John Bolton - This could be the MOST IMPORTANT video I have EVER done

00:00:00.000 Hi, it's John, and welcome to the channel, Saturday, August 16th, 5.21 a.m. with the

00:00:09.960 Big Blue Mug of Coffee.

00:00:11.400 I hope you're having a great Star 2 weekend.

00:00:15.560 You could say that I've had better weeks, okay?

00:00:19.080 I look rather disheveled.

00:00:20.740 I'm not at my best right now, I'll admit that.

00:00:23.580 Today's video isn't going to be about politics, all right?

00:00:26.600 But this is a video I've been wanting to do for about a week.

00:00:31.620 A week ago today, I was in a pretty tragic bicycle crash.

00:00:36.580 I've had better weeks, for sure.

00:00:39.100 I'm pretty beat up.

00:00:40.640 I might be twitching in my chair a little bit because I'm managing pain right now.

00:00:45.880 But this is an important video for me today.

00:00:48.540 And if you share it, it might help somebody out.

00:00:50.700 And if I can change one person's mind today, my job will have been done with this video.

00:00:56.600 So, I'll just tell you what happened to me last week, okay?

00:01:02.760 On Saturday last week, I was coming back home on my bicycle and I was riding through Fish Creek Park,

00:01:08.280 which is the main park in the southern part of Calgary.

00:01:11.000 And I was approaching a small little restaurant sandwich shop called Annie's near Bow Bottom Trail,

00:01:16.460 where there's a big parking area.

00:01:18.000 So, it's a very busy area in the park.

00:01:19.880 And I know that.

00:01:22.180 Ridden through the park 500 times.

00:01:26.740 So, I'm riding eastbound and there's a large group of people coming on the westbound side.

00:01:31.220 Now, the bike paths in Calgary are, you know, 8, 10 feet wide with a yellow line down the middle.

00:01:35.660 You ride on them like you would drive on a road.

00:01:37.920 You stay to the right unless you're passing.

00:01:39.400 But I was going eastbound.

00:01:41.100 This large group of people are going westbound.

00:01:42.920 And tailing off the end, there was a woman walking a dog. 0.99

00:01:47.420 You know, toy poodle size, black or brown color, dark colored dog,

00:01:51.020 which was to her right, about as far away from my lane as possible.

00:01:54.500 And as I got to this woman,

00:01:57.840 at the last second, this dog darted across and went right in front of my bicycle.

00:02:02.820 Now, I didn't have time to slow down.

00:02:04.560 I didn't have time to brake.

00:02:05.560 I didn't have time to get my weight back.

00:02:07.540 Didn't have time to get weight off my front wheel.

00:02:09.660 I plowed right into that dog.

00:02:11.120 It yelped and I'm flying through the air.

00:02:13.980 I can still see it.

00:02:15.100 I've seen it a thousand times this week.

00:02:17.620 The first thing you think is, this is going to hurt.

00:02:20.780 Done it before.

00:02:22.980 I hit with my left shoulder, rolled over my head, slid along my left side.

00:02:27.060 And how I ended up on my right side in the westbound lane of that bike path, I don't know.

00:02:31.440 But I was on my right-hand side and I couldn't move.

00:02:35.560 Now, to all the people that came up to help me, thank you so much.

00:02:39.680 Man runs up.

00:02:40.480 Can I do anything?

00:02:41.340 Can you please call 911?

00:02:43.440 Another person.

00:02:44.440 Can I do anything?

00:02:45.480 Can you get my phone out of my jersey?

00:02:48.160 It's in the middle pocket on the back.

00:02:50.640 And I'm laying there shaking.

00:02:52.220 And I called my wife.

00:02:56.740 Because I worry about her because she worries about me.

00:03:00.400 This has happened before.

00:03:02.360 So I'm laying there on the bike path.

00:03:04.560 And I'm going to show you some road rash pictures.

00:03:08.840 All right?

00:03:09.660 So look away now.

00:03:11.060 If you don't want to see these pictures, look away now.

00:03:13.040 But pretty significant road rash, which is healing nicely, I have to say.

00:03:20.060 But even worse, you can look back now, even worse is I broke my left collarbone.

00:03:26.700 And I broke my pelvis in two places.

00:03:28.720 So I hit hard.

00:03:33.800 I'm taking medication to manage the pain right now.

00:03:36.800 I want to go lay down.

00:03:37.760 I want to finish this video.

00:03:39.460 But here's the other thing.

00:03:41.360 There was a woman there, one of the witnesses.

00:03:43.940 And she was talking to me.

00:03:45.200 And she was concerned about me.

00:03:46.940 I'm going to say her name.

00:03:50.780 But while I was there, I got her phone number.

00:03:53.140 She said, please let me know.

00:03:54.180 So I got her phone number.

00:03:55.320 And I texted her.

00:03:56.440 And she got back to me.

00:03:57.380 And she said this, I was remiss in not mentioning to medics.

00:04:01.200 I saw your head bounce when it hit the path.

00:04:03.780 Hope you got a scan for concussion.

00:04:09.780 And I did get a scan for concussion.

00:04:11.600 Now, this is what my wife posted on her Facebook site earlier this week.

00:04:15.780 Reason 732 to wear a helmet properly when you're cycling.

00:04:19.500 This helmet is toast.

00:04:20.920 But my husband is alive.

00:04:22.640 And here's a little bit better blow up.

