Cycling is a great sport, but it has its hazards. Public roads can be dangerous places; you must interact for better or for worse with traffic, pedestrians, other cyclists, and animals, and deal with adversities such as poor road conditions and weather. And as with any sport that involves hours of high-intensity training, cycling has the potential to lead to overuse injuries.
PREVENTING ACCIDENTS
When you ride on the road, you have the same rights as motor vehicles and must follow the same laws. There are two exceptions to this rule:
__You must stay to the far right of your lane unless making a left turn. This prevents cyclists from impeding the natural flow of traffic.
__You must use bicycle lanes when they are present.
Check local laws; they vary from place to place, and you can be ticketed for not following them. Running red lights and stop signs are two quick paths to the hospital or the morgue.
Select routes with wide lanes and as little traffic as possible. Consider the types of vehicles that use the road. Even in little-traveled rural areas, wide, heavy trucks carrying logs or ores can be a hazard.
Riding defensively requires an awareness of your surroundings at all times. If you are riding with music in your ears, you won't be able to hear a car coming up behind you, a dog coming at you from behind a bush, or cyclists yelling "on your left" as they pass. Cyclists have been hit and killed by trains while traveling through railroad crossings. If you have headphones on, you can't hear an oncoming train. Save the MP3 players and headphones for indoor use only.
Law of Gross Tonnage
The law of gross tonnage states that if another vehicle weighs more than yours, you better get out of its way. I have observed this scenario more times than I care to count: a cyclist gets to a four way stop and stops, just before a car arrives on the intersecting street to the left. The car does a rolling stop and continues through the stop sign.
The cyclist sees this and takes off anyway. The car slams on the brakes and the cyclist rides on.
I've approached and spoken to some of these cyclists, and they explain that they saw the car do a rolling stop but were asserting their right of-way. But it doesn't matter who had the right of-way if you are smashed flat as a pancake. Use your head, err on the side of safety, and remember the law of gross tonnage. If you can see a vehicle, assume it can hit you. There is a fine line between asserting your rights and recklessness.
Stay Calm and Quiet
Encountering inconsiderate motorists is inevitable. I have had insults and hard objects thrown at me while riding. In the past, I returned the insults as loudly as I received them. I changed my tactics after a local cyclist was run off the road by a motorist who had begun the altercation by yelling at him to get off the road, then reacted badly to the cyclist's middle-finger response.
With so many crazy people on the road, discretion is the better part of valor. A good friend handles the shouted insults in the ideal manner- by simply ignoring the driver's existence. Unfortunately there is no law against stupidity.
There are, however, laws against harming people. If someone throws an object at you or at tempts to run you off the road, get as much in formation as possible and inform the police. Write down the license plate number, the make and model of the car, and a description of the driver.
Events such as this usually happen quickly, but it pays to take the time to notice these details.
I once heard a story about Lance Armstrong, the truth of which I can't vouch for. Same old story: driver shouts an unprovoked insult; Lance shouts back; driver turns around and runs cyclist off the road. Then Lance picks himself up and hears a voice from the heavens: "Do you want his license plate?" Lance looks up and there's a telephone lineman, high on a pole. The police caught and prosecuted the motorist.
Cell Phone
You never know when a situation will occur that prevents you from making it back home on your own. You can crash, have a mechanical that can't be fixed in the field, or get hit by a storm that's not safe to ride through. The solution is to always carry a cell phone in a waterproof container. I usually put mine in a ziplock bag and slide it into a pocket.
Never answer your phone while riding; stop to answer calls. If you are paying attention to your phone, you are not paying attention to the road or the people around you. Unlike driving a car, you really do need both hands to ride. If you do not want to be bothered by calls while you ride, turn off the ringer. But leave the phone powered on so you can be located in an emergency.
Enter an emergency contact number under the name "ICE" (In Case of Emergency) in your phone's memory. In many areas emergency personnel are trained to look for this if you're in capacitated. Check with your local police or fire department or ambulance service to determine whether they follow this protocol.
Dogs
Man's best friend can turn into his biggest nuisance when you're riding. It doesn't matter whether it's a nice doggy who wants to play or Cujo's litter mate wanting to bite off your foot: when a dog gets under a cyclist's wheels, the result is often an invigorating treatment of asphalt dermabrasion.
Leash laws usually do not apply on the country roads where cyclists do most of their riding.
There are, however, three ways to protect yourself against dogs:
__Be aware of your surroundings. Assume that any dog you see will come at you, and ride defensively. On some routes you'll learn where the problem dogs live, and you can be ready for them.
