Photo of my electric bike in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.
It’s been only a month since my crash and it still feels like yesterday. The strange feeling of my newly crowned teeth, the sensitive parts of my face and the mild pain in my shoulder are constant reminders of the potential danger of riding bikes around San Francisco. For the most part, I’ve told everyone that I’ve fully recovered, but these ailments haunt me. My wreck was a wake up call—to put safety first, and minimize the chance of getting hurt.
While there is danger in riding, I think there is inherent risk in everything we do… including driving our cars, crossing the street, and playing sports. The lesson I’ve learned is that I should have taken extra safety precautions—if I had a full-face helmet, there’s a good chance I would never have gotten a concussion, multiple stitches, had to go to the dentist multiple times, etc. I’m not saying that a full-face helmet would save me from everything, but a little extra protection would have probably gone a long way.
I want to be clear that I was wearing a helmet, had all my lights on, gloves, and clothing that covered all my body. The one place that wasn’t protected was my face. More on that in a moment…
Black and white photo of the Golden Gate Bridge and its reflection at Presidio an hour before the sunset.
There are still so many places in San Francisco I want to explore. And there’s really no better way to do that than on a bike. The convenience of riding to work is also amazing, not to mention all the health benefits. I also really like the idea of minimizing my carbon footprint. When I combine these reasons I realize that biking still makes sense in my life.
Photo of my bike at Presidio.
The photo above is something I shot after work on Friday. I decided to take a ride and watch the sunset from one of my favorite vantage points, Hawk Hill. On my way there, I snapped this picture, and I was reminded of how beautiful this place is.
Photo of my bike and helmet with the Golden Gate bridge and San Francisco in the background.
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve upgraded my helmet. This is a full-face model designed for extreme down hill mountain biking. After doing researching and consulting with my comrades, this seemed to be the best choice. I was seriously considering a motorcycle helmet, but there’s a camp of riders that believe that motorcycle helmets can potentially obstruct visibility and sound—which could ironically be more dangerous. The helmet I purchased (Bell Super 3R) is pretty legit, and has new technology to prevent concussions and minimize head trauma.
Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again… but if it does, I’m more prepared.
Photo of Marin County, towards Rodeo Lagoon as the sun touched down on the horizon.
This was probably my favorite photo of the evening. If I had more daylight, I think I would have ridden further… but I’m saving that for next time. This was truly a majestic view, and the only way to preserve that moment in a bottle was with a pic.
Close-up of my new helmet. It includes a new technology called MIPS to reduce rotational head trauma.
My new helmet also has a built in Go Pro mount. I’ll be investing into one of those soon. The really crazy thing about my accident is that I don’t remember what happened. If I had at that time Go Pro, I could have examined the incident frame by frame.
Photo of my bike in one of the historic artillery bunkers.
A quick photo while crossing the Golden Gate bridge on my way back home.
I’ll have more photos share with you guys soon. And I promise that I will be as safe as I can when I’m riding.