I should get back to riding a bike, with a helmet. I gradually stopped cycling during the pandemic. I envisage adapting my cycling though, and perhaps using my folder more. After I wobbled and fell against a work-bench in the night and didn’t bounce back pain-free quite as I thought I would, I worried that my bones might not be up to much of a fall, so I think I’d feel safer riding a bike I can dismount from easily. Then again, perhaps I should do regular yoga to strengthen my bones, and ride whichever bike I feel like riding. The figures for older people cycling, and driving a car are food for thought. But lots of older people do cycle, so it’s doable.
Avid cyclist here for 43 years--commuting, club riding, touring. Raced one year; that ended in the neurosurgical department of my local hospital (my helmet was of little to no help there). Risk is part of the deal, and I personally knew people who have died in cycling accidents. Recently re-started riding, and at 70 expect I will continue as long as I am able.
Of course, there are also environmental and social benefits.
The analysis seems to focus on deaths due to bicycle crashes. My experience is that severe injury without death is also a substantial risk of bicycling in traffic
Amazing how TSC always findings such topical issues to discuss. I did have a bad accident on the bike on a bike trail which made me nervous and reconsider the adage "there are old bicyclists and there are bold bicyclists but there are no old, bold bicyclists".
There are options for those with bad hips: My dad had 4 hip replacements (among other issues) which forced him to stop walking on the treadmill in his 80s. At age 89 I bought him a recumbent bike which he rode faithfully twice daily. He and I think it reinvigorated him.
I do not ride outside any more. I attend spin class. I had an accident in 2014 that made me scared to ride on the road again. If I had not been wearing a helmet I would have died. If your choice is to not wear a helmet that is fine but make that decision with your eyes open.
These comments are as good as the original post! Riding gets in your blood and you are either going to do it no matter what...or you are not. You are either a cyclist or you are not. There is no in between here. However, I will list a post mortem shout out to my dear friend David Glaser...the most serious and avid cyclist that I have ever personally known...a century rider by birth...met his demise at the young age of 65 just weeks ago while riding a secluded route he has ridden (and led hundreds of others to ride) a million times. Well not really a million. But a lot. Hit a pot hole, his rear brake was shot so maybe the right brake alone is what catapulted him over his bike and onto a tree stump where he broke his neck and back. Not a car in sight. So there. I suspect he might do it all over again. RIP.
These studies about exercise and longevity never take into account that people who are well and feel good are more likely to be exercisers. So do people who exercise regularly live longer or are people who are healthier exercise more? I would like to walk more, but I have a bad hip that limits my activity.
Also, can they really quantify longevity down to months? Color me skeptical. I really like the books by Dr. Nortin Hadler, especially Rethinking Aging: Growing Old and Living Well in an Overtreated Society.
So the other comment is more of historic interest. People assume that the Dutch, what with their windmills and tulips and dykes and clogs, have been riding bikes since the Flood.
Quite the opposite, theirs was as car-centric a culture as existed in Europe, until the 1973-74 Arab Oil Embargo, where they were the only country in Europe that didn't cave and stuck with Israel. Instead, (among other fuel-saving measures) they created carless Sundays and it didn't take long for them to figure out that being carless was a great thing and they started turning their transportation culture 180 degrees.
I like bicycling so much that even if it shortened my life, say by traffic fatality, I'd still do it. Admittedly out here in the Davis Mountains of Texas, you can ride the 76 mile scenic loop pretty much in isolation - a few cars an hour. I do wave when the local sheriff drives by on his daily check, and I'm sorry to say that if you have a flat tire, every darn person who passes you will try to help and give you something to drink, including beer.
A favorite saying among my bike group (avg age - mid 60s)- There are two groups of bicyclists. Those who have fallen and those who will. When I fell and badly bruised my wrist, the emergency room doc’s first question was was I wearing a helmet. His parting words - Get right back on the bike, it’s good for you!
Good stuff. Two observations. First, the Dutch have been building more and more and safer bike paths and protected lanes since 2008, so I am quite confident their number will have declined quite a bit since 2008. But for that reason, I don't think their number is comparable to the US, where one local columnist wrote that the bike lanes painted on our roads here in Boston "almost dare cyclists to take them." I ride almost everywhere locally and have never had even a remotely close call, largely because I assume that every parked car is about to open a door, among other things.
I'll put the other observation in a separate comment.
