Get pleasure from The Advantages of Train However Keep Protected – BionicOldGuy

A few days in the past, fellow blogger Tony posted this: Most types of train are overwhelmingly secure – however don’t ignore the hazards. Thanks, Tony. It’s primarily based on an fascinating research just lately printed within the journal Harm Prevention [1]. By analyzing accident statistics in England and Wales within the interval 2012-2017, they got here up with harm charges for varied exercise-related actions. Biking had an harm price of two.8 per 100,000 outings, whereas strolling had 0.03 per 100,000, and health actions (e.g. health club participation) had 0.21 per 100,000. All of those are comparatively low, I’m solely prone to get injured about as soon as each 33,000 rides, and it may be argued that the well being advantages of the exercise outweigh the harm threat. However word that biking had 100 occasions the harm price of strolling. So it is sensible to do no matter attainable to attenuate the dangers. That is very true in my case, as within the few years I’ve been penning this log, I’ve accrued the train advantages of many hours of exercise. However I’ve additionally: damaged a collarbone in a motorbike crash, ripped my rotator cuff in a mountain climbing fall, and needed to go to the hospital for a head trauma (fortunately not too extreme).

For biking, listed below are some apparent security measures:

1. Accident threat larger at evening than through the day, so if attainable keep away from driving at evening, in any other case have good lighting and vibrant reflective clothes.
2. Accident threat is larger at busy roads on rush hour. Driving at these occasions could also be unavoidable for bike commuting, nevertheless it helps to search out alternate routes on quieter roads. Again within the late Nineteen Seventies I used to be commuting from Mountain View Ca to Palo Alto. Palo Alto is now thought-about a bike-friendly metropolis however was significantly much less so again then. I keep in mind my route went midway on Central Expressway, which had a pleasant bike lane, however then become Alma Ave, a busy road with no bike lane and a slender shoulder. I rapidly mapped out a route that averted Alma Ave by utilizing quieter streets, in any other case I may not be right here to put in writing this weblog.

I used to be already doing measures like these and others like conserving my bike well-maintained. My latest accident triggered me to rethink what I may need carried out in a different way, and I got here up with: Use fatter tires. The bike I crashed on is taken into account a “gravel bike” and may have been sure-footed on the highway I used to be on. It got here with 32 mm large tires, and after they wore out I changed them with 25 mm to be quicker. Security first! I’ll be placing 32s again on the bike quickly. I’ve additionally all the time prided myself on being a “fearless descender”. For the reason that crash occurred on a downhill flip, I believe it’s time to somewhat take satisfaction in being a “cautious descender”.

References

1. Davies M, Lawrence T, Edwards A, et al, “Sport-related main trauma incidence in younger folks and adults in England and Wales: a nationwide registry-based research”, Harm Prevention Printed On-line First: 24 October 2023. doi: 10.1136/ip-2023-044887.