What's your agenda?

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mrandmrspoves

Middle aged bald git.
Location
Narfuk
I,m glad I,m not the only reader irritated by this. Shuffles off to attempt to write a Firefox extension to automatically correct Licramite,s sunken apostrophes...
Maybe he has a colon disease?
 

mrandmrspoves

Middle aged bald git.
Location
Narfuk
You're more progressive than I took you for then, obviously[/quo

Purely professional reasons as a nurse .....it's a right nuisance having to help ladies undress/dress when they have 6 layers on and in an emergency trying to take a heart tracing can be delayed. :laugh:
 

mrandmrspoves

Middle aged bald git.
Location
Narfuk
.. but where do you stand on fondling?

In a quiet and discrete corner - but my preference would be in a recumbent position!
 

ComedyPilot

Secret Lemonade Drinker
Pro-choice, anti-compulsion, pro-risk assessing the ride and then deciding if it warrants a helmet.

So, IMO, the following applies:

Racing - yes.
BMX (stunting/ramps/racing) - yes
MTB - yes

Touring - no
Commuting - no
Utility - no
Leisurely ride to feed the ducks - no
 

mcshroom

Bionic Subsonic
My agenda is that cycling is a low risk activity and beneficial to people's health. I would like to see cycling become as mainstream here as in other countries in Europe and anything that detracts form the uptake of this safe activity should be avoided.

In helmet debates, my main point is that they are a non issue in safety terms, as the risks are so low, but for cycling numbers they are very important as the more you promote/mandate unusual clothing and safety measures for cycling, the less chance there is of cycling numbers rising and the benefits to their health and out road systems this would produce.

I am anti compulsion, I'm not a particular fan of helmets (though they are pretty good at keeping rain out of your eyes while not letting you overheat when it's raining), but it's not my place to tell a cyclist or a pedestrian to wear one or not.
 

newfhouse

Resolutely on topic
I made the mistake earlier of responding to another thread in this section, then remembered I hadn't declared my agenda here. Please forgive the faux pas.

I'm pushing fifty, have been back on the bike for about fifteen months after a break of more than 25 years. As a child I rode just about everywhere, the family didn't own a car, and it was practical and fun. As a young adult I cycled to work, about a 20 mile round trip. Back then nobody I knew, or even saw, wore a helmet.

I restarted my cycling life last year on an old 80s Raleigh MTB. I joined a cycling group where helmets were all but mandatory and so despite my natural misgivings I bought one. When I upgraded to, for me at least, a decent road bike I was persuaded to buy a new matching Specialized helmet and wore it on every ride.I now average 150 miles a week, mostly London commuting.

Here comes the anecdata. I mention it not because I believe it will apply to all situations, but because it was a catalyst to further enquiry. I've had a couple of offs in the last year, both down to my incompetent over-enthusiasm. The worst, down a gravelled track at speed on the MTB left me with pair of black eyes, a sprained wrist and a side full of gravel rash; the helmet was completely unmarked. I was a bit wobbly, probably just shock, so my cycling buddies decided to call me an ambulance. At A&E I was asked if I was wearing the helmet when I fell and when I said yes was told that it must have saved me from worse injuries. My question about how it had managed that without suffering any apparent damage - not a mark, scratch or scuff - was not answered. This episode set me thinking about helmets and led me to research the published evidence, such as it is.

My conclusion is that any individual benefit to me is likely to be limited at best. More importantly, particularly when riding on the road, it sends the wrong message to thoughtless drivers. I will not allow such people to bully me into full body armour just to make up for their selfishness. I'm as entitled as any other road user to use the highway, and, being on a bike, far better equipped to make progress in urban areas, so choose to improve my safety by (I hope) sensibly assertive riding.

So, my agenda: helmets are a personal choice, and should remain so. I regret that some riders feel the need to wear them as I feel that, taken as a population, all cyclists' interests are damaged when they do. And not wanting the whole argument to be about weighing evidence one way or another, riding as nature intended just feels more natural and joyous, and that's surely why we cycle in the first place, no?
 
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