Wanderings of an Old Man

On 19/11/04 1:39 pm, in article [email hidden],

nobody760 said:

I'm glad my son is not a cyclist.

He is 17 years old.

I am 61 now, and he turned up late in my life. He will never know the
exhilaration and joy of being as fit as your individual body could be, the
sheer joy of riding your bike in the countryside. He will never tour Devon
and Cornwall staying in the YHA. In the innocence of a time when it was safe
to be on the roads and when 'drugs' were the pint of scrumpo I bought - of
all places - in Beer in Devon, sipped and gave away to a local. Memories
that have stayed with me all of my life. The best times of my life have been
spent on my bike.

I still ride the bike, as my life long pal says: we have got life sentences!
Now I always wear hi-vis clothing and know that its always possible that
this is my last ride! Over-dramatic? I think not, I can think of three
cyclists that I knew that were killed out riding over these years. I try to
stick to the lanes as much as possible but even there I have had some
frightening moments as silly youths in cars have been going as fast as they
can to show off to their girlfriends. Common sense tells me to give up - but
the truth is I cant.

I'm glad my son is not a cyclist.

How depressing.. I however have had more colleagues and friends killed in
cars than on bikes. Cycling is still safer than driving, and will do your
son no end of good, irrespective of your fears.

Personally, I'd rather try to make the world a better place and live as if
it is how I want it to be, ratehr than crying in my beer and moaning about
how terrible things are.

...d

nobody760 said:

I'm glad my son is not a cyclist.

He is 17 years old.

And the hard data shows that if he was, /despite the dangers/, he would
live longer. I can't see why you're glad he'll miss out on a longer,
healthier life, because for the most part cyclists do.

Quoted message said:

and Cornwall staying in the YHA. In the innocence of a time when it was safe
to be on the roads

It's never been completely safe on the roads, in fact, so this is
dreaming of a golden age that wasn't.

Quoted message said:

and when 'drugs' were the pint of scrumpo I bought - of
all places - in Beer in Devon, sipped and gave away to a local.

Hard drugs have been in very common use for much longer than recent
times. Coleridge was an opium addict, and he was hardly breaking new
ground, so I think the rose tinted specs are out again.

Quoted message said:

that have stayed with me all of my life. The best times of my life have been
spent on my bike.

Some of mine have too, and they continue to accrue today. And the fact
is that cycling is actually still quite safe. Note that the statistic
about living longer includes all those who die prematurely in road
accidents.

Quoted message said:

Now I always wear hi-vis clothing and know that its always possible that
this is my last ride! Over-dramatic? I think not

Indeed not, but it's also the case that any walk could be the last, or
any drive, or even any staircase! (IIRC 60 people are killed by falling
downstairs in their own home every year, number could be wrong but it
certainly does happen). So though you /might/ be killed on your next
journey, it isn't very likely. OTOH, the balance of probabilities is
that you'll see your son grow older for longer than if you stopped
cycling because of the fitness and health boost cycling continues to
give you.

Quoted message said:

I'm glad my son is not a cyclist.

He'll probably be glad he doesn't lose you to a heart attack earlier
than necessary. It seems a shame his own children may not be able to
say that in turn, so if you really value his physical wellbeing you
might want to start encouraging him. There's no guarantee he'd be safe,
but similarly there's no such guarantee for driving, walking, or taking
buses, trains and planes. But walking aside, none of those actively
improve one's physical wellbeing. It appears your gladness is more a
result of misinformation than anything else, but it isn't too late to
get him started.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Hello,
I have a daughter aged 14 who likes bikes and rides cycle paths and sites in
the Forest when we camp. But she does not go on the roads by her own choice.
I agree with the posting.
I wear helmet at all times when riding. I enjoy life enough to hope that I
will not be killed on the road and that if I fall off in any circumstance
that it will be at a speed that my helmet can cope with!
John.

