A new lesson learned

This lesson has to do with protective head wear while riding.

There are many styles of protective head wear, Full face helmets, half helmets, 3/4 helmets, etc.

I prefer to wear cotton/poly head wear while riding (above 20 degrees F), This keeps the top of your head warm and dry. My particular choice in gear is much like the one pictured below, albeit in black.

Now you will notice that the hat has a chin strap of sorts. This strap's function is to get picked up by the wind and float around in front of your face while riding unless you tighten and tuck it in your jacket. I had found this out quite a while ago and usually do just that. Sunday though I forgot, I was riding along the highway and the strap started floating around in front of my face. Now, cruising along at 80 plus mph (with traffic) means you cannot just let go of the bars, grab the strap, pull down on the tassel end with one hand and slide the leather tightening ring upward with the other. Sometimes you can catch the ring with your teeth and use them to pull against to tighten the strap but I digress. What I did Sunday, instead, was to simply catch the strap in my hand, throw it over the hat so it was behind my head. this worked fine and there was no issue until I was on route 161. Here is where I learned a lesson. with the strap behind your head, if you turn to look at something the strap drags along your back and shoulders, where, if you are as lucky as myself it can catch on your opposite side jacket epaulet. You won't notice it do so...until you turn your head back to the travel direction and find you actually can't turn your head back to the travel direction. the strap has firmly attached itself and has anchored your hat in the left "sightseeing" position.

From this time, until you are able to dislodge your "leash" you are cruising along, with your head turned left, trying to look right and keep an eye on where you are going until you can dislodge your tether. Looking out of the corner of your eyes while riding down the road does make the ride more interesting.

I can say I saw more Christmas lights than I normally would have.

Hey, sometimes we need a challenge to keep us on our toes.