are a great many reasons that a well informed, intelligent cyclist may make a conscious decision to not wear a helmet.

If right about now you’re thinking that JustAnotherCyclist is off his rocker and one of those radical anit-helmet guys, I suggest you take a moment to actually look at the data.  I came to my opinions on helmets (which are not anit-helmet, for the record) through a lot of reading, research and reflection.  If you are interested in starting that journey, I might recommend www.cyclehelmets.org to start.

Hmmm…  I happen to know a particular fitness editor that has ribbed me a couple of times about riding up to Integrate Performance Fitness without my helmet.  Maybe we should hash this out on the next podcast.

  • rockclimber

    This study is based on 15 year old kids helmets. Current adult helmets im sure have improved.