:eek: It was an absolutely gorgeous day for riding today and I managed to get the day off, so I planned a 68-mile ride to get ready for doing a century next month. The first part of the ride felt great, some hills: ups and one 34 mph downhill, rode through traffic, some back roads, and then stopped at a light at a major highway intersection. I felt a little warm, especially on my head, and I reached up to adjust my helmet and IT WASN'T THERE! I totally freaked out! Carried my bike off to the side of the road and wondered "what now?"
I was about 16 miles into my ride, no one home to call, didn't want to abort my planned ride, but definitely didn't want to ride without a helmet. Luckily there was a shopping mall about 4 miles away and a wide bike path that followed the highway where I was. I had the exact amount of cash for an inexpensive Bell helmet and got back on my way.
One odd thing was that at a previous stoplight a cop on a motorcycle pulled up right behind me and we chatted a bit. He asked me where I was riding from, I told him where I was going, he said "that's quite a trip", and we went our ways. Don't you think he might have said something about "you're riding that far without a helmet?" I know I would have!
Anyway, I now have two helmets (not a bad thing), got in even more miles than I planned (77, my longest ride yet) and learned to do a head-to-toe check before starting my rides (senior moments). :confused:
