Reply to: Cycling, the new way to extend your lifespan (hardly new of course).

[Gumbo Robot]

Don't think the UK ever had the motorcycle gangs as in the US and parts of Eastern Europe. Pity. Fancied being a hard Hell's Angle. Mind you, I'd have needed summit a bit harder than my poofy Suzuki GSX400EZ.

We had a group in Gillingham (Dorset) called The Grease when I lived there in the 80s.

They were a bunch of bumpkins on CX500s & the harder they tried with the hardman outlaw image, the more ludicrous they seemed.

Not so much a chapter as a paragraph

[LondonManc]

Don't think the UK ever had the motorcycle gangs as in the US and parts of Eastern Europe. Pity. Fancied being a hard Hell's Angle. Mind you, I'd have needed summit a bit harder than my poofy Suzuki GSX400EZ.

Which chapter, Obtuse, Acute or Reflex?

[rl4engc]

Air pollution: invisible health threat

Source: Kings College London

[VectraMan]

What an absolute load of dogtulip.

Cyclists are out in the slipstream of diesel buses, trucks, vans etc with no filters (or at best ineffectual ones). That's about as "Directly in the Line" of exhaust smoke as you can get. Someone sat in a modern car however is in a nice bubble protected by lots of filters as part of the air conditioning.

Yes it does sound a somewhat dubious claim. Plus if you're exercising you're breathing a lot more heavily.

I don't cycle anywhere near traffic and I don't know why you'd want to.

[DaveB]

What an absolute load of dogtulip.

Cyclists are out in the slipstream of diesel buses, trucks, vans etc with no filters (or at best ineffectual ones). That's about as "Directly in the Line" of exhaust smoke as you can get. Someone sat in a modern car however is in a nice bubble protected by lots of filters as part of the air conditioning.

In fact the rather laughable advice given to cyclists in cities to avoid/minimize pollution was to "cycle on the less busy roads" (!).

Exhaust fumes are heavier than air, cyclists are typically much higher up than car drivers and in cities at least we are usually travelling faster than most other vehicles so we don't sit in the slipstream for any length of time.

Fumes do get into cars despite the filters as they only take out the big stuff. Even the ones that are supposed to catch pollen don't get the ultra fine stuff in exhaust fumes. It's these that get into the lungs and cause harm. Car drivers are essentially sat in a bubble full of fumes. Just cos you can't smell it doesn't mean it isn't there.

There are developments being made in filter technology but they are still being tested and are yet to show long term effectiveness.

New Vehicle Air Filters Trap Tiny Troubling Pollution Particles | Chemical & Engineering News

If you can cite a peer reviewed study that contradicts the Imperial College findings as opposed to a badly researched media puff piece, then please do.

[Dallas]

East London cycling = black bogies

But that was the same when I worked in a nightclub with fire eaters.

[rl4engc]

Funnily enough that's the exact opposite of what the link DaveB posted says:

It’s thought that cyclists breathe in fewer fumes because we ride at the edge of the road and, unlike drivers, aren’t directly in the line of exhaust smoke.

What an absolute load of dogtulip.

Cyclists are out in the slipstream of diesel buses, trucks, vans etc with no filters (or at best ineffectual ones). That's about as "Directly in the Line" of exhaust smoke as you can get. Someone sat in a modern car however is in a nice bubble protected by lots of filters as part of the air conditioning.

In fact the rather laughable advice given to cyclists in cities to avoid/minimize pollution was to "cycle on the less busy roads" (!).

[original PM]

I have all that at 44.

Indeed and do you want another 46 years?

[VectraMan]

There as summat on TV the other day where they measured the amount of crap inhaled by 3 groups: 1 a cyclist in a city, 2 a pedestrian on side of the road in a city, and 3 a driver in a car in said city.

By far the lowest, by a factor of about 5 or 6, was the driver, because of the filters in the air conditioning system etc. Next worst was pedestrian and worst of all was the cyclist.

They had this ait pollution monitoring device at the side of the road and said at the beginning of the day this filter paper was white, and you looked at it and it was a murky grey colour.

Funnily enough that's the exact opposite of what the link DaveB posted says:

16. Avoid pollution

You’d think a city cyclist would suck up much more pollution than the drivers and passengers in the vehicles chucking out the noxious gases. Not so, according to a study carried out by Imperial College London. Researchers found that passengers in buses, taxis and cars inhaled substantially more pollution than cyclists and pedestrians.

On average, taxi passengers were exposed to more than 100,000 ultrafine particles – which can settle in the lungs and damage cells – per cubic centimetre. Bus passengers sucked up just under 100,000 and people in cars inhaled about 40,000. Cyclists, meanwhile, were exposed to just 8,000 ultrafine particles per cubic centimetre. It’s thought that cyclists breathe in fewer fumes because we ride at the edge of the road and, unlike drivers, aren’t directly in the line of exhaust smoke.

30 reasons to take up cycling - BikeRadar

[rl4engc]

Try cycling around any major city and you end up choking in the fumes of the cars and buses, I am pretty sure that cycling is not healthy overall without a mask on

There as summat on TV the other day where they measured the amount of crap inhaled by 3 groups: 1 a cyclist in a city, 2 a pedestrian on side of the road in a city, and 3 a driver in a car in said city.

By far the lowest, by a factor of about 5 or 6, was the driver, because of the filters in the air conditioning system etc. Next worst was pedestrian and worst of all was the cyclist.

They had this ait pollution monitoring device at the side of the road and said at the beginning of the day this filter paper was white, and you looked at it and it was a murky grey colour.

[minestrone]

They should have little nails under pavements that spring up when bikes go over them.

...or piano wire at neck height.

[VectraMan]

I blame Cameron:

Cycle crashes at 10-year high (From Witney Gazette)

[FatLazyContractor]

Here in Leeds they've spunked £30m on the Leeds-Bradford Cycle Super-highway, i.e. caused havoc on the roads with narrowing them, ripped up the bus stops, delays, bits where it's too narrow anyway so just left those bits, but al least it seems to mean the purple slugs will be moved elsewhere - roads too narrow now...

And still at least 10 people get run down every week by those low-seated-VW-golf-teenagers

Don't believe me? Start cycling from Akbar's on Leeds road towards City centre and if you don't get killed before you reach Leeds road fisheries, Fish and chips is on me.

[VectraMan]

seeing no one for days on end

having no fun cos I gave that up years ago to live longer

not understanding anything as the world has moved on

I have all that at 44.

[VectraMan]

With all the cycling I've done this summer my legs are now quite sinewy and muscly, whereas above the waist I'm pure fat and have a bit of a beer belly. So I reckon whilst my legs might live to a ripe old age, my top half is probably going to an early grave.