I confess I look dorky but as I get older who gives a shit, eh? My bro rides thousands of miles a year and talked me into it.

Three days ago I was backing the Jaunty project on trailer into a shop. My wheel cleared the low curb on my side but the far wheel didn't clear the higher curb on that side. This forced the tongue of the trailer into my shin which dropped me over backwards like a rock. Tall trees cut down don't fall as fast as I fell flat on my back and slammed my head like a hammer down on the ground. First thing I thought of when my head slapped down so hard was, 'wish I had my bike helmet on.' Mercifully my full back took the landing on the gravel drive and my head hit about the only weedy patch in that area which also had a some dirt base and that absorbed some of the blow so no gravel stuck in places I'd prefer not. Walked away from it, as it were.

The last time I went on the foredeck in a bucking sea to pull down a too large jib I swore never again as I inched out there, managed the sail, inched back in....no goddam PFD!!

It is SO EASY to fall off the foredeck, even in calm water, when you start to get older, lose the spring in your step, stumble and can't recover...... I finally gave up sailing when I fell off the foredecks of three different sailboats and didn't hit my head on the dock or anything else so survived.

It is SO EASY to forget. I FINALLY learned the lesson and wear my auto inflate PFD or facsimile thereof AND when able to bike wear my dorky helmet. I managed to live so far to 66 but not because I was smart, only because I was lucky.

I'm just sayin'.....