__Carry pepper spray, which stops dogs in their tracks. Some spray cans are designed with a strap specifically for carrying on bicycles. Avoid spraying fellow riders, and do not spray into the wind or you might spray yourself. If you spray other riders, the dog will probably be the least of your worries.
__Probably the most important thing you can do is report nuisance dogs. In most cases the owners will be given the choice of confining their dog to the yard or losing the animal.
Requiring dogs to be kept under control benefits dogs as well as cyclists. How many dogs have you seen dead on the side of the road? Reporting a nuisance dog will also leave a record of the dog's behavior in case there are future attacks.
Regardless of whether there are leash laws where you ride, owners are legally responsible for their dogs. If a dog causes a cyclist to crash, the owner may be liable for damages.
Protect Your Eyes
Wearing glasses protects your eyes from these types of hazards when riding:
__ultraviolet (UV) rays, which can damage your vision after lengthy, repeated exposures
__bugs, dust, and small debris
__larger objects such as rocks thrown up by passing vehicles
__wind, especially during fast descents and on windy days cycling glasses should be optically correct, provide 100 percent UV protection, and be vented to prevent fogging.
Try them on before you buy them and check the field of vision. Most sun glasses block peripheral vision, which creates a potentially hazardous situation in which you do not see other cyclists or vehicles off to the side. Get into a tucked or aero cycling position and make sure the top of the glasses does not interfere with your vision looking down the road.
Many sports glasses come with interchange able lenses. Use dark lenses on bright, sunny days, and rose-tinted or clear lenses on overcast days. I usually prefer rose-tinted lenses on over cast days because they make things look a little brighter. The downside is that you might not realize just how dark and ominous the clouds have become.
Sunblock
Cycling involves exposure to the sun for prolonged periods of time, so you may want to use sunblock to protect your skin from the sun's damaging rays.
The higher the SPF, the better the sun protection.
Purchase sunblock specifically designed for sports so it will stay on as you sweat.
Safety Inspection
A friend had just returned from a big race, one that he had trained for specifically all year. I asked him how he did, and he told me the race went well, right until his crank arm fell off; his race ended then and there.
He had replaced his crankset a couple of weeks previously and had not checked it since then.
Over time, road vibrations can cause bolts to loosen, and the repeated stress applied to the frame caused by hard riding can cause it to fatigue and crack. Make sure your bicycle is safe to ride by routinely giving it a thorough exam. Start by regularly checking the following items for tightness:
__pedals
__crankset
__headset
__stem
__handlebars
__saddle and seat post
Check that your wheels are true, the quick releases are tight, and the spokes are properly tensioned. Examine the tires carefully for cuts or embedded debris that could work its way through and cause a flat.
Examine the bicycle frame regularly for stress cracks. If you are involved in an accident, check the bicycle thoroughly before your next ride.
HEALTH AND INJURY
It's said that there are two types of athletes: those who are injured and those who are about to be. This section is designed to give you general advice on health, disease, and injuries as they relate to cycling. But it should not be substituted for competent medical advice. Refer to the Appendix for additional resources if you want to read more on the subject.
Physical Exam
Many cyclists ride not only to increase fitness but also to improve their health. Exercise can extend and improve the quality of life and help prevent many disease states, such as the following:
__high blood pressure
__high cholesterol
__cardiovascular disease
__type 2 diabetes
Some research even indicates that exercise decreases the risk of developing certain types of cancers.
Exercise also entails risks, however, because it can worsen certain conditions. Many disease states are asymptomatic, having no outward signs. Cardio vascular disease can be asymptomatic right up to the point of a heart attack, which, although more common in older individuals, can occur at any age.
Therefore, before starting an exercise program, you should have a physical examination. This is especially true if you are older, have been sedentary up to this point, and/or have not had an exam in a while.
If you have any known medical complications, talk to your doctor about your condition before you begin cycling. Having medical complications does not necessarily mean you will not be able to cycle.
In fact, exercise is often recommended for rehabilitation and secondary prevention (preventing a reoccurrence) in many disease states. But only a physician is qualified to make these determinations and provide guidance on exercise limitations.
Choosing a Doctor
It is important that athletes choose a sports physician as their adviser. If you can find one with particular experience in cycling, so much the bet ter. Sports doctors deal with athletes on a daily basis and are familiar with overuse injuries and acute injuries that you are likely to sustain. To the extent that they know cycling, they will be knowledgeable about the biomechanics that lead to cycling-related injuries.
