Red Wazp
Super Member
Last Sunday I rode my KLR on a dualsport ride in the mountains with a friend. Because of temps in the 40's I chose to wear some street gear for warmth(smart move) including one of my full face Shoei helmets.
We were climbing up out of Alleghany, CA on a dirt road and about 100 yards before we get to dry pavement their was a section of snow in the shade. I made it through the slippery stuff ok but when stopped at the pavement I turned around to see Eric picking up his DRZ400 after a slow speed tip over. He was having trouble getting going uphill on the frozen white death so without pealing any gear I start to walk down to help him. Because of daytime melting a few days before the cage paths in the snow were now a sheet of ice.
Well I made it about 8 steps on the snow/ice in my motocross boots when faster than a dress to the floor on prom night my feet slipped out from under of me. I was horizontal and airborne for a brief moment before landing flat on my back. Within 2 milliseconds the back of my helmet slams the ice in a whiplash fashion that caused some Sierra seismic activity.
Bad things happens soooo fast.
No doubt the back pad protection in my Tourmaster jacket helped lessen the blow to my back and I truly believe my Shoei helmet saved me from serious head trauma or worse. After getting my breath back I realized I didn't even have a headache- thank you, Thank You MR. Shoei. I never suspected ATGATT would save me while walking but it did!
The helmet hardly shows where it hit the ice (to the left of the star on the helmet) but I guess it's time to retire another head saver. This was a favorite helmet and as you can see Chris Carr signed it for me a few years back. I met him at a local pub after he set (at the time) the motorcycle speed record of 350.884 mph on the Bub Streamliner built here in Grass Valley.
We were climbing up out of Alleghany, CA on a dirt road and about 100 yards before we get to dry pavement their was a section of snow in the shade. I made it through the slippery stuff ok but when stopped at the pavement I turned around to see Eric picking up his DRZ400 after a slow speed tip over. He was having trouble getting going uphill on the frozen white death so without pealing any gear I start to walk down to help him. Because of daytime melting a few days before the cage paths in the snow were now a sheet of ice.
Well I made it about 8 steps on the snow/ice in my motocross boots when faster than a dress to the floor on prom night my feet slipped out from under of me. I was horizontal and airborne for a brief moment before landing flat on my back. Within 2 milliseconds the back of my helmet slams the ice in a whiplash fashion that caused some Sierra seismic activity.
Bad things happens soooo fast.
No doubt the back pad protection in my Tourmaster jacket helped lessen the blow to my back and I truly believe my Shoei helmet saved me from serious head trauma or worse. After getting my breath back I realized I didn't even have a headache- thank you, Thank You MR. Shoei. I never suspected ATGATT would save me while walking but it did!
The helmet hardly shows where it hit the ice (to the left of the star on the helmet) but I guess it's time to retire another head saver. This was a favorite helmet and as you can see Chris Carr signed it for me a few years back. I met him at a local pub after he set (at the time) the motorcycle speed record of 350.884 mph on the Bub Streamliner built here in Grass Valley.
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