Cycling Tips & Stories

Liberty cyclist Ed Chasteen has been writing periodic columns about his goal of riding 10,000 miles this year. Now he is within 30 miles of his goal. permanent link to article: "Ed Chasteen nears 10,000-mile goal"
posted by Brent Hugh at 11/30/2003 08:21:00 AM |comment on this article

According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, former Kansas Citian Christina Case has played a crucial role in Houston's mountain bike community. The only available mountain biking trails within the city limits had been closed because of environmental concerns.

Under Case's tireless and patient leadership, finger-pointing and accusations in this bitter debate slowly gave way to constructive dialogue. She enlisted the help of the International Mountain Bicycling Association to provide an objective third-party opinion about the state of the trails. Case also relied on her own expertise as an engineer specializing in environmental-impact issues to bring unique insight to the table.

Once the trails were reopened, GHORBA also organized trail-maintenance gatherings, in which members volunteered their time to directly assist with upkeep in the most delicate parts of the Memorial Park trail system.

Read the rest of the story in the Chronicle's article. permanent link to article: "Ex-Kansas Citian plays key role in Houston's mountain bike community"
posted by Brent Hugh at 11/29/2003 09:26:00 PM |comment on this article

Jean McGuire's article in this week's Kansas City Infozine tells how she went from fat to fitness addict in 3 easy steps:

It all began so innocently. I can vividly remember the day I knew I had to start working out. I was overweight and inactive and as a result, quite self-conscious about my body. However, that day, I was already undressed and getting into the shower when I remembered I'd forgotten something in the bedroom. I dashed into the bedroom, grabbed what I needed and returned to the bathroom. I will never forget the feeling as I walked down the hall. I was walking in an East- West direction, but my rear-end was going North-South. I decided then and there that while I might never get back to my pre-pregnancy days, I could at least control the amount of jiggle I was afflicted with.

permanent link to article: "Confessions of an adult-onset athlete"
posted by Brent Hugh at 11/26/2003 07:08:00 AM |comment on this article

Safe Routes to School is up for discussion in both the U.S. House and Senate federal highway transportation bills (TEA-21 renewal). The following was prepared for the U.S. Senate debate on Safe Routes to Schools.

The BikeLeague has statistics on children and the obesity epidemic in its SRTS case statement. [pdf]

Statistics to support Safe Routes to School

• A California survey found that physically-fit students achieved more academically, scoring higher on standardized tests.
  
  Safety:
  
• A National Safe Kids Campaign survey found that nearly sixty percent of parents and children encounter at least one serious hazard along their route to school.
  
  
• A Centers for Disease Control survey found that forty percent of parents cited traffic as a major barrier to allowing children to walk to school.
  
  
• Per mile traveled, traveling to school in a car driven by a teen is most hazardous, followed by bicycling (about 10 deaths per 100 million trips), then walking (about 5 deaths per 100 million trips).
  
  
• Each year, about 800 school-age children die in traffic during normal school travel hours, and about 152,000 are injured.
  
  
• About 22 percent of children killed in traffic during school travel hours die while walking or bicycling.

Above are from The Relative Risks of School Travel, TRB Special Report 269 [pdf]


School Transportation Statistics:

• Since 1970, the portion of public school children transported by bus has increased from 43% to 57%.
  
  
• Per-pupil busing costs have grown from $394 in 1990-91 to $521 in 1999-2000.
  
  
• In 1999-2000, $13 million was spent on busing children to public schools, at an average cost of $521 per student.

Above are from School Bus Stats from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Hazard busing:

Many school districts bus some children who live very close to school, because the route to school is considered too dangerous for walking or bicycling. While no national statistics exist on what is called “hazard busing” or “safety busing,” some states do track this information:

• In Illinois, about 153,800 students, (15 percent of all those who ride a bus) do so because it is considered too dangerous to walk the less than 1.5 miles to school.
  
