Category Archives: Health

Devils Cardigan 2024

cycling, Health

Cyclist on a gravel roadWhere would you choose to go for a ride on a country road in Australia in the middle of Winter?

Tasmania of course!

The 2024 National Gravel Championships, competing for the Devil’s Cardigan, were held around Derby, in north east Tasmania, over the past weekend. Two courses – 52 km and 106 km, all on gravel roads.

Gravel racing prizes aren’t known for being extravagant, and the Devils Cardigan event is no exception. Forget the shiny trophy with the name of the latest victor proudly engraved on a plaque – that won’t keep you warm as the post-race celebrations rage on through the cold Tasmanian winter’s night…..

The rider who claims the top step of the race podium is awarded a hand-made wooly cardigan with the name of each winner sewn onto it, along with a sack of Tasmanian potatoes, which will no doubt help fuel future rides.

High Country Rail Trail

cycling, Health, Rail Trails, ,

High Country Rail TrailWhile many of us are familiar with the Victorian Rail Trails around Beechworth and Bright, the High Country Rail Trail takes you on a scenic journey through iconic Australian landscapes in the Upper Murray region.

Stretching over 80 kilometres from Wodonga, through Old Tallangatta and out to Shelley, the High Country Rail Trail hugs the shoreline of the majestic Lake Hume.

Ride back in time to the 1950s when the town of Tallangatta was relocated, and the old town flooded by Lake Hume. Cross the sparkling lake over the bright red 600 metre Sandy Creek Bridge to visit the new and old town sites. Pack your panniers with regional produce for a lakeside picnic at Ebden, Ludlow’s or Huon Reserve, or take a refreshing dip while you simply soak up the serenity.

Explore the High Country Rail Trail >>>

Cyclists’ injuries at record high, riders blame aggressive motorists

cycling, Health, regulation, Safety

Safe passing signA record number of NSW cyclists – 2330 – were taken to hospital in 2021, the most since complete hospital records began to be collected in 2005.

Cyclist David Page has experienced at least 12 serious incidents of dangerous driving and abuse from motorists while on the road in Sydney.

“If you want to kill someone, do it with a car because you will always get off,” said Page, a doctor who lives near Turramurra.

Bike riders now represent about one in four (23 per cent) of road crash hospitalisations, and are the only road user group to report increasing injury numbers recently.

From 2005 to 2021, 173 bicyclists were killed and 29,464 were seriously injured on the state’s roads. However, many of these injuries were not reported to police and did not involve another vehicle, Transport for NSW said.

In the 12 months to the end of January 2023, 20 fines were issued to drivers in NSW for breaking the minimum passing distance rule, but none in the Christmas holiday period of December and January despite several statewide traffic blitzes.

In comparison, since 2016, cyclists have received about 55,000 fines for a range of offences, mostly for not wearing a helmet or not having it correctly fastened (31,402 penalties), riding on the footpath (5645 fines), riding at night without a light (5678) and not having a working bell (2476). There have also been 207 fines for “not ride on far-left side of road”.

Read more (SMH) >>>

Bike helmet review throws cold water on sceptics: they’ll likely save your life

cycling, Health, regulation, Safety, , , , ,

From the Sydney Morning Herald…

Cycling HelmetTampere, Finland: The largest review yet of bike helmet use by 64,000 injured cyclists worldwide has found helmets reduce the chances of a serious head injury by nearly 70 per cent.

Claims that bike helmets damaged the neck and caused serious brain injury were also found to be wrong in the study by University of NSW statistician Dr Jake Olivier, who presented on Tuesday to the international injury prevention conference Safety 2016 in Finland.

Surge in number of fines for cyclists not wearing a helmet

cycling, Health, regulation, ,

From the Sydney Morning Herald….

The number of infringement notices issued by police has risen dramatically following a recent crack down on cyclists who do not wear approved helmets.

cyclist-fines-graph-700

The latest statistics show a 56 per cent rise, to 1545, in the total number of fines issued in the two months after the government increased penalties for cyclists on March 1, compared with the same period a year earlier. 

The fine for riding without a helmet more than quadrupled on March 1 to $319.

The amount of fines collected from people riding without helmets totalled $350,262 in March and April, compared with just over $50,000 in the same period in 2015.

 

A fit body leads to a fit brain

cycling, Health,

Exercise helps your brainFrom the Sydney Morning Herald…..

The most persistent theme in exercise science in 2015 was that to live long, age well and maintain a nimble mind and shapely brain, we must be physically active – but not for as much time as many of us might fear, or in the ways that many of us might guess.

Certainly the most encouraging research this year focused on the links between regular exercise and improvements in our thinking and the structure of our brains. There has been discussion in past years about how exercise increases the number of new neurons in the brain and sharpens thinking skills and mood, especially as we age.

But this year, interest among scientists in exercise and brain health seemed to reach a critical mass. Many new studies are highlighting previously unexplored ways in which exercise changes our brains and minds. A recent brain-scan study in Japan found that the brains of fit older men were almost as efficient as the brains of young people.