A Standing Ovation for Tom Southam and Rapha

The following is cut and paste from the FAQ section on Rapha's Website . I have an opinion on helmet use that I won't repeat. Rather, read Tom Southam's response because quite frankly, I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Helmets

• Q. Why do the riders in your imagery sometimes not wear helmets?
  A. Some imagery on the Rapha website shows riders on bicycles who are not wearing helmets. Rapha does not enforce any helmet policy on the riders in its photoshoots other than they adhere to the law of the land. Writer, Rapha model and former professional rider, Tom Southam, tells it like it is after a sequence shot on the Monte Zoncolan:

OK, for the record. Helmet choice is not Rapha's, it is mine, in line with the laws of the land where the images were shot. I have to say, that while I am pro helmets, and I understand their obvious and indisputable safety benefits, I am also pro choice. The freedom to wake up each day and make intelligent, informed choices in my life is something that I believe in very strongly. I do not think that getting angry and chastising Rapha over images used in their ad campaigns is really doing anything for anyone. I am not trying to make any statement that not wearing a helmet is cool, but I was riding at (much less than) 10 miles an hour, up a hill, with no traffic, with a film crew hanging out of a Fiat doblo, or whatever it was 6 inches from my face. My choice not to wear a helmet was quite obvious in that scenario. I do understand that there is a risk that kids will see this and potentially think that it is cool to ride without a helmet, but Rapha is as much a cycle safety awareness campaign as Bono is the savior of humanity. I am a 31 year old man, with 18 years riding experience. I have fallen off countless times, broken bones, skinned my backside, lost all of the skin from both of my hands, and in one quite extraordinary accident lost a nipple. Riding a bicycle is dangerous, period. Life is- like it or not- also a risky business. It is cruel, and hard and mean and even now, in the safest times that humanity has ever existed you, and everyone else around you will have to make choices, every single day of your lives to stay safe. Those choices should never be based on what looks cool. So, yes wear a damn helmet, but know why you wear a helmet, and make your own choice to wear a helmet, and have the intelligence in yourself, and promote the kind of intelligence in others, that allows people to be able to see an image in an advert without being compelled to go and risk your or their own life for the sake of looking cool, in exactly the same way that you can read that story and not be compelled to go and get drunk. This is my opinion, I am OK that many people will see it as wrong and I appreciate that. But, I personally salute Rapha for allowing me the freedom of choice, and helping to stop the world becoming the sterile kind of environment where no one understands that the obligation for their own safety lies with themselves and the people directly around them, and nowhere else.

Bravo Tom Southam and Bravo Rapha.

You get a standing ovation from me, a 46 year old man with over three decades of riding and racing experience who has also fallen off countless times and broken bones and skinned myself up and who also believes very strongly that it is up to each individual to make an informed decision for themselves.