Random As Rhyme

At this years X-games BMX legend Van Homan joined Matt Berringer, and Mike Aitken in the sadly growing group of riders who have suffered serious head injuries in the past two years.

All of those riders are ones I have admired my entire riding career and it’s a real bummer to know that they all might be forever changed because of their conscious choice not to wear helmet. Mikey’s life has already permanently changed but it remains to be seen what the long term effects on Matt and Van’s lives will be.

Now I am no saint, I used to ride BMX without a helmet all the time and thankfully when I did sustain my last head injury I was wearing a helmet which probably saved my life as I currently know it.

I strongly believe that when you are at the pro level you should wear a helmet all the time, no exceptions. You are lucky enough to be part of a small group of people who are fortunate enough to make a living doing what we all love and you should take the necessary precautions to do this for as long as possible.

Let’s not kid ourselves here the sport is dangerous and at the level it’s progressing it’s not going to get safer any time soon. Let’s take a look at our idols and legends; Matt Hoffman and Jay Miron. True pioneers of the sport, gladiators if you will, who gave up their bodies to push the sport as far as it could go. They wore safety equipment (for the most part) and still destroyed their bodies to the point to where Jay can’t ride at all anymore and Matt, god that he is, is somehow riding with essentially one arm and more than quadruple the amount of concussions that end a professional hockey players career.

If today’s top pros are going to keep pushing themselves day in day out they need to wear some protection, at least on their head if no where else. This is alarmingly apparent in Van’s situation where he fractured his skull in a contest environment. Contests are designed to be a place where you lay it all on the line and if you are going to lay it all out there you should be in a bucket.

‘Street’ or no street.

Morgan Wade took a ton of slams at this years X-games and thanks to his helmet (and super human pain tolerance) he was able to get right back up to take more.

If any of our (and when I say our I mean the ‘mid-school’ crowd) legends are going to make it into the ‘DMC years’ of BMX they need to start wearing proper equipment all the time, not some of the time.

If they are not ready to do it for BMX do it for your friends, do it for your family and do it for yourself. The amount of time I have spent trying to put together the pieces of just a few hours of missing memory depresses me enough, I couldn’t imagine trying to piece together weeks, months, or years.

Get well soon Van, Matt, and Mikey.

Ride safe.