[jrockway]

I choose to ignore this "advice".

I've hit my head a few times while getting into bike accidents.

The first time, I was wearing a helmet. Mostly landed on my face, but the helmet broke and I was fine. (An ambulance was driving by and took me to the hospital as a precautionary measure. Somewhat convenient.)

The second time, I was riding a CitiBike without a helmet. I hit a pothole and somehow ended up landing on my head. I don't really remember much, except laying in the middle of the road for a few minutes trying to figure out what happened. (I do remember being pretty sure that this was the end. But I decided I didn't want to get charged for the missing bike, so got up anyway.)

The third time I was wearing a helmet again, but I landed on my hands. It was winter so I was wearing gloves with leather palms, and just kind of slid for a while. It was great. I rode 40 more miles after that one. (And I'm definitely a fan of gloves!)

Wear a helmet. It's pretty easy to fall off your bike, and you don't really want to injure your head.