

Fell Off My Bike, and Vowed Never to Get Back On - edw519
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/health/nutrition/30best.html?_r=1

======
eplanit
I agree with the comments of hugh3 here.

I also have to point out, though, the lack of substance in the original
article. It reads like a High School essay. It's basically an anecdotal tale
(I rode my bike...I fell down...my friend Jen was there...so was my
husband...I remember a PE coach once saying....). Yes, there's a Dr.
Lowenstein referenced, but is again just more anecdotal insight (such as those
gained standing around the water cooler). In the end, nothing is really
learned (except for quite a few tiny details about the writers life).

In summary: junior-level NYTimes reporter needs to submit a story, yet it's a
slow news cycle. So, she leverages her bike mishap into a story, getting her
friends names in the paper, and some free advertising for Dr. Loewenstein.

I'm sad for journalism, but that's another common story.

~~~
ax0n
And don't forget that if it bleeds, it leads. That's yet another facet of
modern journalism I hate.

------
hugh3
I would think that the main factor distinguishing running injuries from
cycling injuries is the nearly-dead factor.

It's very hard to die from a running injury, but any major cycling injury is
probably just a little bit of bad luck away from being a broken neck.

~~~
jdietrich
It's largely perception.

Professional cyclists crash several times a year, often at far greater speeds
than any normal cyclist would ever reach. A routine tumble will happen at in
excess of 25mph. I can't remember the last professional to die in a road
crash. Collarbones break because they're supposed to - unpleasant as it might
seem, they're natural crumple zones.

There are certainly classes of accident that happen to commuters but not
professionals, but they happen to runners just the same. If you get hit by a
car, it doesn't matter a great deal whether you're running or cycling, the car
carries most of the kinetic energy either way.

The risk of being put off by accidents is that cycling is far safer than not
cycling. Study after study has shown that the cardiovascular benefits
massively outweigh the risk of traumatic injury - cyclists live markedly
longer than non-cyclists.

The cure-all for cycle safety is simply more cyclists. Most drivers aren't
malicious towards cyclists, just inexperienced in maneuvering around them.

~~~
lincolnq
Hmm, interesting. I have been doored once on my daily bike commute in
Cambridge, MA. I've slipped and fallen once. A few times a month I have to
swerve or brake hard because someone didn't see me. And I'm fairly experienced
at this point (about a year of cycling every day) -- when I started out, I was
dodging cars and pedestrians once or twice a week.

I haven't had any major injuries myself, but a friend was doored recently and
hospitalized. He had surgery twice and missed well over a week of work. Months
later, he still can't ride.

My point is just that it certainly doesn't FEEL very safe. The claim of health
benefits is certainly something I want to believe.

And I definitely agree that more cyclists on the road would be good. Drivers
just don't look for cyclists -- practically ever. If there were better bike
lanes and they were always full of cyclists, people would probably learn
pretty quick.

------
spacemanaki
I've been in probably half a dozen cycling accidents since I started
"seriously" biking (city-street commuting) which have ranged from clumsy
falling (my fault) to getting door-ed and hit by cars. I've been there with
the vowing-never-to-ride-again, but with the incidents involving cars, the
outrage sometimes helps to motivate returning to the saddle, fueling cyclist-
driver antagonism, as in "cars can't keep me off the road." It has also helped
to remind me to treat every car door as a potential trap, and every car as a
pseudo-malicious beast out to get me, and thus ride with more vigilance and
care.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Neal Stephenson wrote something like that in Zodiac. The protagonist mentions
his philosophy on riding his bike as the assumption that he is wearing a
fluorescent vest, and there is a million dollar bounty on his head - if a car
sees you and has to consciously make the decision to not kill you, you're
already wrong.

~~~
ax0n
Bike Ninjas are usually that way out of paranoia... you know the type: dark
clothes. dark bike. no lights. no reflectors. sometimes riding against traffic
like they used to teach us in kindergarten.

Most of them think that motorists really are out there to kill them, so they'd
rather not be seen and rely on their own perceived "skill" to stay alive.

------
ax0n
I can't see the whole text, but I've been in a few pretty good crashes. Once
(<http://is.gd/hZVO2> ) shattering a few teeth and my maxilla after being
edged off the road by a motorist. More recently (<http://is.gd/hZWdH> ) I ran
over a moving deer while traveling pretty quickly for a bicycle (~35 MPH
before I saw the deer, no clue how slow I got by the time of impact). Both
times, the bike helmet spared me quite a bit of damage.

Without submitting to The Paywall Of Doom, I have no idea what happened to
this guy, but a good bike crash can be pretty scary.

~~~
spacemanaki
People on HN are always complaining about the NYT paywall but I never see it,
are you talking about the "sign up for an account"-wall? The site is still
free right, the paywall is going up next year? As I recall, clearing your NYT
cookies sometimes lets you through the account signup.

But, I agree, a good crash is definitely one of the scarier things I've
experienced, and it sounds like you've had more than your share of "good"
ones.

~~~
ax0n
I have to use some kind of euphemism to describe them to convince myself I
still like bike commuting. I'm still picking scaly pseudo-scar material from
my elbow.

Of particular note: the first big crash was due in part to me being
inexperienced, only back on the bike for a few months. I wasn't riding the way
I should have been, and I was not prepared for the situation. The second crash
happened because I spent too much time scanning the road for cars and road
hazards, and not enough time noting my surroundings. A co-worker saw me hit
the deer (he was a few cars back) and says he saw it in the field from the top
of the hill, before it wandered into the deeper brush that it'd eventually
jump out of right in front of me.

Taking some of the blame and acknowledging that both crashes were ultimately
avoidable has helped keep me on the bike, and it's sharpened me up a bit while
riding.

------
marcinw
When I was younger, I had aspirations of getting into the X-Games for
freestyle bmx and dirt jumping. Those dreams ended when I broke my leg doing
something very mundane.

I was grinding down a box with a decline which was about 3.5 feet off the
ground. I had lost my balance, and instead of putting my right foot down on
top of the box, I put my left foot down, 3.5 feet, onto the sloping decline.
After recovering from my fall, I twisted my foot 180 degrees back into the
"normal" position. Not thinking clearly at the time, I didn't even realize
what had just happened. I got up, walked over to my bike and got back on, only
to fall off within a few moments. At that moment, I felt my leg (which still
was in my shin guard) and I felt it wobble/seasaw up and down in the middle.
Right then, I knew something was wrong.

I broke my tibia, fibula and ankle all in one go. After surgery, I ended up
with 2 pins in my ankle, a plate and 5 screws in my tibia and was on crutches
for 4 months (these were removed a year after). To this day haven't ridden
BMX, though I can ride mountain bikes and snowboard better than I had before.
I cringe with agony anytime I see someone take a gnarly spill, remembering the
pain I had once experienced.

------
JoeAltmaier
Fell off many times; lucky to never break anything yet.

It is surprising how little we do to remain safe on a bike - strap a block of
styrofoam to your head, and you're good to go! Not even wrist guards. A
football player wears more, they travel far slower on grass and hit lighter
objects, and look what they wear.

Even so, no way am I going to wear more than spandex and a helmet - it would
vastly impede my performance etc.

------
ZeroGravitas
Does anyone vow not to drive again, or be a passenger in motor vehicles after
being hit, hitting another car or injuring or killing a pedestrian?

You'd think you'd hear of such since more people drive, and the bad crashes
are worse.

