Should we all be wearing neck braces when we ride off-road?
Our Traction eRag gang has tried them and every single
person has exactly the same experience - negative.
Regardless of brand, whether it's Leatt, Atlas, Alpinestar or EVS.
The entire eRag gang has worn braces
and then we eventually stopped wearing them. Maybe you've had a similar experience.
In a nutshell, neck braces are designed to prevent catastrophic articulation
in your neck during a crash - angles that are so dramatic,
or compression forces that are so strong, they could result in c-spine fractures.
They work by strategically placing the edge of the brace close enough to the lower edge
of your helmet that the helmet touches the brace when a certain degree of articulation is reached.
And this 'stop' prevents your head from moving at angles you only see on the
Saturday morning cartoons. So far, all good.
Everything makes sense. But let's paint a typical off-road scenario.
You're riding a steep tricky descent, and we're taught to look as far down
the trail as possible, at all times. At the bottom of this particular hill
is a steep climb, so during the descent we raise our head to look up the hill and assess it.
And click! The back of our helmet touches the back of the brace,
preventing us from looking up to assess the hill.
For me at least, this is immediately followed by a series of clicks as I'm
desperately trying to force my helmet up so I can see the pending hill climb!
Unable to see, you're left with two choices - keep your momentum up and just give her.
Or lock up the binders stop in the trough and assess the situation properly.
My personal preference? Given that momentum is a precious commodity,
it's just "Give her!" and sort it out in real time.
This is an unnerving feeling, hitting a hill climb completely blind.
Thanks for calling Cross Training Enduro! Your call is only of mild importance to us.
And you are 192nd in our queue. Please remember to sleep,
eat, and hydrate regularly, while you are on hold.
Now how many times does this actually happen during a ride?
That depends a lot on the terrain, maybe two to three times.
But I'll say once you've experienced this a couple times it seems like two or three times too many!
Next time you're gearing up, it's going to be in the back of your mind
and it will influence your decision. Do I put this brace on or not?
Terrain with dramatic elevation changes is exactly when you should be wearing a neck brace but it's
in this exact situation where this frustrating limitation seems to present itself the most.
Have you ever encountered this situation? What did you do - do you choose to accept it and wear the
brace, or do you leave it in your gear bag? Are we missing some important portion of this argument?
Please let us know in the comments below, and although we're mostly illiterate we will
do our best to respond in an unprofessional and untimely manner. Peace out. you filthy reprobates.