Suzy as Elvis
Suzy has a new video made by Alex Alicea
for entry into Dog Days on the Green Silly Pet Tricks competition
to see the video
click on the photo above right - Suzy in red helmet
SUZY'S PAGE
Watch out for the helmet lady--she wants to save your brain! Kathy
Schubert,
of Lincoln Park, is a self-appointed bike helmet advocate. She's not
afraid
to approach strangers and tell them they should wear a bike helmet,
especially
helmet-less parents bicycling with helmeted children.
"I say 'Daddy, where's your helmet?" says Schubert, who rides
with her helmeted miniature schnauzer Suzy in a basket. The reception
for
Schubert's advice usually isn't good--people tellh er to mind her own
business.
But I want them to think about it. What would happen if the bike fell
and
you get hurt? Who would take care of the baby when you've got a head
injury?"
Schubert has been a helmet advocate ever since she took a serious fall
30
years ago while riding in Wisconsin.
I wiped out after I was trying to go fast, and I turned a corner and
hit
some gravel," Schubert recalls. "I woke up in the hospital 24
hours later. I probably wouldn't be talking to you today if I hadn't
had
a helmet."
Illinois has no bike helmet law--and Schubert says she thinks such
legislation
would just mean fewer people would bike. So she hopes people can be
persuaded
that helmets make sense. Schubert has handed out hundreds of stickers
that
say, "You'd look hotter in a helmet." Whenever she sees promotional
material showing a person riding a bicycle without a helmet, she'll
call
or e-mail the organizataion and point out the problem.
Schubert even tried to contact Nike to get the sportswear company to
show
former Bulls star Michael Jordan in a helmet, "So you can be like
Mike,"
Schubert said. "But they don't take ideas from the outside."
Several years ago, Schubert put out a reqeust for helmet stories on the
Internet -- and received about a dozen helmets with gashes and splits
in
them, along with hair-raising tales of how the helmets saved their
owners
from serious injuries.
She made a piece of travelling art out of the helmets, each with its
story
attached on a laminated card, and has displayed the piece at cycling
events.
"I would love to bring it to schools," Schubert says. "I'm
just waiting for someone to ask me."
What kind of excuses do people give for not wearing helmets?
"Oh, it's going to mess up my hair,' or 'It's dorky," or I'm not
going to do it because you make me.'
Schubert says. A friend had told her he doesn't wear a helmet becasue
he
doesn't have a family and "nobody would care."
"I tell him, I care," said Schubert indignantly. "We don't
want to have to visit him in a nursing home."
Two manufacturers make dog helmets -- but the helmets don't fit Suzy's
little
head. So Suzy's helmet is homemade out of Styrofoam, straps and Lycra.
Suzy
and Schubert each have nine helmets in matching colors -- so they
always
are coordinated when they go out.
Suzy on the bike for the first time.
.