Setting the right example with bike helmets

Since around the New Year, not only have we increased the amount of walking activity we do as a family, but I also have rededicated myself to regular cycling -- at least as regular my schedule permits.

Mind you, it's not nearly the 42-mile, round-trip ride I undertook when I was a senior at USC and living in Pasadena (looking at the route now, I see how crazy I really was during that period in my life). I'm fairly content 15 years later to find time on a weekday to ride from my house to the Sagamore Bridge and back, a mere 8-mile ride. If either the weather doesn't cooperate or I am on the road, an 8-mile ride on the stationary bike serves as a lowly substitute.

That said, I've been quite pleased with my assembly of cold-weather gear, so as long as the wind isn't ridiculous, I've not let cold temperatures keep me from heading out. The getup consists of Reebok leggings under some padded shorts, a T-shirt and fleece sweatshirt under my Tek Gear windbreaker, and an Assos Stinger cap.

Here's what I've noticed since the latter arrived a few weeks ago to replace a moth-eaten cap I was using previously: I keep forgetting to don my helmet. All three times that I have done so within the last few weeks, I realize it only after I am more than halfway into my ride.

The first time I did so, I blamed it on leaving the helmet in our mudroom after a previous ride, instead of its customary place next to my bike in the shed. So I rectified that, returning the helmet to its usual storage position. The next two times, however, as I ran through my pre-ride checklist, the same piece of equipment was missing without me realizing it.

Ipod? Check.

Sunglasses? Check.

Shoelaces tucked into the shoes? Check.

Stopwatch set on the iPod? Check.

Look both ways before entering Route 6A to start my ride? Check.

And I wonder where our children get their absent-minded professor tendencies from....

It wasn't until I brought the boys on Friday down to the Cape Cod Canal to ride their scooters (Sam and Ben) and bicycle (Mason) that I realized what a hypocrite I've been. All three were wearing their helmets, and their excursion on the bike path was not nearly as dangerous as what I regularly attempt by starting my ride on a state highway.

So I need to recommit myself to wearing my helmet, not only to be safer on my ride, but also to set the right example for the boys.

Truth be told, though, it is they who are setting the right example for me.