Safety Last
SOLIDSTEEL Johno & the Church Gap from Clint on Vimeo.
So, this video has made the BMX blog rounds. A guy (almost) jumps the infamous Austin Church Gap, detonates his rear wheel and destroys his bars.
Alright
So, in the last handful of years one of the best riders in the sport lost the use of his limbs, two people have died and one of the most influential of new school riders had a career defining accident (Aitken’s career is now seperated into “pre accident” and “post accident”). After Aitken’s fall there was a lot of talk about helmets and safety gear in BMX. That talk lasted for about two days, and now we have this. Before jumping this massive gap, kid adjusts his baseball cap.
Alright, his choice I guess (and I have to laugh at all the people who say they hate freestyle MTBs because they’re the wrong tool for the job. Fully suspended mountain bikes were designed from the ground up to handle massive gaps, but I digress). Here’s the problem. While not a lot of people are saying that this guy was an idiot for trying this in jeans, a t-shirt and a baseball cap, the few that have have received the oh so hardcore reaction of “BMX is dangerous!!!!” “You’re a communist!!!!!!” “That’s why my parents have insurance!!!!!”
I just don’t get why a large majority of BMXers seem to be, at best, apathetic about safety gear and a small, but extremely vocal, minority seem to not only be actively opposed to it, but offended by the very idea that anyone would suggest that wearing safety gear is a good idea. Yeah, BMX is dangerous, (and, in fact two of my above examples either happened while safety gear was being worn or it wouldn’t have mattered anyway) but, sheesh, while other dangerous activities seek to mitigate the possibility of a horrible, painful death BMXers seem to want to increase it. I can’t see NASCAR drivers screaming that they don’t want roll cages, but Lord forbid you suggest BMXers wear helmets.
Anyway, back to the video. I’m glad the dude walked away…but he’s still an idiot.
Totally agree with you on this. Maybe it’s because I’m 42 years old and have realized it’s more fun to get up from a crash and ride more instead of taking time out to heal. At some point the scale tips from trying to be cool to common sense. It just takes some longer to get there.