16 July 2010 - 8:49Headwear

We all know that helmets are a mandatory bike riding fashion accessory. They protect the noggin, which is by far their most important task, but they fail to do one important task (at least for me). Moisture management. I’m not going to lie. I sweat a lot. Especially out of my head. On more than one occasion it has brought me down. Let’s face it, the crappy little pads in the helmet don’t really do much of anything except provide a comfort barrier between the foam and your skull.

The one day last year I didn’t wear something under my helmet to absorb the sweat, I ducked under a low hanging tree limb, only to have the mostly useless helmet pads squeeze out just enough liquid to sheet over the inside of the lenses of my glasses. This would have been fine if I hadn’t been going down a pretty technical downhill section of trail, but seeing as I was going at a pretty good clip, I couldn’t actually see that I was in fact, flying over my handlebars. I landed on my bad knee, and was hit by my bike to add insult to injury.

So, at least for me, it is good thing to have some help.

I’ve been using an old Chris King cycling cap, but it has gotten to the point of not really doing much anymore. It’s getting pretty manky, and the visor is permanently flipped up because of too many trips through the washing machine.

After sitting on my ass watching the Tour on TV, I decided to try out one of these Head Sweats that Bobke is all about. I went with the head band, as I thought that it might be a little cooler if heat could escape my head through the top vents. I’ve gotten a couple of rides in with it, and so far, it works pretty well.

Then I started thinking about the other things I have seen people wear under their helmets.

And then sometimes, you see people bombing around the place with no helmet on.

Make sure you at least wear a helmet when you ride your bike.