Tyred

[j4]

As mentioned yesterday, I went to a Safe Cycling seminar given by the Oxford Cycle Workshop. It was along similar lines to a recent post from LondonCyclist, and I won't try to do justice to an hour's presentation in a paragraph of LiveJournal, but it was reassuring to know that according to them I'm already doing the right things. The two main take-home points were be visible (not just in the sense of wearing hi-vis jackets and — of course — using lights, but also in the sense of making sure you're not hiding down the side of another vehicle, skulking in the gutter, or lurking in someone's blind spot, but rather claiming your place in the lane you're in) and be predictable (stick to the rules of the road, behave like a car where possible because then cars know what to expect). There was a third not-explicitly-stated rule of "don't be a jerk". I wish more road users followed that one. There's another post in my head about Stupid Behaviour I Observe On The Roads Every Day, but really, who wants to read it? We all see it often enough anyway.

Unsurprisingly, the Oxford Cycle Workshop chap didn't say anything about cycling while pregnant (and I didn't ask, as it was a bit out of scope!). I didn't expect him to (he didn't mention helmets either, interestingly), but I did expect better from a supposedly comprehensive book about pregnancy and birth; however, the NCT's book "Happy Birth Day" doesn't seem to say anything about cycling at all (as I mentioned yesterday, I've emailed them to ask about this). Its "Travel" section only includes driving and flying (and if you're flying, hey, you're obviously not that worried about the next generation anyway); "Exercise" only mentions walking, pilates, yoga, and swimming.

After poking around a bit more diligently on their site it appears that they disrecommend cycling after 3 months because of the risk of falling. (On the other hand, they're happy to include cycling in the SEO text list of types of exercise they mention that their maternity sportswear is useful for; and there's no mention of the risk of falling when you have an actual child on the back of the bike.) I asked both my GP and my midwife about it very early on, and they both gave a fairly "common sense" answer: if you feel up to doing it, do it; if you don't, stop. They gave the same advice about running, for that matter (also disrecommended by the NCT after 20 weeks, due to the high impact -- I have noticed that running seems noticeably harder on my ankles than it used to be, I'm taking it very gently but may yet have to stop). Oddly, nobody seems to say that running carries a risk of falling -- maybe they assume people go running on an asphalt track rather than on towpaths and footpaths full of potholes and stones and wet leaves? Anyway, on the cycling front, that's two medical professionals versus one big shiny book, so I'm going with the medics: I intend to carry on cycling (competently and confidently, but carefully, following the rules of the road) as long as I personally feel physically and mentally comfortable with doing so.

Please note, I'm not for a moment saying that there is no risk of falling involved in cycling: it's true, it's entirely possible to fall off a bike, I have indisputable evidence. I've done it three times in the 15 years that I've been cycling regularly (regularly and frequently, pedants). The first occasion was when I took a corner too tightly and scraped my wheels along the kerb; I fell on to the pavement, skinning the heels of my hands and getting wet leaves and mud all over my favourite woolly jumper. To be honest I was more embarrassed than hurt, really; it was one of those things where you know that you've misjudged but you can't do anything about it. On the second occasion I was drunk, and had cycled home along the (off-road) cycle-path without incident but came a cropper when trying to mount the pavement outside our house (to get the bike down the side passage). I don't recall injuring myself at all; drunk people seem to bounce somehow. The third occasion was when I was trying to see if I could cycle with my hands crossed, i.e. left hand on right handlebar and vice versa. Unsurprisingly, I got confused, wobbled, overcompensated in the instinctive (wrong) direction, and went over the handlebars in an ungraceful heap. My hands took the worst of the damage again (raw-skinned palms full of blood and gravel, ugh). All these were when I was a student; I've never actually fallen off my bike since then.

For what it's worth, yes, I was aware of the possibility that my balance would be affected by being pregnant (either because of queasiness or because of the extra/differently-distributed weight); fortunately, on a bike, if you feel at all uneasy about carrying on for whatever reason, you can just get off and push. I haven't had to yet except when trying to cycle up Headington Hill, and that wasn't balance, that was just exhaustion! (What bastard put the hospital at the top of a big hill, eh?)

