Ayup lads, we've got a problem

[Mayniac]

A risk of fertility problems, evidently:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8124458.stm

Its not the beer then! Mind you I'd hardly call myself an elite cyclist, I just make hard work of it.

 

[Arch]

Oh, this again... Don't they drag this up every couple of years? It may well be true, but of course all the average person will take away from it is that cycling knackers your... knackers. And yet another revolutionary new saddle will be invented, and marketed on dire warning about the health risks of cycling.

It would be interesting to know the relative reproductive health consequences of sitting in your car commuting every day.... (stress, heart attacks, obesity...)

Obviously, it doesn't count for me - although I expect if I cycled as much as an elite athlete, I'd just be too tired to do it anyway....

 

[stoatsngroats]

Just to add the 'other side of the coin' point, I'm infertile, after 1 successful 'impregnation!', and I've only been cycling for the last 5 years - my daughter is now 12, and I've not managed to....er.......well - you know!

Cycling can't have been the cause - so something else was...!

 

[ColinJ]

It would only be a problem if you wanted to be fertile in the first place!

I reckon that we don't exactly have a shortage of people on the planet and am quite happy to volunteer not to increase the population further.

Saddle sores - now they are what I call a real problem related to spending too many hours in the saddle!

 

[Globalti]

Yesterday we met a bunch of women on horseback doing the Mary Towneley Loop over 3 days. They were all complaining of saddle soreness and probably won't be too, er, active for a few days.

 

[Cathryn]

I think the more interesting thing is the number of cyclists who have daughters!! We went to a Tour de France BBQ last year with about 20 cyclists (guess who was the only girl watching the action) and there were about 20 little girls running round the garden and only one little boy. Do cyclists (who do a lot of cycling) produce more girls, I wonder?

I shall get the husband doing a lot more cycling if we like this baby enough to have a second! I'd like a daughter at some point. Although let's see what happens anyway.

 

[Arch]

I think the more interesting thing is the number of cyclists who have daughters!! We went to a Tour de France BBQ last year with about 20 cyclists (guess who was the only girl watching the action) and there were about 20 little girls running round the garden and only one little boy. Do cyclists (who do a lot of cycling) produce more girls, I wonder?

I shall get the husband doing a lot more cycling if we like this baby enough to have a second! I'd like a daughter at some point. Although let's see what happens anyway.

Oh, I'm quite sure you will. If nothing else, they are fascinating to watch grow up. It was only when Oli was starting to talk that I thought about how hard it must be to understand the concept of 'me' and 'you' - I point at Oli and say 'you', but he has to say 'me'. Little things like that, you forget ever having to learn...

But I digress....

I'm trying to think now, of the cyclists I know who have kids, and the ratio of boys and girls...

 

[Mayniac]

I suppose as a cohort study for male infertility, pro cyclists are an easy target. We know they spend hours in the saddle, wearing tight shorts and expending huge amounts of energy. The cause and effect link is an easy one. Most male cyclists I've spoken to have all suffered at some time.

(Any chance I can have my research grant in cash....?

 

[ComedyPilot]

I think the more interesting thing is the number of cyclists who have daughters!! We went to a Tour de France BBQ last year with about 20 cyclists (guess who was the only girl watching the action) and there were about 20 little girls running round the garden and only one little boy. Do cyclists (who do a lot of cycling) produce more girls, I wonder?

I shall get the husband doing a lot more cycling if we like this baby enough to have a second! I'd like a daughter at some point. Although let's see what happens anyway.

I have a daughter, and she was conceived in July/August 2007, smack bang in the high mileage months.

 

[Cathryn]

Darn. Just the Ramsden genes then.

 

[HJ]

It has already been pointed out in the Commuting forum, this is just a rubbish story based on bad science...

 

[XmisterIS]

I think that so long as you don't ride with saddle that works it's way up your @rse like an anal dildo, then you're OK.