Crashing early on in a stage race puts one in a very stressful state, which is not a good place to be early on in a stage race. You quickly become concerned only with your recovery and health, and thus some focus is retracted from all other areas, including but not exclusive to... your race helmet. When we transfer from Hong Kong to mainland China and must go through customs, twice, and reload all gear onto another bus, I end up leaving my helmet on the Hong Kong side. This fact wasn't realized until minutes before the 2nd stage in Gannan. The quick thinking (aka, sneaky) bike rider in me knows I need something on my head if I wish to continue the race, so I "nab" a construction worker's helmet off of his nearby moto. Luckily, the race commissioner saves me from Chinese karmic prison and he procures a color-cordinating item called "Black Diamond" which has a spider design on top. It is quite apparent that this helmet is intended only for children, but with laughter all around, I can't complain. Now the tallest rider in the race has a bright orange beacon on his mellon.
I have this wonderful item for 3 stages, and manage to endear myself to the entire race, but last night after the long double stage day, in the lobby of the BJ Garden Hotel (how you like that for a name?), nearly sleep walking and badly in need of a shower, the last thing I remember is the helmet falling off my head and bouncing on the marble floor (I had it on my head so I wouldn't lose it!). It is out there somewhere, but not anywhere I know. Luckily, a racer from a Chinese team was eliminated yesterday and I can use his stinky specimen for the remainder. I just have to answer to the race commissioner now...
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