So anyway, that's three falls while cycling, all basically attributable to stupidity. In the same time-span, I've fallen while on foot the same number of times, possibly more. Once I was running to meet someone, in heeled boots on wet cobbles; I slipped and landed on the side of my ankle, spraining it quite comprehensively (I had to walk with a stick for a week or so, and it remained sore for ages). Another time I slipped on a wet drain-cover and fell, bruising my hands and knees. More recently I managed to trip over a step, tried to regain my balance (arms pinwheeling like Wile E. Coyote on a cliff-edge) and ended up falling, grazing my hands a bit but (as so often) being more embarrassed than hurt. Not even so much stupidity going on there (except for the running on wet cobbles in high heels, yes, that was dumb): just unfortunate mistakes. OK, I also fell down the stairs from the Long Room at New College once as a student, but I was so drunk that I was only barely "on foot" beforehand; amazingly, I walked away (giggling at the ridiculousness of falling down a flight of stairs) with only a few minor bruises. Funnily enough, I'm not likely to be doing anything like that again any time soon (hopefully never!).

Based on this unscientific study, a) walking is just as dangerous as cycling, possibly more so; b) drinking is more dangerous than either; and c) I ought to wear padded gloves while walking or cycling, because my hands invariably come off worst. (I do wear gloves while cycling, otherwise my hands would be numb with cold before I'd got to the end of our street, but they're not especially padded.) Yes, I know that's not the whole story; but the whole story is a much longer discussion of risk, how we measure it, how we perceive it, how we make judgements about it, how we weigh the risks against the benefits ... and that's a story I don't have time to write tonight. Also, I suspect I can't do justice to it without doing a lot more research, and I don't know when I'm going to have time to do that. But of course we all make judgements about risk every day, with or without doing the research, with or without having concrete statistics to hand; we have to, otherwise we'd be paralysed by indecision. The person who says "but that's so dangerous!" invariably can't quote any more facts than I can to support their assertion. And they take risks too. There is no such thing as a life without risk.

Comments

[geekette8.livejournal.com]

This is all good stuff. The other aspect is the studies (no. I don't have cites, this is recalled from when I was pregnant!) that show that doing regular (and, as you so rightly pedantify, frequent :-)) exercise is one of the best indicators for a complication-free birth.

I cycled right up to 41 weeks+ ; the last time was two days before I went into labour (at 41w6d) when I cycled a 3 mile round trip to Sainsburys and startled the cashier by answering the "when are you due" question with a date nearly two weeks in the past :-)) The only time I decided discretion was the better part of valour was when we had that horrible heavy snowfall. I walked home from work that day, but I would not have cycled even if I hadn't been pregnant, because the risk of falling was significant.

[tla]

I know a few people who carried on cycling while pregnant, and they were all fine. I didn't, but that was nothing to do with risk and everything to do with a) moving between Oxford and Zürich, and b) just generally not feeling up to it. I often wish I had. The balance issue is an interesting one - I have heard that balance is affected in late pregnancy (though it hasn't happened to me), but at the same time, if you can easily compensate for an asymmetrically loaded pannier, why wouldn't you be able to compensate for the bump, which *would* be symmetric?

And yeah, I wish such a course were mandatory for cyclists around Oxford and elsewhere in the UK (and, for that matter, drivers! Especially bus drivers.)

[1ngi.livejournal.com]

My sister fell down the stairs when she was six months in - gave us all a bit of a start. She and the baby were fine. We, as yet, do not admonish pregnant ladies for using the stairs.

So yeah - risk, perceptions, all that, absolutely.

Dunno if this is too early to say this, but as a mere bystander I have become very aware that a mother's place is in the wrong. Which is an absolute injustice. So as I am always saying to my Sis: stick you finger up and get on with whatever it was you were doing.

[jinty]

I cycled to work until I went on mat leave at 38 weeks, and felt fine - the bump did not affect my balance as it was in line with the main axis of the bike. I went a bit more slowly is all - and to be honest it was a lot easier than taking the bus and walking at each end. I got some curious or uncertain or admiring comments as people seemed to feel I was doing something unexpected, but no criticism. Having said that, the finance director of one of the divisions - a stern and frankly scary woman - congratulated me one morning for still cycling, and said that she'd got some stick for cycling while heavily pregnant. (I'm astounded anyone dared, actually!)

[emperor]

More power to your pedalling muscles! [No, I think I stretched that too far. Oh well. Sorry, it's early for me]

I heartly agree with the "don't be a jerk" thing. I'm trying not to swear at road users who have behaved badly towards quite as much...

