Raising money for Headway - Traumatic Brain Injury charity.

[Scrantaj]

Posting on behalf of Jan who had a horrific accident in 2012 that left him with serious long term injuries.  He's now raising money for the charity that helped him and continues to help him recover and adapt to those injuries. He is raising money for Headway, the Traumatic Brain Injury charity by riding 538 very mountainous miles on Moulton bikes.

My amazingly supportive cycling friends (and I) have decided to raise money by riding the mountain ranges from Gerona in Spain to Les Collins in Switzerland from the 18th to 26th June. Along the way we will ride; across the Pyrenees, up and down Mont Ventoux 3 times (there’s only 3 ways up Ventoux so we aim to set a bar by being the first to achieve this on Moulton bikes) and over the Alps at Chamonix and onwards into Switzerland. (866km / 538 miles).

Full story on his Virgin Money Giving page.

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?userUrl=JanJohnston1&pageUrl=1

This could happen to any of us and charities like Headway depend on donation to operate.

[Jaded]

Great audacious ride plan, but,

Are Headway still rabid helmeteers?

[Tom B]

Headway website says:

At Headway, we believe that all cyclists should wear helmets, particularly vulnerable road users such as children who do not possess the same level of competency or experience as adults. We believe helmets should be compulsory for all child cyclists while supporting calls for a range of additional measures to improve cyclists' safety, including more dedicated cycle lanes and educational campaigns aimed at both cyclists and motorists.

Cycle helmets should always be fitted and worn correctly, be free of any damage, and marked with the safety standard EN 1078 (for adults) or EN 1080 (for children)

One of the ‘experts’ cited likens cycling without a helmet to ‘taking your laptop about without putting it in a case’

[Ian H]

Great audacious ride plan, but,

Are Headway still rabid helmeteers?

I think there are better causes to support.

[mattc]

Headway website says:

At Headway, we believe that all cyclists should wear helmets, particularly vulnerable road users such as children who do not possess the same level of competency or experience as adults. We believe helmets should be compulsory for all child cyclists while supporting calls for a range of additional measures to improve cyclists' safety, including more dedicated cycle lanes and educational campaigns aimed at both cyclists and motorists.

Cycle helmets should always be fitted and worn correctly, be free of any damage, and marked with the safety standard EN 1078 (for adults) or EN 1080 (for children)

One of the ‘experts’ cited likens cycling without a helmet to ‘taking your laptop about without putting it in a case’

So it's like a Rape Victims Support charity, whose policy is that young women should avoid dressing provocatively.

[Scrantaj]

Nice one guys, take a good cause and turn it into yet another Helmet debate.

Headway helped this guy and others with TBI's enormously and not just cyclists, read the story on his fundraising page.

Hope it never happens to you, but I'm sure they'll be there for you if it does.

[mattc]

To be fair, it's pretty clear who made this a Helmet Debate issue:

Headway website says:

At Headway, we believe that all cyclists should wear helmets, particularly vulnerable road users such as children who do not possess the same level of competency or experience as adults. We believe helmets should be compulsory for all child cyclists while supporting calls for a range of additional measures to improve cyclists' safety, including more dedicated cycle lanes and educational campaigns aimed at both cyclists and motorists.

Cycle helmets should always be fitted and worn correctly, be free of any damage, and marked with the safety standard EN 1078 (for adults) or EN 1080 (for children)

One of the ‘experts’ cited likens cycling without a helmet to ‘taking your laptop about without putting it in a case’

[Scrantaj]

To be fair, it's pretty clear who made this a Helmet Debate issue:

Headway website says:

At Headway, we believe that all cyclists should wear helmets, particularly vulnerable road users such as children who do not possess the same level of competency or experience as adults. We believe helmets should be compulsory for all child cyclists while supporting calls for a range of additional measures to improve cyclists' safety, including more dedicated cycle lanes and educational campaigns aimed at both cyclists and motorists.

Cycle helmets should always be fitted and worn correctly, be free of any damage, and marked with the safety standard EN 1078 (for adults) or EN 1080 (for children)

Nope, in the context of this thread you guys did.  You could have just ignored it. Thought, "nah, this one's not for me", but you didn't.

Rather than accept that the guy involved wants to pay back the charity that helped him turn his life around and learn to live with the injuries he sustained while cycling, by undertaking a pretty impressive challenge, you'd rather focus on the fact that the organisation holds a different point of view to you on one very narrow subject and use that to denigrate what he's doing and put others off supporting him.

As an atheist I don't particularly agree with Christian Aid's religious basis for its work, but I wont deny they do a huge amount of good and save lives. Nor would I actively go out of my way to discourage others from supporting them if they want to simply because I disagree with their view on a particular subject.

[Ian H]

Headway promotes policies which have been shown to decrease cycling and thus have an adverse effect on health and well-being.

Should we ignore that?

[Kim]

Headway promotes policies which have been shown to decrease cycling and thus have an adverse effect on health and well-being.

Should we ignore that?

I think there's a difference between asking if Headway are the ones who are notoriously pro-helmet, or replying to quote their policy on helmets, and commenting on whether or not they're worthy of supporting.

I'd suggest the former is reasonable (this being a cycling forum where people can be expected to hold strong views on such things), and the latter inappropriate (this being a thread about someone's efforts to raise money for a charity who have helped him).


Good luck with the ride, Jan!

[Martin]

Ahem; this ride should have gone straight into Lift the Lid according to the "rules" (which I do not agree with but I don't run YACF so happy to respect them)

Where nobody would have seen it....

If you are not interested in the ride or its motives please simply don't reply rather than "going off on one" it's not a helmet debate it's a bike ride



Thanks

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Good timing. HK and I will be riding a UAF 1000 brevet from Paris to Ventoux starting in a couple of hours. We'll be on our Moultons but are only scheduled to ride up Ventoux once this weekend. I don't know if our paths will cross before we head back to Auld Blighty.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

We were on top of Ventoux on Sunday morning; only our two Moultons sighted. Once up the hill was enough for this little black duck. We'll be hitting the trains home today.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

From what little I could see on the fundraising page, Jan's ride seems to have gone well. Will there be a story written about this at any point?