Love. Life. Cycling (and worrying family members)

[oldroadman]

Cycling is less risky than sloth. Plenty of people die of sloth, far more than on bikes. And as has been said, there is a whole PR industry out there persuading people that cycling is "dangerous" in an effort to seel overpriced plastic head covers and even more overpriced hi-viz kit, for "safety". Your choice is you use 'em, but a visit to almost any other european country will show what the majority think. This helmet and risk thing does seem to be pervasive in Englaih speaking countries, which is odd.

 

[jonny jeez]

- usually i can avoid them until I've healed up

Perhaps they have good cause for concern then?

How often is usual for you?

 

[Lavender Rose]

You can break a leg walking up stairs....doesn't help if you wear a dayglo and lights either doing it! Hehe

 

[Shadowfax]

I always ask hubby to text when he gets to work.

so far he always has

Damn !

 

[jhawk]

I'm sure that my father worries when I go out for day-trips on my bike - sometimes not returning home for several hours. He'll throw me a text every once in a while to make sure I'm okay.

He's less worried now than he used to be. I wasn't great on the bike when I first got here... Narrowly missed being creamed by a car, twice. Once when I was out with my mates - I was crossing a road and misjudged the distance from me to the car and timing... It was apparently about a foot and a half. But, now I'm much more road aware and safer when I'm out cycling. Having almost been hit twice, because of idiots in cars in the last six months, I'm more concerned that the driver has no idea what he's doing - than my own incompetence.

Next year, I'll be cycling across Canada. And I'm sure my Dad will worry, but we'll Skype every few days I imagine, just to let him know that I'm okay and to give him all the latest from my trip. But I'm very lucky that my Dad's quite a liberal one, he trusts me and he's backed me all the way ever since I said that I wanted to ride across Canada.

 

[Easytigers]

The wife always worried she had no idea where I was when I would go out riding for 3-4hrs, so I put a tracker on my phone so at any time when I am out riding she can log in on the PC and see where I am.
She's a lot happier now that she can see my movements and what speed I am doing, rather than just "out there somewhere".

I did this as well but stopped for a pint of squash recently at a pub and within 30 seconds of ordering at the bar got a message saying that I should stop messing about and get my behind home asap!

 

[Gravity Aided]

I did this as well but stopped for a pint of squash recently at a pub and within 30 seconds of ordering at the bar got a message saying that I should stop messing about and get my behind home asap!

She must be pinging your phone.

 

[steveindenmark]

Diddlydodds, can you tell me the app for your tracker please.

Do your loved ones know how you feel Jo?

If not, tell them and they may back off a bit.

Steve

 

[morrisman]

If you have an iPhone you can use Find My iPhone as a tracker. Both the Sainted Mrs Morrisman and I use it to check one each others location when we are out and about on either bike (me) or taking photos (TSMM). https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/find-my-iphone/id376101648?mt=8

 

[DiddlyDodds]

Diddlydodds, can you tell me the app for your tracker please.

Do your loved ones know how you feel Jo?

If not, tell them and they may back off a bit.

Steve

I use followmee.com gps tracker

Its free for a cpl of weeks to try it out, then a one off payment of approx £3 for the full app to run.

A cpl of things , its useless on the Windows phones , i bought a cheap Andriod phone to run it on.

You can set how frequently it send out a signal to be tracked from every 2mins up to 60mins, the point of this is that it uses up data , set around ever 30mins uses approx 34mb per month so check what your data uses plan is before setting it to ever 2 mins


You down load the app onto he phone your taking with you, and then you can track it on the pc at home / another cell phone.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

Steveindenmark

A screenshot of my route today

 

[Sharky]

True story ...

Halfway round my Sunday morning ride - I am on the phone to my wife.

"Hi there xxx, I'm OK, everything is OK, I'm in an ambulance - can you pick me up from Maidstone A&E"

Cheers Keith

 

[madpensioner]

I've got constant badgering from family members to 'be safe', I know, it's good that they care, but their constant reminders of how dangerous cycling can be is really getting me down. I appreciate the need to be vigilant whilst cycling, and i never take any unnecessary risks. But I'm always having to try and reassure my mum in particular (who is a big worrier by nature) that i'm safe, but nothing i can say will make her worry less. It was very unfortunate that i had quite a bad fall at the time I was living with them for a short time - usually i can avoid them until I've healed up - but this particular occasion i got a black eye, and a severe knock to the head. This does nothing really to reassure my mum that accidents don't happen - they do. I feel that the one thing in my life that I love, is making those I love worry on a daily basis - i don't want them to be like that. I can't give it up though, but I can't cope with them living in fear of the worst all the time. Am I being selfish?

Who else has over-worrying partners/parents - how do you cope?

Im hearing you - Im 74 and see all the dangers younger people dont see - what i do is put the bike in the back of the car - drive to a nice country pub 5 miles away - park- up and i have 100 square miles of country lanes . When i get back to the car i have a pot of tea - and drive home. The alternative is to get back to the car have 5 pints ( a few whiskeys ) and get a taxi home. The day after i get a taxi back to the pub --- and so it goes on !!!

 

[Silver Fox]

I've got constant badgering from family members to 'be safe', I know, it's good that they care, but their constant reminders of how dangerous cycling can be is really getting me down. I appreciate the need to be vigilant whilst cycling, and i never take any unnecessary risks. But I'm always having to try and reassure my mum in particular (who is a big worrier by nature) that i'm safe, but nothing i can say will make her worry less. It was very unfortunate that i had quite a bad fall at the time I was living with them for a short time - usually i can avoid them until I've healed up - but this particular occasion i got a black eye, and a severe knock to the head. This does nothing really to reassure my mum that accidents don't happen - they do. I feel that the one thing in my life that I love, is making those I love worry on a daily basis - i don't want them to be like that. I can't give it up though, but I can't cope with them living in fear of the worst all the time. Am I being selfish?

Who else has over-worrying partners/parents - how do you cope?

Thing is Joanna, regardless how old you are you never stop being your parent's baby.

It's only when you become a parent yourself that you realise this.

 

[sheffgirl]

I still haven't told my parents about my latest fall 2 months ago, I don't want to worry them. Its the first time I've fallen off and its not been my fault, a lorry forced me off the road. Fortunately I just got badly bruised legs