BOARDMAN CONTROVERSY

Most of Chris Boardman's Racing was without a HELMET !  It is only in recent years that UCI have
required ALL Racers to wear Helmets and with GOOD Reason !

Because Chris was a wearer of the " Maillot Jeune " , i have brought the matter to this Blog . Today , Chris was on BBC Breakfast TV , riding in normal clothes , without a Helmet . His Companion was in Yellow and wearing a Helmet . Seems a few of the commenters on " Road.CC 2 saw him riding along tthe road .

http://road.cc/content/news/134586-complaints-over-bare-headed-chris-boardman%E2%80%99s-helmetless-bbc-breakfast-bike-ride

Because of the Social Media interaction , Chris went to the effort , of formulating a response which can be found here :

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/campaigning/article/20141103-campaigning-news-Boardman--Why-I-didn-t-wear-a-helmet-on-BBC-Breakfast-0

Regardless of what he says or does , i will continue to wear a Helmet . Fortunately for me , each time i have broken a helmet , i have done little damage to my face or head . Some crashes have been due to external factors such as a TFL Bus Driver trying to kill me with 15+ Tonnes of metal . Other occasions have been when i have had a blowout on a mountain road in the Alps or Pyrennes . Whatever reason that the helmet hit the ground , i have walked away without Concussion , let alone an open wound .

Saturday in the Tirol was a Quiet day on the road , since it was a Catholic Church Holy Day , yet i still found a mongrel that thought Bikes should not be on the road . Ignoring the eastbound white station wagon , this numbskull drove his Hyundai 4x4 across onto the westbound 2 1/2M wide lane , already occupied by myself , as i was driving the bike west at 30+kph . His bonnet was only cetimetres from my knee as i went from about a metre on the road , onto the gravel/grass side margin , when i re entered the road surface , he pulled alongside with the window down , spouting some German Dialect version of his POV . Told to quit or arrive at the Polizei , he drove forward then slammed on the brakes whilst moving right to occupy my line of travel... Having come across peanut brains like him before , i rode left , but stayed out of the impact zone . He continued this idiotic behaviour for about 300Metres , but sped off as more vehicles came along to observe his behaviour .

Having driven off west , i turned and returned to the Kramsach Polizei where i eventually got a Young Lady Inspector , telling me that i should sell my Bikes , as it would be safer to walk !   Obviously she does not read Casualty Statistics , which show CYCLING is SAFER than walking ?  Why would i give up Cycling because she and her Colleagues , could care less about THUGS using Vehicles to KILL & MAIM Cyclists?