Category Archives: Prosthelytizing/Complaining

Wheel Wars?

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I’ve pretty much come to the understanding that 99% of negative interactions with strangers while traveling in public (so, while walking, driving, or riding my bike, or observing others doing the same) are because someone involved is

a) distracted, tired, or otherwise not mentally present (55%)
b) ignorant of or oblivious to the experiences of all human beings other than him/her (44%)

Only during about 1% of these situations is someone is being dangerously aggressive or demonstrating Hulk-like anger via some kind of overt display of purposeless douchebaggery.

When I’m walking or riding, I tend to get angrier when I’m on the receiving end of ugliness because I’m at a greater risk for death or dismemberment when someone else does something stupid or rude. However, when I actually make the effort to think about it, there are more instances of someone giving me space to merge, or waving me through on my left hand turn when the light turns green for both directions, or doing something else that would suggest that behind the windshield there is a person who lives and breathes and tries to be kind when he can.

I don’t feel like I’m at war when I ride my bicycle in and around Boston*. I’m pretty sure that wars involve weapons; terror; inexorable loss; unending heartache; serialized tragedy.

If Wicked Local wants to document a war, they will need to start one first. I am not taking that bait.

How about they help assuage the friction that’s created by so many people using the same roads to go to the same places? They could patiently explain that cars are filled with people. Bikes are ridden by people. Those things in the cross-walk moving so slowly? Those are people. They had a lousy day at work, too. They are also overworked and underpaid. They are worried about serious stuff. That’s why they are mean, or poorly behaved, or whatever awful thing they appear to be.

Then, we go solve some real problems and stop some actual wars.

 

*I’m not saying that there aren’t problems and dangerous situations don’t occur. Riding my bike isn’t always a super-fun blast, but defensive techniques, confident riding, avoiding distractions, and wisely adjusting routes to weather, traffic, or physical road conditions help me to avoid most of the b.s. I have no desire to deal with… 

Can we stop reporting poorly about our junk?

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is it just me, or does this science-y sounding description for why women should raise their handlebars to a more upright position :

“There are a myriad of factors affecting women’s sexual function. If women can minimize pressure application to the genital tissues merely by repositioning their handlebars higher, to increase sitting upright, and thereby maximize pressure application to the woman’s sit bones, then they are one step closer to maintaining their very important sexual health,” explained Irwin Goldstein, editor-in-chief of The Journal of Sexual Medicine.”

sound suspiciously like a modern day equivalent of this explanation of why women in the 1890s were told to ride upright bicycles and stop racing the dudes:

“The bicycle posed particular anxieties. The angle of  the saddle could cause women to become  aware of sexual feelings before marriage and so awaken in her carnality and unfeminine sexual desire. The problem was exacerbated if women leaned forward, rode fast or did not maintain an upright posture when riding.  Special ‘hygienic’ saddles with no inner core that could rub against a woman’s ‘delicate parts’ were offered by manufacturers to circumnavigate this problem.”

I’ve seen this bar-height-numb-junk study or the precursor study quoted or cited by a number of web-media sources, but they never mention (or properly contextualize) these important details:

  • n=41. 7 of the original 48 were kicked out for some reason. There are a lot of problems with small sample sizes. This is a very small sample size. About half the women rode level, the other half had a little drop. Some were older. Some weighed a lot. Some rode 10 miles a week, some 100+. No one asked these ladies if they knew anything about bike fit.
  • And a pre-pub version of the new study is available here, as a “white paper” provided by the maker of a noseless saddle. Hmmmmm.
  • Women used their own saddles in their own set up. They were classified as “traditional” or “partial cutout.” No mention was made of saddle angle or reach, saddle width, length, etc. Details on the cutout measurements weren’t investigated. I know nothing about how much effort these ladies ever put into their bike fit.
  • A previous study on these same ladies and their bike saddles determined that despite the measured reduced sensitivity “there were no negative effects on sexual function and quality of life in our young, healthy pre-menopausal study participants.” –which would be the important fact that the ladies might want to know before raising their handlebars to a more Victorian upright position.

