The Old Guy Bicycle Blog

  I have been seriously riding a bicycle for 50 years and have been lucky enough to never be hit by a car. I consider myself to be a very defensive cyclist and often find myself anticipating trouble. That has helped a lot because there have been many close calls. It does not mean I will never be in a car accident but that I have been proactive. I could get hit today even though I am careful. It can happen at anytime to anybody. I decided to look into how many cyclists get hit by cars each year and what we can do to fix it. Here is what I found. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were 938 cyclists killed in crashes with motor vehicles in the United States in 2020 alone. In 2021 it was 961. These numbers are not just statistics; they represent lives lost, families shattered, and communities impacted. So, how many cyclists get hit by cars each year, and what can we do to fix it? The answer to the first part of the question is not straightforward bec...

MAMILs: More Than Just Lycra-Clad Clichés Ah, the MAMIL. Middle-aged Men in Lycra. A term coined, it seems, with a chuckle and a smirk. Often tossed around like a deflated football, implying over-inflated egos and under-inflated tyre pressures. But is this fair? Do all MAMILs deserve to be lumped together in this spandex-clad stereotype? Let's be honest, there are some who fit the bill perfectly. The ones who dominate cafe stops with tales of KOMs and QOMs, who navigate city streets with the grace of a bull in a china shop, and who treat every climb like a Tour de France stage. These, my friends, are the Velominati Vigilantes , the spandex-clad spectres haunting our cycling routes. But here's the thing: these self-proclaimed cycling gods are in the minority. They're the loud ones, the ones who drown out the quiet hum of gears and the gentle symphony of pedal strokes. They're the outliers, not the norm. The vast majority of MAMILs are simply ord...