--

http://www.pbase.com/john28july

"nobody760" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm glad my son is not a cyclist.

He is 17 years old.

I am 61 now, and he turned up late in my life. He will never know the
exhilaration and joy of being as fit as your individual body could be, the
sheer joy of riding your bike in the countryside. He will never tour Devon
and Cornwall staying in the YHA. In the innocence of a time when it was
safe
to be on the roads and when 'drugs' were the pint of scrumpo I bought - of
all places - in Beer in Devon, sipped and gave away to a local. Memories
that have stayed with me all of my life. The best times of my life have
been
spent on my bike.

I still ride the bike, as my life long pal says: we have got life
sentences!
Now I always wear hi-vis clothing and know that its always possible that
this is my last ride! Over-dramatic? I think not, I can think of three
cyclists that I knew that were killed out riding over these years. I try
to
stick to the lanes as much as possible but even there I have had some
frightening moments as silly youths in cars have been going as fast as
they
can to show off to their girlfriends. Common sense tells me to give up -
but
the truth is I cant.

I'm glad my son is not a cyclist.

"nobody760" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm glad my son is not a cyclist.

I'm glad my father is a cyclist. That's probably why I ride a bike (although
my sister never got the habit).

One reason I'm glad my father is a cyclist is a selfish safety reason : The
more people ride bikes, the more safe all bike riders become.

I'm sad your son is not a cyclist - a 17yo denied the liberty a bike brings.
And of course the selfish reason mentioned above.

cheers,
clive

Another group member said:

I wear helmet at all times when riding. I enjoy life enough to hope that I
will not be killed on the road and that if I fall off in any circumstance
that it will be at a speed that my helmet can cope with!

Yeah, I tend to fall off more when riding that slowly, too.

--
Mark.
http://tranchant.plus.com/

Another group member said:

I wear helmet at all times when riding. I enjoy life enough to hope that I
will not be killed on the road and that if I fall off in any circumstance
that it will be at a speed that my helmet can cope with!

Speeds your helmet can cope with, your skull can very probably cope
with. It won't be quite as comfortable an experience, granted, but it's
very, very unlikely to kill you (there is no substantive proof of
helmets being of any use in mitigating fatal injuries) and OTOH riding
with a helmet on is less comfortable ~100% of the time while you're not
banging your head, and there are other issues such as risk homeostasis
and an increased chance of banging a helmeted head in the first place.

The sort of accidents that would kill you anyway don't appear to be
mitigated usefully by a helmet. They are *not* a clear, unambiguous win.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Quoted message said:

I'm glad my son is not a cyclist.

I'm glad mine is.

Quoted message said:

He is 17 years old.

Mine's 16

snippity..

Quoted message said:

He will never know the
exhilaration and joy of being as fit as your individual body could be, the
sheer joy of riding your bike in the countryside.

Mine does.

snippity..

Quoted message said:

I can think of three
cyclists that I knew that were killed out riding over these years.

The reality is that motorists kill and injure far more motorists than other
road user groups.

As a mother I worry everytime my son goes out, be it cycling or not. It's part
of the parental job description to worry about the offspring. But as a parent,
I know that to wrap him in cottonwool would be wrong. My son cycles legally,
assertively and relatively safely. *Everything* in life has risk attached to it
and it's part of our job as parents to allow our kids to learn to deal with the
risks life throws at them. hence my use of the word 'relatively' next to
'safely'. My son is a confident, caring and outgoing teenager, well on his way
to being a confident, caring and outgoing adult. Cycling is allowing him to
develop a growing independence from his parents, which is exactly what he
should be doing - learning to be independent.

snippity..

Quoted message said:

I'm glad my son is not a cyclist.

I'm glad mine is. He's healthy as well as gaining independence, confidence &
skills to help deal with life. Life has no guarantees - as much as I want to
wrap him in cottonwool, to do so would be doing him no favours.

Cheers, helen s

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