So today I decided to hike a nearby mountain and muni down the trail. Let me start by saying I almost never wear a helmet. Parts of the trail were really steep and rocky. I was going down one particularly steep area (though not very technical) and my pant leg caught in my crank and I got thrown off the front of the uni. I landed on my elbow and went into a roll, I smacked my head on a rock and my muni came tumbling down behind me as my metal pinned Jim C pedals smashed right into the back of my head. Luckily, for some odd reason today I decided to wear my helmet. I can honestly say that I would not be typing this post right now had I not worn the helmet. I would be laying unconscious, bleeding, or worse, still on that trail. My pedal put a nice gash into the hard plastic of my skater style helmet. I paced back and forth on the trail totally shocked and blown away that this had happened on the one day that I wore a helmet. Never again will I muni without a helmet, lesson learned. Luckily I was able to walk away with only a moderate headache and a few scratches/bruises on my elbow.
On a brighter note! It was a gorgeous day and the top of the mountain (Mt. Major) was very windy. A few parts of the trail were just too steep and rocky to do with 150mm cranks and no brakes but for the majority of it, it was great fun.
Just be happy it was a skater style aswell. The one and only time I have hit my head hard I was wearing a bike style helmet which left that nice big patch behind my head available for rocks to smash away at. I still got lucky in that I didn’t suffer a concussion (I don’t think) and I was able to continue riding. But it made me happy to know that I had a skater style helmet at home (I had forgotten it in Ottawa when I went to Toronto).
Yeah, I really like the idea of the skater style for muni. Its got more coverage and it can take more of a beating. If I was using a bike style I’m pretty sure the pedal would have gotten my head. I’m considering getter a lighter bike helmet for cokering though.
Some people just need to be hit over the head before they realize it’s a helmet is a good idea for unicycling on rocks… Very glad you were not injured! Beautiful shots, BTW.
Don’t you just hate the “insult” of the unicycle landing on you after a bad crash? It’s like the unicycle notices there’s nobody watching to make you embarrassed, so it jumps down on you for the coup de grace.
Glad to hear that a beautiful day stayed beautiful.
I went through a short period where I just didn’t feel like wearing a helmet. But now I always do even for an easy ride in my neighborhood. Wearing it at all times forces me to be used to it and accept it. You get so used to it you almost don’t notice you’re wearing one.
There’s a cracking example of this in ‘Defect’ where the rider (his name escapes me) tries to grind a sixteen stair handrail.
And in the Jackass movie where Bam falls off his skateboard, which then hits him in the face a few seconds later.
Mike Clark. He messes up on the first few stairs, runs down the rail a few steps till he’s about half way down, his foot slips, he lands on his crotch and slides the rest of the way, then he’s lying on the ground in pain and his unicycle comes smashing into him
thedjw- I love the one where Bam is in his fat suit and he is grinding the rail, then his board breaks under his weight!