  
• In Chester County, near Philadelphia, two students who attend Uwchlan Hills Elementary School are an extreme example of hazard busing: they ride the bus to cross a busy street: roughly 90 yards. The street has no crosswalk.

Success of SRTS programs:

• The Marin County, California comprehensive SRTS program reports a 64 percent increase in the number of students walking to school, a 114% increase in the number of children bicycling, and a 39% decrease in the number of children arriving by private car carrying only one student.

permanent link to article: "Safe Routes to School Statistics"
posted by Brent Hugh at 11/20/2003 09:13:00 PM |comment on this article

Need yet another reason to get out there, ride that bike, and lose a few pounds?

According to a study published in the November 10th, 2003, Archives of Internal Medicine (summarized by ReutersHealth):

People who are overweight in middle age are more likely than their normal-weight peers to have a poor quality of life as they grow old, new study findings suggest. . . .

The study group consisted of adults who were middle-aged in the late 1960s to early 1970s. Since the number of Americans who are overweight or obese has skyrocketed since then, the findings do not bode well for the future, the study's lead author, Dr. Martha L. Daviglus, told Reuters Health.

They also indicate that young and middle-aged people who are overweight need to act now to preserve a good quality of life as they age, according to Daviglus. And that means calorie cutting and regular exercise, she said.

permanent link to article: "Keeping fit in middle age has long-lasting benefits"
posted by Brent Hugh at 11/19/2003 11:23:00 PM |comment on this article

Need another excuse to get out on that bike? According to a Reuters report of a study of 4,984 women participating in the Aerobic Center Longitudinal Study (ACLS), keeping in good shape dramatically affects a woman's chances of developing type 2 diabetes:

Participating women were free of diabetes when the study began. Based on how long they could walk on a treadmill, the women were classified as being low fit, moderately fit, or high fit.

Eighty-two women developed diabetes during follow-up. The rate of diabetes was 3.2 percent in the low-fit group, 2.6 percent in the moderately fit group, and less than 1 percent in the high-fit group.

After considering other factors, such as age, weight, and blood sugar levels, "women who were in the highest fitness group were at lower risk for developing diabetes relative to women in a lower fitness category," Wallace said. For example, high-fit women were 70 percent less likely to develop diabetes than low-fit women.

A similar study has already been performed on male subjects, with similar results. permanent link to article: "Fitness greatly reduces chance of developing type 2 diabetes in women"
posted by Brent Hugh at 11/19/2003 11:18:00 PM |comment on this article

KSDK-TV posted an article listing the best and worst areas in the St. Louis area for fitness. The research finds a direct relationship between fitness and urban design:

According to a study released in the American Journal of Health Promotion people living in communities where housing, businesses, schools and places of interest are spread out (sprawling communities) are likely to walk less and weigh more than people who live in compact communities.

Key findings from the study:

• People living in sprawling areas are likely to weigh an average of six pounds more than people living in compact communities

• People in sprawling areas walk less for exercise because destinations (shops, offices, etc.) are not in walking distance

• There is a direct relationship between sprawl and high blood pressure

permanent link to article: "Fitness vs. Sprawl"
posted by Brent Hugh at 11/19/2003 01:44:00 PM |comment on this article

The Rolla Daily News covered Lance Armstrong's speech in Rolla last week. Among other topics, Armstrong talked about his victory last summer in the Tour de France:

During the final day of the race, after suffering a crash that cost him valuable seconds, Armstrong said he got back on the bike with a vengeance.

"I had the most incredible rush of adrenaline," he said. On top of that, Armstrong said the competitor's words came back to him just then: "I got mad then," he said.

Caryn Giarratano, MoDOT Senior Transportation Planner and MoDOT liaison to the Missouri Bicycle Federation. Click here to read Caryn's account of her meeting with Lance. permanent link to article: "Lance Armstrong in Rolla: A personal view"
posted by Brent Hugh at 11/09/2003 06:20:00 PM |comment on this article