Many of us are both motorists and cyclists.

From the perspective of a cycling motorist two main factors contribute to the difficulty of watching out for cyclists:
1. Many nighttime cyclists are not properly lit. This ranges from cyclists who completely lack lights, to cyclists who are poorly lit, to those who are well lit, but the lighting arrangement is visually confusing.
2. The behavior of many cyclists (night time or not) is often unpredictable from the perspective of a motorist, even this motorist who cycles (or this cyclist who motors).

At any rate, here are some tidbits to consider if you cycle at night:

-Cyclist fatalities occurred more frequently in urban areas (66%), at nonintersection locations (67%), between the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. (30%), and during the months of June, July, and August (36%). (NHTSA, 2004)
In 1999, 39% of deaths on bicycles nationwide occurred between 6 p.m. and midnight.

-Nearly 60 per cent of all adult fatal bicycle accidents in Florida occur during twilight and night hours although less than three percent of bicycle use takes place at that time.
Many factors compound the danger of riding at night, such as:
-Motorists driving under the influence of drugs/alcohol.
-Motorist’s ability to see what is ahead is limited to the area illuminated by headlights. Visibility is further reduced by the glare from lights of oncoming vehicles.

-The number of bicyclists killed at night has increased from 304 to 372 per year. In 1975, the number of nighttime deaths accounted for 30% of the total number of bicyclists killed. By 1982 (the latest year for which complete data are available), nighttime deaths accounted for 42% of the total number of bicyclists killed. One factor contributing to fatal nighttime bicyclist accidents is that the bicycles and riders are not readily visible to motorists. Motorists involved in car/bicycle collisions report that they hit bicyclists because the bicycles and riders were not visible. Cyclists’ failure to wear protective helmets may have also contributed to the severity of head injuries suffered in car-bike collisions.

1. If you cycle after dark, you may be sharing the road with motorists who are inebriated. Sorry, this fact is not negated if you are an inebriated cyclist.

2. If you are a bicycle commuter this time of year, you are riding in conditions that are stacked against you: The volume of automobiles is larger during commute hours, and it’s more difficult for drivers to see you. Add the glare caused by wet conditions and it’s even worse.

In “Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100″ (Avalon Press, $16.95), authors Roy Wallack and Bill Katovsky lay out a premise that says cycling — with its combination of fun, ease, travel, social interaction, joint-gentleness and physical challenge — is the ideal sport for longevity.

As Wallack puts it, cycling is a panacea that can help you “roll into the triple digits –miles and age — on a bike instead of in a wheelchair.”

The book, a manual of sorts organized in digestible articles, sidebars and lists, offers how-to exercises and riding advice. (Wallack writes on health for the Los Angeles Times; Katovsky founded Triathlete magazine.)

On the longevity front, there’s an “antiaging strength plan” to revive reaction time, methods for avoiding back cramping and injury while riding, and advice on cycling and its effects on osteoporosis.

Bonus: The book includes interviews with aging stars of the sport such as Mike Sinyard, founder of Specialized Bikes, mountain-bike pioneer Gary Fisher and adventure cyclist John Howard, who might just be proving the authors’ premise to be true.

More bikes = more happy.

Todd Litman of the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute (VTPI) an independent research organization dedicated to developing innovative and practical solutions to transportation problems, released a study yesterday that compares people’s satisfaction with their daily commutes.

Litman found that people with short, human-powered commutes were happier than their transit or motor vehicle-using counterparts.

Litman’s chart shows the likes and dislikes of various commuting methods.

His findings were released in a 37-page report titled, Valuing Transit Service Quality Improvements: Considering Comfort and Convenience In Transport Project Evaluation .(view PDF here)

Litman found that length of commutes was a key indicator of satisfaction (shorter commutes = happier people) and that the traditional practice of increasing highway capacity to speed them up is not a cost effective solution. From the study,

Conventional analysis favors highway expansion to increase traffic speeds, while more comprehensive analysis favors alternative modes to improve comfort and convenience.

Here’s an analysis of the report from Clark Williams-Derry of the Sightline Institute:

The happiest of all commuters get to work under their own power. Bikers express the highest levels of satisfaction, and least dissatisfaction, with their morning and afternoon treks. Walkers are close behind. I’m not sure if that’s because walkers and bikers tend to have shorter commutes, or because they tend to have pleasant or stress-free routes (otherwise, they’d choose another way to get to work). Either way, it seems like a good way to make people happier with their commute is, if possible, to give them a safe and quick way to get to work under their own power.

So the answer is simple. Build safer and more efficient bikeways and we’ll have a city full of happy people.

The Road World Championships are cycling’s annual competition to find the world’s best individual riders.

This year they are being held in Stuttgart, Germany, from 26-30 September.

WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

Italy’s Paolo Bettini will be hoping to defend his title
Italian Paolo Bettini is the reigning champion in the men’s road race

The winner of each of the six events is the World Champion and gets to wear the World Champion’s rainbow jersey for the following season.

While some riders dream of wearing the yellow or pink jersey of races like the Tour de France or the Giro D’Italia, every rider dreams of wearing the rainbow.

The Championships are comprised of two events: the time trial and the road race in both the men’s and women’s categories.

But for the men there is an under-23 version of both events as well as the elite, whereas the women contest just the time trail and the road race at elite level.

The road races at the Worlds are like no other in the cycling calendar - professional allegiances are thrown aside in favour of national pride.

But in a long war of attrition where the 166-mile course and tactics can dictate the result as much as form, riders will have to get help from colleagues as well as fellow countrymen.

HOW MANY RIDERS CAN ENTER?

As with many things related to the International Cycling Union (UCI), the qualification criteria are less than straightforward. The simplest explanation is that a strong presence in the Pro-Tour gives nations a big advantage in the numbers game.

The traditional powerhouses such as France, Italy and Belgium all get an allocation of nine riders in the road race, whereas countries like Britain can only field three, putting them among the smaller nations who will look to profit from the work of the big squads.

ONES TO WATCH

Bradley Wiggins
Wiggins will be a looking for a strong performance in the elite time trial

Men’s Elite Time Trial: Britain’s Bradley Wiggins will want to build on his strong time-trial performances in the Tour de France, and with David Millar also declaring himself up for the challenge of reclaiming a jersey of which he has previously been stripped (in 2003), many will see this as the best chance for British glory at the championships.

Standing in their way will be defending champion Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), who also won the London time trial in the Tour de France.

Men’s Elite Road Race: There is one nation which can dictate the race: Italy. After years of in-fighting and professional rivalry, manager Franco Ballerini has managed to get his Azzurri to race for national pride and - officially - in defence of reigning champion Paolo Bettini, who is well-suited to the hilly course.

But persuading the rest of the team (Fillipo Pozzato, Danilo Di Luca, Alessandro Ballan and Davide Rebellin) to sacrifice their chances of victory is going to be a tall order.

The British hopes will probably rest on David Millar, who is riding like a man reborn this season. Although not a known climber, Millar has the power and class to be up with the race if he maintains his self-belief over the hills.

He will be supported by the experienced Roger Hammond who will also be guiding the rookie Mark Cavendish through his first elite Worlds and, if it comes down to a bunch sprint finish, hopefully leading out the young Manxman for what would be a stunning victory.

Women’s Time Trial: There is excitement about the chances of Britain’s Wendy Houvenaghel, but she will find herself up against a start list which includes such greats as Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli (France) and Judith Arndt (Germany), as well as defending champion Kristin Armstrong (USA).

Women’s Elite Road Race: The race will be as notable for the absence of Nicole Cooke as for those present. The British Champion is out with a knee injury which put paid to her World Cup campaign.

However, this could add spice to a race that in previous years has seen the opposition focused on isolating Cooke. The favourites such as Marianne Vos (Netherlands), Karen Thurig (Switzerland) and Judith Arndt (Germany) will have to race each other rather than working together to fend off Cooke’s challenge.

Men’s Under-23 Time Trial: Hot favourite will be the Russian Mikhail Ignatiev who has had an excellent season with the Tinkoff Credit Systems team and could potentially claim his second rainbow jersey in the event.

Ian Stannard, the only British entrant, is one of the crop of riders produced by the British Cycling academy system and has been tipped to join the long line of time trial specialists for which the British have a strong reputation.

Under-23 Men’s Road Race: British hopes lie with Ben Swift, who comes into the race off the back of a successful Tour of Britain which saw him claim the King of the Mountains jersey. The Stuttgart course is a hilly one, which may suit him well.

The Under-23s race gives a good indication of the emerging powers in world cycling, and several of them are from the former Soviet Bloc. The Russian team features riders who’ve been mixing it in senior events this year, such as Ivan Rovny, Mikhail Ignatiev and Nikolai Trusov.

But unless you are a hardcore cycling fan, you’d be hard pushed to find too many recognisable names. However, you can be sure that you will know some of them within a few years. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway), for example, is being tipped to win and to continue building his reputation in the peleton.

Your thoughts on the World Championships in Germany

Today is the official release of the BiCyclingSite.com BiCycle Blog . Through this cycling blog we will keep you updated of any changes or updates to our website. Moreover you can use the rss feed of this blog to receive the latest cycling news and interesting post we make about cycling.

regards,

The BiCyclingSite Team
www.bicyclingsite.com
info@bicyclingsite.com