I wrote a piece once on the ‘airing of excuses.’ That time at the start of a group ride where everyone has the opportunity to lay out their exit plan or at least mitigate their pending poor performance by explaining it away before the ride. You know, rather than in a moment of suffering when a hangnail or just-remembered night of drinking seems a bit like the convenient cover for the rider who hasn’t been putting in their miles.
Maybe I should update it? After all, “I forgot to charge my rear derailleur battery so I need to leave my bike in the easiest gear the whole ride” is a level of excuse-brilliance that didn’t exist in 2017.
Coming back to riding, and really not riding with anyone but my family, I haven’t heard many proper pedaling-performance excuses lately. I guess even when I’m on the bike with other people, no one is expecting much sympathy from old one-point-five-legs over here. I have a long way to go in getting back at it.
But oh boy, have I had an earful about full-face helmets lately. It seems to come up anywhere I go that mountain bikers I know are present.
I don’t consider myself to be an evangelist for sporting a chin bar. You do you. There is really important stuff like rigid forks, Plus tires, single-speeds, and thumbie-shifters that you absolutely should consider trying. A chin bar? I only started wearing one out of distaining of my own blatant hypocrisy.
And yet, it occurred to me, that when our bikes were much less capable of going fast, when our local trails were generally much slower and jankier, and when full-face helmets were much heavier and less breathable it was actually a lot more common to see them in our mountains. That’s weird?
*Above Photo: JacVenture
So in January, only a few days before I’d lose months of riding to a ruptured Achilles (not hitting my face on the ground, as has been noted) I wrote a piece called Where Have All The Chin Bars Gone. And then my troubles really started.
If I didn’t know better, which clearly I do, I’d say that I have a fairly large pile of friends and acquaintances who think they should wear a full-face for mountain biking. Maybe not all the time as I’m doing, but on some trails certainly. And not just the shuttle-DH or bike park riding that would have me reaching for a proper DH lid, but the janky technical trails we ride together.
It’s just that, well, the Bell Super R series doesn’t fit them very well and their hip pack, or lack of pack, isn’t conducive to carrying the chin bar when it’s not in use on a long single track or fire road climb. Also, the Super DH is too heavy and “down-hilly” with the chin bar installed. And, they couldn’t find anyone who stocks a Leatt to try on, which is always the best practice when buying a helmet. They use the sound from their rear hub to gauge their speed, everywhere but Whistler where they wear a DH lid. It’s very important to be able to hear other trail users, especially when you ride with headphones in.
(Oh, I’m definitely an evangelist for not wearing headphones on multi-use trails in the woods. That one I’ll own)
*Above Photo: Mr. Lungstastic
Since my return to riding, I’ve been sporting a Kali Invader 2.0, the review for which just went live on NSMB.com. I don’t miss the removable chin bar at all. Well, okay, in Cumberland on the long chill climbs when Nina and Claire had their chin bars I did feel a bit like a Joey for being the only one with a full-face lid. But like everything to do with wearing a full-face lid for trail riding, I just had to get over myself.
Lately, I’ve met a surprising number of folks who’ve had a bad crash that would have been life-ending if they’d had a chin bar instead of their face to drive into the ground. Dehydration is a real concern, it’s hard to drink with a bottle on the fly. The ‘Storm Trooper’ look is scary to other trail users. They don’t look good with Lycra. Full-face helmets actually cause more injuries by encouraging risk-taking behaviour. I’m lucky I don’t have sensitive skin.
I’m lucky, I don’t have sensitive skin.