Originally Posted by
kmcrawford111
I don't have to sit directly behind a car or truck very often (perhaps once a day), but when I do I might turn my head or cover my face a little so I'm not so directly breathing in the exhaust.
If anything this thread really hits on it is the inanity of car-obsession - that we can't even bike down a road without worrying about getting cancer from doing it. It would be nice to see one percent of the effort aimed at second-hand smoke being directed at exhaust. The problem is, all of the anti-smoking nannies want to drive cars too. Apparently, driving is more important than everything else. We live in a ****ed up world.
Yep. On Tuesday, after work, I threw my panniers on my LHT to run down the hill to the super for some milk, yogurt, and dog food for the following morning. It was already dark out, but I had on my blinky, a good headlight, and a reflective sash. (Probably overkill, but I live in a pretty rural area with two lane winding roads, and I don't want to take chances.) Anyways, the neighbor was outside watering the lawn (despite the fact we are in a drought
) and he says to me, "Don't you worry about getting run over and killed?"
I bristled a bit, but the kids were within earshot, and I didn't want to start something NEW with him, so I just waived, and went on my way. As I was riding, though, I started thinking about the risk of this way of life. I'm sure there are multiple ways to slice and dice the numbers, but it would be interesting to see if anybody has done any sort of statistical analysis to determine whether riding on a daily basis actually increases or decreases someone's projected life span. Obviously, on the plus side, there is the fitness issue. On the downside, the risk of "catastrophic injury or death" (or so says my owners manual).
My guess is it comes out on the side of the cyclist, so long as (s)he is sensible, wears a helmet and obeys the law. For me, the cycling is only part of the equation. When I started riding again, I started eating better, which led to me getting stronger, which helped me ride more, which made me want to start training again, etc.