[aendr.livejournal.com]

I already have an impaired balance system, so was more careful when pregnant. I have fallen off an exercise bike, more than once. Without a pre-existing problem, you are unlikely to have a problem until your bump is sufficiently sticky-out to put your centre of gravity off centre. Some ladies have a small third trimester bump, so don't really get this to any great extent. Some ladies grow gradually, so adjust. Some ladies suddenly pop out, and they are most likely to have this problem. Your thighs and bottom will lay down some fat, which actually counter-balances your front a bit. To be quite honest, I'd be more concerned with slipping on ice in your late second and third trimesters. I would recommend you invest in some good cat litter (the grainy stuff, not the cardboard stuff) and salt before winter sets in, so you can keep your drive/walkway clear (as that I have found is the slippiest area you will commonly use) and make sure you have some good soled shoes that you still can get on with a massive pillow shoved up your jumper. Oh, and your feet might swell too.

[perdita-fysh.livejournal.com]

I continued mountain biking until I was six months pregnant and only stopped then because my SPD was crippling for a few days after each ride. I reached a similar conclusion - that it is about sticking within the limits of what you know you are capable of. The HCPs I spoke to about it (midwife and consultant) had no problem with it, although I didn't specifically mention that I was competing in free ride events at 12 weeks pregnant *&)
http://perdita-fysh.livejournal.com/287277.html

I can disrecommend 'The Best Friend's Guide to Pregnancy' in this regard by the way, she thinks that the only purpose of exercise is to keep your model dimensions so as you're screwed on that front while pregnant you shouldn't bother.

PS: I don't think I said it on the original post - congrats!!

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

Not exercising is arguably the biggest risk of all.

You will be very glad that you exercised regularly when you deal with the physical work of labour.

[jvvw.livejournal.com]

Just in case you didn't see them and they are of interest:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/oct/27/cycling-pregnancy-london

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/may/21/pregnant-cyclists

At about 33 weeks, I managed to fall over just walking around campus, didn't even trip on anything, but I'm hopelessly clumsy at the best of times!

btw I never found any really good books about pregnancy, but didn't look that hard.

[scat0324.livejournal.com]

The other conclusion is that your cycling falls are more humorous than your walking ones, or perhaps it's just the way you tell 'em.

[vinaigrettegirl.livejournal.com]

Balance per se being an inner-ear thing, its unexpected and therefore possibly Not Good influencers would be (a) subtle hormonal changes and (b) equally passing viral infections. As you can't take anti-cold and flu meds whilst preggers, best to be aware of these; and if you can't take vit C for a cold because of the protocol you might decide to opt out of the study. At the end of the day you and the healthy outcome are more important than the science (she said heretically).

Trust yourself and review matters from time to time. If you're iffy, trust that and be cautious. Me, I gave up going up the stairs at work when the simple bump-bump of my footfalls started hurting my womb and a belly-band wasn't helping that. You'll know.

[uisgebeatha.livejournal.com]

Useful points for cycling, those. Interestingly, they've been sort of applying to driving for me at the moment too, because a lot of the cock-ups I've been making have been because I've not been visible, or hugging the kerb (which might be a relic from how I cycle :/).

I'd like to think I'm not a jerk on the road; I've unfortunately come across slightly more cyclists doing douchey things to give me a fright, who have of course reacted with jerky words and gestures when I've had to slam on the brakes. It's never the cyclist's fault, is it? :(

(Does that workshop offer adult cycling courses, OOI? I've seen that sort of thing around Cambridge, and I think a lot of folk would benefit from them, myself included!)

I'd agree with Ingrid on weighing up the risks and whatnot. You're sensible enough to know what you're doing and just generally be careful :)

[monkeyhands.livejournal.com]

I couldn't believe that website puts cycling in the same risk group as skiing and horse-riding. Yes, they all have the potential for falling, but so does that well-known sport, "Being Upright".

(awaits flaming from champion skiers pointing out that skiing is scientifically proven to be just as safe as making a cup of tea.)

FWIW I'm a big ole spazmogram and I have fallen off my bike several times in nearly eight years of cycling. I've also fallen over while walking more times than I can count. The week before last I banged my head on the shower shield trying to flick soap out of my eyes. Then the following day I banged a different bit of my head on the bus seat in front of me when I leaned forward and the driver stopped suddenly. I had a bruise and a lump, in different places on my head, for about a week. If I was pregnant, I *hope* I would continue showering and catching buses.

You don't need me to say this, but I'm really glad you're making your own assessment of the risks and not letting other people's knee-jerkery change your behaviour. Because when we talk about risk, we're talking about so many other things that aren't really to do with risk at all.