I’m no exercise physiologist, but I did take basic stats, and I ride a bike and (newsflash!) have a vagina (You may have to censor that word in Michigan). I’m really disappointed in the degree of press this study is getting without acknowledging a few big deal points about its limitations and over-hyping its potential value. If the ladies are still enjoying their private lives, obviously a little perineal numbness isn’t a functional sexual health issue that requires adopting a city bike position on a race bike. It’s like saying that everyone whose blood pressure spikes during a scary movie should go on a permanent salt free diet.

My ass goes numb from sitting too long in an office chair. Maybe I should switch to a career that requires constant standing? Or maybe, I should just take a break and go for a walk every now and again? I’m guessing from this office chair scenario, that even if my ass has greater numbness in the long run, the fact that I’m an active human being with a healthy BMI and solid cardiovascular health is way better for my all-around health and longevity.

Non-technical advice to ladies who would prefer not to raise their handlebars to their shoulders:

  1. Just because a saddle came on your “ladies” road bike doesn’t mean it fits your personal lady junk. Same goes for any women-specific saddle. Or, any human specific saddle. One size doesn’t fit all.
  2. There is a reason that seat posts adjust so that you can change the tilt of your saddle.  There is a reason you can adjust fore/aft position. Reach. Drop. …And a whole host of other bike measurements. Changing anything on your bike by a few degrees or a couple of milimeters can mean huge differences in comfort on a bicycle.
  3. There is a reason that hundreds of saddles are available in different widths, lengths, firmness, etc.
  4. Stand up on the damn bike occasionally. Stretch on the bike while riding. This benefits pretty much every part of your body that utilizes your circulatory system.

And general advice for everyone in the world:

  1. Don’t let study results reported in the media influence your life decisions until you at least read the abstract and references.
  2. Scientists know that individual modern scientific studies very rarely prove anything: however, incremental science is a really good tool for eliminating things that aren’t the answers. I don’t think all reporters know this little nugget. Be wary of any health or social science reporting that suggests a study result provides a single best practice or advocates a one-size-fits-all approach.

I’d say that the value of this host of studies using the same group o’ ladies is that they demonstrate that you don’t need a saddle cut out to relieve pressure (as it might make things more numb). I think it shows that it’s difficult to get a good cohort of study subjects to investigate women’s cycling and health given the wide range of age, weight, position, riding style, experience, typical riding habits, etc — so obviously we need more women cycling, especially at the level needed to do this research, so that we can have a better pool of participants.

 

I’m extra testy because I saw my sister-in-law’s new (first ever!) road bike. The (reputable!) shop that assembled the major brand bike had rotated the break levers in the strangest position ever, making it a) an awkward wrist position to ride the hoods and b) weird braking position to ride the drops. She had been riding this for WEEKS. it took 2 minutes to fix. She’s been riding 90+ miles a week. What is the likelihood that tons of other women are riding with stupid saddles or poor positioning due to lazy mechanics?

fallible, especially when hungry.

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On my way home from work yesterday, I signalled for a left turn at a 4-way stop at the top of a fairly steep hill. I stopped, even placed a foot on the ground. I put both hands on my bars and started through the intersection. As my wheels just started to turn, I noticed a van pulling up to the left entrance to the intersection, and I made a split-second half-hearted signal as I rolled through the center, because their view of me on approach was obstructed, but there was still a stop sign, and theoretically my movement shouldn’t interrupt how they proceeded, and I was mostly interested in avoiding potholes and maintaing control of my overloaded bicycle at a very slow speed.

The driver shouted something out the window like “Left Turn Ssnisodfjlksdjf…!” (I have no idea, I was going downhill in the opposite direction at that point). I just smiled.

I was kind of annoyed. How dare you tell me how to signal! I was pretty indignant as I had done everything in accordance with the law. They just hadn’t noticed because they were coming up a hill where their view of the intersection was obstructed by parked cars.

