They say you can’t put a price on life, but Chief Warrant Officer 5 Paul Barnes can pinpoint exactly how much it cost to save his -- $180.That’s the amount Barnes, chief of logistics support at Fort Irwin for the 404th Army Field Support Brigade, spent on a bicycle helmet he bought while stationed in Korea in 2004. An avid competitive cycler, Barnes shelled out the money for a high-end helmet to wear while training for and riding in races.It would prove to be a life-saving purchase.On April 9, Barnes was riding in Fort Irwin’s Tour de Irwin bicycle race. It was a race like any of the countless others he had participated in, along a route he’d ridden hundreds of times, he said. But despite his experience, there was no way he could predict what would happen at the end of the race that day.As spectators watched, Barnes approached the finish line and suddenly braked too hard, flipping over the handle bars and landing headfirst in the middle of Goldstone Road. According to Barnes’ smart phone, he had been traveling at more than 31 mph.Barnes was immediately knocked unconscious. First responders, including a nurse who had been riding in the Tour de Irwin, arrived on the scene and transported Barnes to Weed Army Community Hospital, where it was determined he would need more extensive care than what WACH could provide. Barnes was airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, Calif. Doctors there discovered he had sustained a laundry list of injuries during his crash that included a fractured eye socket, fractured tooth roots, cuts, abrasions, and brain hemorrhaging. Inexplicably, he hadn’t broken any bones.“I was very lucky,” Barnes said.Barnes has no recollection of the 48 hours that followed his accident. When he woke up, he found himself at Arrowhead with a neck brace and a new diagnosis -- traumatic brain injury.While TBI can be a debilitating condition, Barnes was deemed well enough to leave the hospital three days after the crash, and was able to return to work three days after that. But that doesn’t mean he has been free from TBI’s effects. More than five weeks later, he said he was still working to recover from it.“It still takes more out of me than I’d like to admit,” Barnes said. “I tire easily, I have to focus a lot more on what I’m saying, and I can lose my train of thought. Hopefully in the coming weeks, that will correct itself. My physical injuries have pretty much healed, but the injury to my brain is still healing.”Barnes is convinced wearing his helmet saved his life and that the sturdy sunglasses he was wearing that day saved his eyesight. The helmet and sunglasses are now too damaged to be used.“I had planned on it just being another race,” he said. “I had planned for the weather, for the route, what to eat, for hydration. The only thing I really didn’t plan on was the accident. I’m sure that having the right helmet that fit properly saved my life and helped me recover as quickly as I did.”In spite of everything that has happened to him, Barnes said he misses cycling and plans to continue. Even though he crashed, he came in first in his age division in the Tour de Irwin and received his medal after returning to work. He still has no idea what caused him to hit the brakes so hard that day.At the end of the month, Barnes will retire from the Army after nearly 30 years of service and will move with his family to Las Vegas, where he plans to continue recuperating before getting back on a bicycle.Barnes said he wanted to share his story to help spread the message that everyone should wear a helmet and protective gear while riding a bicycle.“More than anything else, I want kids and parents and other riders to learn from my experience,” he said. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. Anybody who rides a bike without a properly fitting helmet is asking for trouble. I hope lessons are learned and nobody else has to live through what I went through.”