Don't Wash Your Helmet

By all means make sure the outside, especially the visor, is clean and shiny but, if you can remove the lining of your crash helmet, don't. Why would you want it smelling fresh, to wash away all the memories and emotions the sweet perfume of a stale crash helmet evokes?

Removing the lining may tempt you to look like a tit

I hadn't ridden my bike for three weeks or more; too soft, too lazy and checking the rear tyre pressure on a BMW K1300R is a proper pain in the arse. This morning I could be bothered. The bike stood on my drive, warming up in the middle of a drifting cloud of exhaust fumes on a cold misty November morning. I pulled on my Arai and was transformed from a bloke going to work into a motorcyclist with thousands of miles and experiences. The odour, familiar, not offensive, instantly pricked my memory: rainy days in the Alps, hot sunny days in the Pyrenées, a freezing blast to Rutland water last winter: every moment precious.

I lifted the visor and the moment disappeared into the mist. I waved goodbye to my children, stepped through the thinning cloud of fumes and rode off. A motorcyclist once again.