Another important difference between sports doctors and other physicians is one of philosophy.
If a cyclist goes to a regular doctor complaining of knee pain while riding, that doctor will probably tell him to stop riding until the pain goes away.
From the medical perspective, this may be sound advice, but it is often unacceptable to athletes.
Sports doctors understand that. In the same situation, a sports doctor will likely work with you and try to keep you on your bicycle, perhaps by suggesting changes to your riding position, your equipment, or your training regimen.
Training and Illness
Exercise increases the strength of the body's immune system, so athletes are usually less likely to "catch something" than the general populace. But there's a catch. Training is catabolic: it breaks tissue down inside your body and briefly reduces immune system function. (The strengthening occurs by repeatedly breaking down and rebuilding, get ting stronger each time. This is discussed at length in Part C.) The harder you work out, the more susceptible you are to illness directly afterward. So following a hard workout, it's a good idea to avoid contact with individuals who may be infectious.
(Endurance athletes with extremely high training volumes may have a poorer-functioning immune system than non-athletes. This is probably due to the excessive stress of a high-volume training plan, which may not allow for complete recovery.) Should you train during an illness? It depends on the situation. On one hand, if your body is already fighting an illness, training hard will further lower your immune system, making matters worse. Let's say you contract an illness that with rest and recovery will last five days. By training through the illness, you might compromise your immune system so it takes ten days before you fully recover and can resume your normal training intensity.
On the other hand, if you stop training altogether during those five days, you may lose a lot of ground in your training.
A good guideline states that if an illness is above your shoulders (colds and sinus infections, for example), it is OK to train lightly provided that you have no fever, no headache, and no aches or pains associated with the congestion. If symptoms move into the chest, you should not train.
If you are taking decongestants for sinus or cold symptoms, be cautious when cycling. Decongestants increase the resting and sub-maximal heart rate, especially in individuals with a smaller body size. Decongestants can also lead to dehydration. Some make you drowsy and impair concentration, which could lead to an accident.
Never train with a fever. A fever is the body's way of fighting an infection. Bacteria and viruses can live only within a certain temperature range; because that is around 98.6° F, humans are ideal hosts. The body drives up the temperature to kill off the infection. Training will only lower your immune system and skew the advantage toward the infection. Another consideration is how you feel. If you feel too bad to ride, do not. It's better to be a little undertrained than to make your illness worse.
If you feel bad, take a couple of days off to relax and recover. If in doubt, seek medical advice.
Psychological Stress
Some individuals thrive on challenge and perform better than others under stressful situations. But for every individual there comes a point where stress begins to have a negative impact on health.
Psychological stress depresses the immune system and increases healing time, possibly compromising the ability to recover from a hard training bout.
The good news is that exercise reduces stress.
Preventing and Addressing Specific Injuries
Saddle Sores
Many cyclists refer to any pain on their bottom or groin area as a saddle sore or saddle soreness.
Symptoms commonly associated with saddle sores include tenderness, open infections, ulcers, boils, and abrasions.
Tenderness is usually due to pressure from the saddle, which supports a large portion of your weight. "Hot spots" often occur where the saddle presses against the ischium, the portion of the pelvis known as the "sit bones." Proper saddle selection, as discussed in Section 1, can reduce or eliminate this pressure, numbness, and chafing (the latter two are discussed below), as can a good pair of cycling shorts with extra padding in the groin area.
Riding more can also help. Tenderness may first occur when you begin riding seriously or in crease mileage significantly. As you ride more, your body may adapt to the added pressure and the tenderness may recede. You can also try standing out of the saddle periodically; even a brief re lease of pressure may relieve the overall feeling of tenderness.
Numbness in the groin area may occur due to pressure against the nerves located in that region, and men may experience penile numbness while riding. This usually fades quickly once you are off the saddle. If it persists, it can be cause for concern and you may wish to contact your doctor.
If you experience frequent numbness, check that your saddle nose is level, not pointing upward.
Riding in an aero position causes your pelvis to tilt forward; if that's when numbness occurs, you may need to point the nose of the saddle slightly downward. Tilting it down too much, however, will make you slide forward and sit on the nose of the saddle.
Any part of your leg that moves across the saddle repeatedly as you pedal is susceptible to chafing.
This is especially true if the saddle is set too high because it causes the cyclist to shift side to side with every pedal stroke. If your saddle is pointed down, it will cause you to slide forward, then compensate by pushing back on the saddle, and this repeated fore and aft movement can also cause chafing. Rubbing chamois cream into the chamois of your shorts can help reduce the friction.
