Doug Landau, with his bike helmet on, is dropping off his bicycle at the DC NATION’s TRIATHLON. The Triathlon Trial Lawyer had come straight from the mandatory safety briefing and was ready to stow his gear. The morning of the race, he simply had to pick up his computer timing chip* and then get into the Potomac River for the swim !

In addition to dropping off bikes the day before, all competitors must have approved bike helmets. Bicycle helmets must be worn from the before the competitors move their bikes to after they have re-racked their rides. This helps reduce the potential for head trauma and traumatic brain injuries during the race.

*Speaking of computer chips, head protection and sports equipment, one of Virginia Tech’s health related research projects includes reducing head and brain trauma in impact sports. Researchers who are trying to reduce the number of traumatic brain injuries among athletes who wear headgear (i.e., football, hockey, etc.) recruited the Virginia Tech football team to test a new brain-injury monitoring system that incorporates helmets coded with software developed in the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest Center for Injury Biomechanics.