Then, later, I got on my road bike, all dressed up like some dweeb. I’ve been too busy eating and playing tourist on the weekends to really ride much, but I’m allegedly riding  a century with my sister-in-law in about seven weeks, so I figured I should step it up, which means that I was extra tired and hungry coming down Mass Ave in Arlington on the way home at almost 8 pm, and if I could just keep up with traffic and avoid the worst lights I’d be home in less than 10 minutes. Home is where dinner was.

And then, some guy jaywalked slowly across 4 lanes of traffic when a mid-block, freshly painted, crosswalk was less than 20 feet away. I moved to the left side of the fake-lane (4 lanes worth of traffic, but not marked) to avoid him (at least 6 feet of space). He grumbled something to the effect of “bad cyclists!” I couldn’t understand exactly what he said because I passed behind him, not impeding his jaywalk progress, but it was not complementary.

and then smartass Nanda shouts “Thanks for using the crosswalk!”

Horrible! Pretty much just as douchey! What a jerk! There is a very mean person who lives inside of me that I cannot control when tired and hungry. So now there is some lameass jerk who hates cyclists even more than he did yesterday, and has no idea that I actually stop for pedestrians who elect to cross major streets at the legally designated locations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conflicting Messages

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This is a personal blog and most people I personally know don’t really allow me to rail on and on about politicized nonsense unless I’m buying the drinks. The same goes for me complaining about my life, because, it’s kind of rude to complain about the problems of being employed and living in a state where people aren’t trying to legislate the objects that should go in my personal parts and when that should happen. I’m also not planning on buying any booze for you. So, maybe you should stop reading now, because a combination of internet ennui and mounting evidence that the dullards per capita ratio is still going strong has pushed me to something of an edge (a dull one, at least).

I’m a fan of not spending too much time procrastinating and I force various internet automatons to bring me my news topics and favorite blogs, rather than spend time surfing during alleged work hours. Lately, I’ve paired it down, particularly the “bike” category due to an overall sense of “bored.”  I stopped reading 50% of my bike feed because I was overwhelmingly “meh” about the repetitive stories and I didn’t want to read another review of a $300 raincoat or a review of $50 heavy commuter tires on someone’s townie transportation bicycle outfitted with $800 wheels.

I’m now just reading local sources + a few cranky cyclists who don’t tell me that I have to put my foot down at every intersection with a red octagon.

In my own life, I’ve noticed a strange dichotomy between the “you go girl” news that’s coming in about women being 100% equal in the eyes of the developed world and the absurd double-standards and biases about women as evidenced in media and politics.

I saw the Jennifer Siebel Newsom film when it visited MIT last month (but her TEDx Women talk presents her arguments more clearly/succinctly).  A book excerpt came across my desk at work that was totally opposite:  it expressed that ladies have “arrived” in the work/politics/tech world and the gender gap will be gone in 10 years whether or not we actively do anything about it. Conflicting and Confusing.

I will skip everything absurd that is happening on Capitol Hill because I really can’t afford to buy drinks for all (seven) people reading this.

So, then, this lame-o world of conflicting messages escapes to my bike newsreader, which really is dominated by lady-voices, and I read this.  And then I became somewhat angry and indignant at the idea of multiple people thinking a woman who wrote about bicycles from her own perspective was really a man because a woman really couldn’t possibly do that (have a perspective on bicycles?).

But something that I’ve noticed: the majority of women I know who regularly ride bikes are spectacular and interesting human beings. I sort of wonder if the opportunity costs for women to start riding bikes for transportation/recreation on a regular basis are such that “women who ride bikes” essentially self-select as members of an authentic cool kids club. So, this leads me to not really care. Sure more women could ride bikes, and someday they will, but if the small self-selecting group is really cool, I don’t really care in a particularly practical way.

With people like Mia Birk actively assisting in the process of improving physical and social infrastructure for all people on bicycles and organized efforts like the women’s cycling project we’ll eventually get there in numbers. But if folks in the industry can’t tell that women who are riding bicycles are smart and interesting and capable of articulately writing down their own thoughts, who is going to bring them up to speed?