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A Thought Experiment

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01 / Original postA Thought ExperimentNick Kew · 19 Jul 2006 02 / This pagePosts 1–8Page 1 of 1 · chronological order 03 / Latest replyPost #8Rob Morley · 20 Jul 2006

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UK and Europe
Published
19 July 2006
Last activity
20 July 2006
Original author
Nick Kew
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8
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  1. Original post
    Nick Kew
    Archived post
    #1

    I wonder if cyclehelmets.org could use something like this?

    A Thought Experiment.

    You are walking down the road (or pavement, or whatever),
    minding your own business. Suddenly a ten-ton truck is
    bearing right down on you. You have two seconds to react,
    and safety is a two-metre jump away.

    Well, if you're a fit, 20 year old athlete, you'll make the
    leap, and suffer nothing worse than a nasty shock. But if
    you're an arthritic, 90 year old granny, you're doomed.

    Adding ten years to the athlete, or taking it off the granny,
    will probably make no difference to the outcome. But somewhere
    between those extremes is the difference between life and death.
    Let's say I (a fat fortysomething) am on the cusp: at my best
    I'll survive, but if too tired or encumbered I'll die.

    If (as I sometimes do), I'm carrying 30-40Kg of Tescos
    shopping in my rucksack, I'll be unable to save myself
    because my movement is impaired.

    And if my alertness and reactions are impaired by a helmet,
    as reported in, for example, that recent study of cricketers?

    --
    not me guv

    Report
  2. Mike Causer
    Archived post
    #2
    Nick Kew said:

    Let's say I (a fat fortysomething) [...]

    Quoted message said:

    If (as I sometimes do), I'm carrying 30-40Kg of Tescos shopping in my
    rucksack,

    No worries. If you're carrying 40kg on your back as you leave Tesco's
    checkout you'll be writhing in agony before you reach the nearest public
    road.

    Mike

    Report
  3. sothach
    Archived post
    #3
    Nick Kew said:

    I wonder if cyclehelmets.org could use something like this?

    A Thought Experiment.

    You are walking down the road (or pavement, or whatever),
    minding your own business.... carrying 30-40Kg of Tescos
    shopping in my rucksack, I'll be unable to save myself
    because my movement is impaired.

    God you're right! We need mandatory QR's on all rucksacks!

    Report
  4. Chris Malcolm
    Archived post
    #4
    Mike Causer said:

    On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 21:36:40 +0100, Nick Kew wrote:

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    Let's say I (a fat fortysomething) [...]

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    If (as I sometimes do), I'm carrying 30-40Kg of Tescos shopping in my
    rucksack,

    Quoted message said:

    No worries. If you're carrying 40kg on your back as you leave Tesco's
    checkout you'll be writhing in agony before you reach the nearest public
    road.

    You obviously need to do some serious back strengthening exercises. I
    very rarely leave Tesco's carrying 40kg, but I've done it sometimes,
    as I know because I weighed it when I got home. I can't get that much
    even in my rucksack, so I usually also have a few shopping bags slung
    around me as well the rucksack to get up to that kind of weight. And
    since I don't have a car, I'm either heading for the nearest bus stop,
    or the nearest road big enough to carry frequent taxis. And no, I'm
    not an athlete, just a skinny old cyclist whose main exercise is
    probably shopping lugging.

    Now I come to think of it, I once carried 30kgs up a steep hill, about
    120 metres of vertical ascent. It was dinner, drinks, and cooking
    equipment for about ten people.

    --
    Chris Malcolm [email hidden] DoD #205
    IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
    [http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

    Report
  5. Bob
    Archived post
    #5

    I've got a trailer
    http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-0-Cargo-Trailer-909.htm

    Report
  6. Nick Kew
    Archived post
    #6
    Chris Malcolm said:
    Mike Causer said:

    On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 21:36:40 +0100, Nick Kew wrote:

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    Let's say I (a fat fortysomething) [...]

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    If (as I sometimes do), I'm carrying 30-40Kg of Tescos shopping in my
    rucksack,

    Quoted message said:

    No worries. If you're carrying 40kg on your back as you leave Tesco's
    checkout you'll be writhing in agony before you reach the nearest public
    road.

    You obviously need to do some serious back strengthening exercises. I
    very rarely leave Tesco's carrying 40kg, but I've done it sometimes,

    Exactly. On the back, it's quite easy: it just slows you (and I
    understand seriously fit folks - like the TA - lug heavy loads
    over long distances).

    It's hugely harder, but still possible, to carry in ones arms.
    The hardest I recollect was in a play, when my character comes on
    stage carrying what he believes to be a dead body. The actress
    involved was fortunately just 9 stone and not too hard to lift.
    But as soon as we were on stage, of course she had to become an
    uncooperative dead weight, while I needed enough breath to
    lament her. Now *that* was much more challenging!

    Quoted message said:

    as I know because I weighed it when I got home. I can't get that much
    even in my rucksack,

    My big one is 100 litres and very robust. Tescos visits tend to
    involve quite a lot of heavy stuff, especially drink.

    Anyway, noone seems to have picked up the point of the original story,
    which was brought to mind by the report of someone going under a
    left-turning lorry. There must be *some* such cases where there's
    an escape onto the pavement, that a sufficiently skilled and alert
    cyclist could take, while another couldn't.
    Corollary: a *commonsense* argument against anything that might
    affect alertness or reaction times. That matters!

    --
    not me guv

    Report
  7. Arthur Clune
    Archived post
    #7
    Chris Malcolm said:


    Quoted message said:

    No worries. If you're carrying 40kg on your back as you leave Tesco's
    checkout you'll be writhing in agony before you reach the nearest public
    road.

    In a rucksack walking? No problems. In a rucksack while riding a bike? It'd
    kill my back.

    If you have a very upright position, this might not be the case for you,
    but my bars are a long way below my saddle even on the hack bike 🙂

    --
    Arthur Clune

    Report
  8. Rob Morley
    Archived post
    #8

    In article <[email hidden]>
    Nick Kew <[email hidden]> wrote:
    <snip>

    Quoted message said:

    Anyway, noone seems to have picked up the point of the original story,
    which was brought to mind by the report of someone going under a
    left-turning lorry. There must be *some* such cases where there's
    an escape onto the pavement, that a sufficiently skilled and alert
    cyclist could take, while another couldn't.

    I suspect most people in that situation would just go "Oh [censored], oh [censored],
    oh [censored] ..." squelch.

    Report

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