Helmets

I have never been a helmet wearer.  When I started ATV riding with my wife eighteen years ago, we never owned helmets.  It was always easy to justify not wearing them.  After all we were just putting around in the mountains on trails.  How could there be any danger?  4 wheels, not likely to tip over, groomed roads and well traveled trails.  No problems.  By and large I never have had any close calls out ridding.  Hooray for me save some cash on safety equipment.  6 years ago when I got my snowmobiles, still I rode without helmet.  Snow is soft, no need to strap the heavy thing on.  Balaclava for the cold and goggles for the eyes, good to go.  Many enjoyable trips again with no problems.  4 Years ago I purchased another snowmobile.  It was a Skidoo MXZ 800 that had twin pipes and didn't have a muffler.  That sucker was LOUD.  An interesting side effect, I started to wear a helmet just to protect my hearing.  After a period of time, it just became second nature to have one on when riding.  Other than protecting the noggin, the helmet began to have other uses;  Intercom, speakers, wind breaker, and sun visor to name a few.

Friday my wife and I went for a ride in the beautiful mountains by Mantua.  When we were preparing to leave my wife asked about helmets.  I thought, "We never used them before when we went riding."  By way of information, it had been about 7 years since our last ride together, due to raising kids and health issues, but that is another story.  Rather than voice my thoughts, I dug up some helmets and goggles and got set.  As we arrived in the staging area, the air was cool and crisp.  The views were amazing as the trees were in the height of changing colors preparing to drop the excess weight for the winter snow. Single track zigging up the hill, through ruts, around trees, over rocks, it couldn't get any better.  We spent the day exploring new trails and terrain while getting to know the area better.  After hours of sure enjoyment we were ready to head back to reality.  As we traversed the single track back down the mountain as we had done several other times, we hit a stump.  For the next 5 to 10 seconds, slow motion events were imprinted on my brain.  First thing I thought as the ATV was thrown to the down hill slope is, "Don't loose it over the edge the trees, it will hurt."  My next thought, while breaking, was to shift my weight to the uphill side to prevent a roll over.  Meanwhile my wife was tossed to the down hill side of the ATV and was falling off.  So I started to try to turn the ATV and adjust to keep everyone on.  A concert of motion, wrong direction, ruts, hill and gravity nearly rolled the ATV or tossed us off the mountain. However, we escaped with just a bruise to my wife's ankle.  Never before have I came that close to a roll over while riding ATV.  I can see that helmets are only good when you need them, but the problem is you never know when you will need them.