I should get back to riding a bike, with a helmet. I gradually stopped cycling during the pandemic. I envisage adapting my cycling though, and perhaps using my folder more. After I wobbled and fell against a work-bench in the night and didn’t bounce back pain-free quite as I thought I would, I worried that my bones might not be up to much of a fall, so I think I’d feel safer riding a bike I can dismount from easily. Then again, perhaps I should do regular yoga to strengthen my bones, and ride whichever bike I feel like riding. The figures for older people cycling, and driving a car are food for thought. But lots of older people do cycle, so it’s doable.
Avid cyclist here for 43 years--commuting, club riding, touring. Raced one year; that ended in the neurosurgical department of my local hospital (my helmet was of little to no help there). Risk is part of the deal, and I personally knew people who have died in cycling accidents. Recently re-started riding, and at 70 expect I will continue as long as I am able.
Of course, there are also environmental and social benefits.
Ride on!
The analysis seems to focus on deaths due to bicycle crashes. My experience is that severe injury without death is also a substantial risk of bicycling in traffic
Amazing how TSC always findings such topical issues to discuss. I did have a bad accident on the bike on a bike trail which made me nervous and reconsider the adage "there are old bicyclists and there are bold bicyclists but there are no old, bold bicyclists".
Pat,
You are correct. These are all observational studies which do their best to correct for confounding factors. When I want to quote a study showing causality I quote this post (https://theskepticalcardiologist.com/2018/01/14/exercise-as-medicine-preventing-age-related-decline-in-cardiac-stiffness/).
There are options for those with bad hips: My dad had 4 hip replacements (among other issues) which forced him to stop walking on the treadmill in his 80s. At age 89 I bought him a recumbent bike which he rode faithfully twice daily. He and I think it reinvigorated him.
I do not ride outside any more. I attend spin class. I had an accident in 2014 that made me scared to ride on the road again. If I had not been wearing a helmet I would have died. If your choice is to not wear a helmet that is fine but make that decision with your eyes open.
Al,
That is amazing! How did I not know that.
Carless Sunday......what a cool idea.
Dr P
I've fallen a lot. I have to tell myself a few things over and over
"take your time"
"its OK to stop"
"don't take chances"
DrP
These comments are as good as the original post! Riding gets in your blood and you are either going to do it no matter what...or you are not. You are either a cyclist or you are not. There is no in between here. However, I will list a post mortem shout out to my dear friend David Glaser...the most serious and avid cyclist that I have ever personally known...a century rider by birth...met his demise at the young age of 65 just weeks ago while riding a secluded route he has ridden (and led hundreds of others to ride) a million times. Well not really a million. But a lot. Hit a pot hole, his rear brake was shot so maybe the right brake alone is what catapulted him over his bike and onto a tree stump where he broke his neck and back. Not a car in sight. So there. I suspect he might do it all over again. RIP.
These studies about exercise and longevity never take into account that people who are well and feel good are more likely to be exercisers. So do people who exercise regularly live longer or are people who are healthier exercise more? I would like to walk more, but I have a bad hip that limits my activity.
Also, can they really quantify longevity down to months? Color me skeptical. I really like the books by Dr. Nortin Hadler, especially Rethinking Aging: Growing Old and Living Well in an Overtreated Society.
So the other comment is more of historic interest. People assume that the Dutch, what with their windmills and tulips and dykes and clogs, have been riding bikes since the Flood.
Quite the opposite, theirs was as car-centric a culture as existed in Europe, until the 1973-74 Arab Oil Embargo, where they were the only country in Europe that didn't cave and stuck with Israel. Instead, (among other fuel-saving measures) they created carless Sundays and it didn't take long for them to figure out that being carless was a great thing and they started turning their transportation culture 180 degrees.
I like bicycling so much that even if it shortened my life, say by traffic fatality, I'd still do it. Admittedly out here in the Davis Mountains of Texas, you can ride the 76 mile scenic loop pretty much in isolation - a few cars an hour. I do wave when the local sheriff drives by on his daily check, and I'm sorry to say that if you have a flat tire, every darn person who passes you will try to help and give you something to drink, including beer.
A favorite saying among my bike group (avg age - mid 60s)- There are two groups of bicyclists. Those who have fallen and those who will. When I fell and badly bruised my wrist, the emergency room doc’s first question was was I wearing a helmet. His parting words - Get right back on the bike, it’s good for you!
Good stuff. Two observations. First, the Dutch have been building more and more and safer bike paths and protected lanes since 2008, so I am quite confident their number will have declined quite a bit since 2008. But for that reason, I don't think their number is comparable to the US, where one local columnist wrote that the bike lanes painted on our roads here in Boston "almost dare cyclists to take them." I ride almost everywhere locally and have never had even a remotely close call, largely because I assume that every parked car is about to open a door, among other things.
I'll put the other observation in a separate comment.