Take pleasure in The Advantages of Train However Keep Secure

A few days in the past, fellow blogger Tony posted this: Most types of train are overwhelmingly protected – however don’t ignore the risks. Thanks, Tony. It’s based mostly on an attention-grabbing research 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 numerous exercise-related actions. Biking had an harm charge 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 instances the harm charge of strolling. So it is smart 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 climbing fall, and needed to go to the hospital for a head trauma (fortunately not too extreme).

For biking, listed here are some apparent security measures:

Accident threat increased at evening than throughout the day, so if attainable keep away from driving at evening, in any other case have good lighting and vivid reflective clothes.
Accident threat is increased at busy roads on rush hour. Driving at these instances could also be unavoidable for bike commuting, nevertheless it helps to search out alternate routes on quieter roads. Again within the late 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 bear in mind my route went midway on Central Expressway, which had a pleasant bike lane, however then was Alma Ave, a busy avenue with no bike lane and a slender shoulder. I rapidly mapped out a route that prevented 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 maintaining my bike well-maintained. My latest accident triggered me to rethink what I may need carried out otherwise, and I got here up with: Use fatter tires. The bike I crashed on is taken into account a “gravel bike” and will have been sure-footed on the street I used to be on. It got here with 32 mm huge tires, and once 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 at all times prided myself on being a “fearless descender”. For the reason that crash occurred on a downhill flip, I believe it’s time to reasonably take delight in being a “cautious descender”.

References

Davies M, Lawrence T, Edwards A, et al, “Sport-related main trauma incidence in younger individuals 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.