Bacteria are the main culprit in the development of saddle sores. Bacteria interacting with open skin lead to infection and saddle sores. Boils, which can range from small annoying pimples to debilitating cysts, develop when bacteria enter pores and cause infection. If left unchecked, a boil can increase in severity and require lancing.
Bacteria thrive in a wet, warm environment; wearing soiled cycling shorts on a long ride is bound to lead to saddle sores. Wash cycling shorts after every use. After a ride, take them off as soon as possible, wash and dry your groin area, and change into dry clothes, especially if you have a patch of chafed skin.
Numb Hands
Numbness in the fourth and fifth fingers is a common problem among cyclists. It's caused by a combination of road vibrations transmitted through the handlebars and the pressure of supporting your upper body with your hands. (It is the ulnar nerve, located in the palm of the hand, that is affected.) The longer the ride, the greater the chance of developing numbness. Symptoms usually subside shortly after finishing the ride.
Following these suggestions will minimize or alleviate the problem:
__Wear padded gloves.
__Wrap the handlebars with padded tape.
__Make sure your bicycle is set up correctly.
A nose-down saddle forces you to place more weight on your hands.
Overuse Injuries
Overuse injuries occur over time due to repetitive movements. They are usually accompanied by chronic pain-pain that continues over time.
If left untreated, chronic pain can turn into a severe overuse injury, and a problem that might have been resolved with minor changes in training could end up keeping you off your bicycle for a long time.
Cycling consists of a repetitive motion that occurs over a long period of time in a relatively fixed position-the perfect scenario for overuse injuries to develop. It is, therefore, extremely important to have your bicycle set up to your personal anatomical specifications so as not to subject your musculoskeletal system to undue stress.
Knee pain, the most common overuse injury, usually occurs for one of three reasons:
__Trying to accomplish too much too soon places a large amount of strain on the muscles, ligaments, and tendons before they are ready to handle the load.
__Riding in too high a gear (usually at too low a cadence) also places too much strain on the joint.
__A too-low saddle places a lot of torque on the knee at the top of the stroke, leading to anterior (front side) knee pain. A too high saddle causes the knee joint to lock out at the bottom of the stroke, leading to posterior (back side) knee pain. Improper cleat position can also place undue torque on the knees as well as strain on the Achilles tendons.
Plantar fasciitis is pain at the base of the heel caused by damage and inflammation of the long plantar ligaments that help support the foot. It is usually worse after a workout or first thing in the morning. Plantar fasciitis can be caused by a cycling shoe with a flexible sole, a cleat that's placed too far forward on the shoe, riding in too high a gear, riding too hard too soon, or any combination of the four.
It is almost inevitable that you will develop some form of overuse injury at some point in your cycling career, but by avoiding the three main culprits (training too hard, pushing large gears, improper position), you'll significantly reduce their occurrence and severity.
Road Rash
Road rash, the skin abrasions that occur when you take a fall, is a common, almost inevitable occurrence in cycling. It can be superficial or serious, depending on a wide range of variables including the nature of the road surface, the speed and position at which you hit the ground, and the clothing you're wearing at the time.
It isn't good practice to put your hands out to break a fall, but most of us instinctively do it, so wearing gloves often helps keep some skin on your hands. Far better than sliding across the road surface is rolling with the fall.
Prompt, proper wound care helps avoid infection. Rocks, dirt, material from your cycling jersey, and other debris may be embedded in the wound; all should be removed. This is best accomplished with a clean brush designed for the purpose, sterile wipes, or a Water Pik. A washcloth from home may leave lint in the wound. Use antibacterial ointment to decrease the risk of infection. If you can’t remove the debris yourself, or if the wound appears to be severe, seek medical attention immediately.
------------- Road rash must be properly cleaned, disinfected, and dressed
to avoid infection. Knees are a common location for road rash.
Should you cover the wound or leave it open? Both methods seem to work, so rely on your doc tor's recommendation and common sense. Left open, road rash has a tendency to stick to clothing and bed-sheets, and separating the cloth from the wound can be painful and increase the risk of infection (to say nothing of damaged clothing and bedding). Because of this I usually keep my road rash covered until it is beyond the oozing stage.
As the wound heals, watch for signs of infection. If you notice any of the following, contact your doctor immediately:
__red puffy skin around the edges of the wound
__red lines radiating from the wound
__oozing after the wound has scabbed
__odor