00:04:24.320 And you can see the significant damage to the helmet.

00:04:28.000 It's all crushed there at the side.

00:04:29.680 And you can see the scratch marks.

00:04:33.600 Now, just for perspective,

00:04:35.600 I hit with my left shoulder first.

00:04:37.900 Now, it's my left shoulder.

00:04:46.140 It's broken.

00:04:48.960 Collarbone's broken.

00:04:50.080 Pelvis is broken.

00:04:52.440 The helmet is broken.

00:04:55.360 Here it is.

00:04:56.140 But my head isn't broken.

00:05:00.080 As you can see, I haven't got any damage to my head.

00:05:03.560 And the scan, I was going to say it shows nothing in my head.

00:05:07.620 But it shows that I didn't have any significant injuries.

00:05:09.980 Now, the interesting thing about this,

00:05:11.320 I looked at the other side of the helmet.

00:05:14.500 It's all rippled over here.

00:05:15.760 And that wasn't like that before.

00:05:17.020 Right along here, it's all rippled.

00:05:18.780 I think this is truly a ripple effect.

00:05:20.820 It hit on this side.

00:05:22.180 But the helmet compressed.

00:05:25.100 And it rippled on this side.

00:05:30.480 I don't think my wife is wrong.

00:05:32.200 This could have saved my life last week.

00:05:35.220 I would have been scratched up pretty bad.

00:05:38.340 And maybe had, you know, skull fractures.

00:05:40.860 And I could be dead right now.

00:05:42.680 I do not want to get preachy here.

00:05:45.260 I don't want to argue with people.

00:05:46.920 I don't want to fight with people.

00:05:49.840 I don't want to talk about statistics

00:05:51.640 when it comes to head injuries on bicycles.

00:05:54.280 I don't want to do that.

00:05:55.420 And people will say,

00:05:56.320 well, we always rode when we were kids.

00:05:58.320 We never wore helmets.

00:05:59.940 I didn't either.

00:06:02.380 But I can honestly say in the 30 to 35 years,

00:06:05.120 excuse me,

00:06:06.140 the 30 to 35 years I've been riding a lot,

00:06:09.640 helmets have saved my life

00:06:10.840 or saved me from significant injury

00:06:13.180 at least three times.

00:06:14.380 And the one was last Saturday

00:06:16.460 with this helmet right here.

00:06:18.880 If you're an adult,

00:06:20.060 you can make decisions on your own.

00:06:21.940 I'm a conservative,

00:06:23.020 but I'm also a bit of a libertarian.

00:06:26.100 But I've noticed over the last couple of years,

00:06:28.960 and pardon me for my voice,

00:06:31.980 I've noticed over the last couple of years,

00:06:33.760 I see fewer and fewer adults wearing helmets.

00:06:36.700 I always see kids without helmets.

00:06:39.800 It's law with the kids.

00:06:42.940 People make excuses about helmets,

00:06:45.100 saying they're too hot,

00:06:46.580 they're uncomfortable,

00:06:48.080 they're expensive,

00:06:49.300 they don't look good,

00:06:50.900 they mess up my hair,

00:06:52.040 not something I have to worry about.

00:06:53.940 But you can always fix your hair later, folks.

00:06:56.740 You can fix your hair later.

00:06:58.400 You can't fix your head 0.65

00:06:59.540 if you smash it in on a pavement,

00:07:01.580 like could have happened to me last week.

00:07:03.360 If you ride a lot,

00:07:06.560 chances are sometime you're going to fall.

00:07:08.720 And these things,

00:07:10.140 for the most part,

00:07:11.940 don't get used for their intended use,

00:07:15.980 which is crashes.

00:07:18.600 But this was priceless for me last week

00:07:21.000 when I had it on my head.

00:07:25.640 It's not uncomfortable.

00:07:27.380 It's an expensive helmet,

00:07:28.760 but you can buy something like this

00:07:30.200 for 40 or 50 bucks at Walmart.

00:07:33.360 And I can only tell you

00:07:34.560 my experience is this.

00:07:38.720 This may have saved my life last week.

00:07:43.580 Helmets work if you have the right size.

00:07:46.140 So mom and dad,

00:07:47.200 buy one that fits,

00:07:48.800 not one that they're going to grow into.

00:07:51.760 The straps are on properly.

00:07:53.260 If it's done up around here

00:07:54.660 and if it's not hanging from your handlebars,

00:07:56.720 I see that a lot.

00:07:58.180 Helmets do nothing 1.00

00:07:58.820 if they're hanging from your handlebars.

00:08:00.160 They do work

00:08:01.080 if you've got them on your head

00:08:03.340 and I'm proof of it right here.

00:08:09.140 No politics today.

00:08:10.760 I'll get back to that.

00:08:12.780 I've got to mend.

00:08:14.420 I'm still in pretty rough shape.

00:08:16.620 I appreciate you being here.

00:08:17.980 I do.

00:08:18.440 I needed to do this video today.

00:08:20.180 I really did.

00:08:20.780 If you liked the video,

00:08:23.340 give it a thumbs up.

00:08:24.700 Subscribe to the channel.

00:08:26.280 Ring the bell for notifications.

00:08:28.620 Share it.

00:08:30.800 I'll see you in the next one.

John Bolton - August 16, 2025

This could be the MOST IMPORTANT video I have EVER done

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