On summer evenings, I occasionally enjoy a long ride on the country roads around Ames, and I almost always wear a helmet.

Honestly though, I never deemed it necessary to wear a helmet for my short and protected commute to and from campus.

My entire commute is on a bike route, safe from automobiles.

What other hazard could possibly threaten the structural integrity of my head? I know now that there is at least one.

Last Tuesday, I met that hazard while on my way home from campus. I was rushed to keep an engagement, but I did not make it home that night.

Instead, I awoke to find myself sprawled across a perfectly clear and straight bicycle route sidewalk, tended to by passers-by, a DPS lieutenant and shortly, an ambulance crew, nurses, emergency room doctors, a team of radiologists and a neurologist.

I could not make sense of my surroundings, and it was hours before I was able to stop shaking.

I did not know what had happened, and I was terrified.

Twenty hours later, I was discharged from the hospital with a concussion, a broken nose and a torn and stitched face.

So what vicious hazard caused my fall? If I had worn a helmet, I might remember.

But I did not wear a helmet, and no one saw me fall, so I am left to speculate: it could have been a stone, a squirrel, or an acute lack of grace at precisely the wrong moment.

All I know is that I am still in a fog and falling behind on my schoolwork.

What’s worse is that I have only myself to blame for not taking 12 seconds to put on a helmet.

I was lucky, in that my injuries turned out to be minor, but I would not bet my life or my brain cells that I would be so lucky next time.

Would you?

It may seem like a short 10-minute commute, but a crash happens in less than one second, and does not always require another vehicle or obvious obstacle.

Granted, I have never received any awards for fine coordination or swift athletic prowess, but I have been riding a bicycle for two decades and I am not more likely to fall than you.

No ride is too short for a helmet.

We should all be proud of our caring campus community.

I am grateful to the kind people who stopped to help me and DPS lieutenant Isra Harahap, who provided much comfort and protection when I needed it most.

Thanks to them, I and my helmet will be back on my bicycle soon.

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Betsy Warnemuende

Graduate student

Agronomy