Latest Bicyling Magazine, Page 34....really?

Ladies and gentleman. Above is a photo of singer/songwriter Tristan Prettyman (I know, me too...tristan who?). This is a photograph that was featured in the latest issue of Bicycling Magazine. Apparently, she is on a crusade to make San Diego a more "bike friendly" community. When, of course, she's not endangering the rest of the bicycling community and herself.

I won't go into details, but the interview contains the following gems:

"My friends often do a 25 mile loop up the coast to grab a beer, so I often join them."

Yes, riding 12 miles, dehydrating yourself, then downing beer for the ride home sounds like a fantastic idea.

"My last ride was sixteen miles to the beach with my friend Tricia...when I got home my tire was flat."

So, basically, you were riding on the rim without even knowing it? For how long was that occurring?

But readers, choosing a "celeb rider" with a lack of basic roadside skills/preparedness was not the most blatant error Bicycling Magazine made. Truthfully, this sort of thing can probably happen to many people if the tire just had a small hole or the air was leaking slowly. Nor was choosing a "celeb rider" who admittedly mixes alcohol and road cycling, though I'm sure some of you readers probably don't think that's such a horrible proposition, either.

No, ladies and gentleman. The cardinal sin of Bicycling magazine was to show a picture of Tristan Prettyman, clutching at an ill fitting messenger bag while fully turning around and not looking where she's headed...

...without a f-ing helmet.

.......

Cycling without a helmet is as stupid as driving without a seatbelt, which is as stupid as picking up a red hot skillet without a pot holder. It's such an easy, basic, simple step to protecting your own life, and the lives of those who care about you. Sure, you can say to yourself, "It's my head, damnit!" But what about all of the people you will leave in the lurch should the unspeakable happen and you become brain damaged, or die? And for what? For the sake of "looking cool?"

Please people. wtf.

I myself have already suffered a concussion, one that started when my head hit a rock after falling off my horse and ended with being led back to the office by my coworker after she found me wandering aimlessly around the barn not sure of where I was and with no memory of what happened. She found my horse sans Sophie and became worried. I still don't remember the specifics, but I do know that had I been sans helmet, I would have been dead.

I'm preaching to the choir here, as you all DO wear helmets hopefully every time you get on the bike (just like you hopefully buckle your damn seatbelts every time you get in the car).

But.

This is Bicyling Magazine. This is the magazine for the masses. This is the magazine where the general population gets its idea of what is and what is not appropriate for cycling. This is the magazine that people take into bike shops saying "I just read this review about this bike..." This is the magazine that is, for lack of a better term, our public persona.

And what message does the public get when Tristan Prettyman gets a full blown up picture of her likeness cooly cruising, her hair gorgeously tousled by the wind as she flies backasswards down the road without a helmet?

That was a rhetorical question, btw.

Letter writing campaign, people. I think that every local cycling club needs to draft a letter in a similar vein of WTFness, and send it off ASAP to Bicycling Magazine.

Tristan Prettyman is in danger of becoming brain damaged.

If the above photograph doesn't prove she already is.