Much to my wife’s delight (and to the detriment of my riding crew’s ability to easily find me in a crowd), I’ve taken to wearing a black R.E.D. helmet (matches my black jacket and black pants pretty well, I’d say).

I used to be “that guy wearing the crazy hat.” So why did I switch to wearing a helmet?

But seriously, I switched to wearing a helmet last season because I knew that by going for bigger airs, harder tricks, and more technical riding (soujourns through trees, halfpipe, more jibbing), it’d only be a matter of time before I bit a big one. And boy, did I.

I had a HUGE bail at the tail end of last season, flying off a medium-sized park kicker with, say we say, unintentional “corking.” And as Roald (and my doctor) can attest, the fact that I was wearing a helmet saved me from a major concussion afterwards.

The lesson here, kiddies: Wear a helmet. You only get one head.

:E