Love trumps hate – 5 things cyclists should learn to love

With a subtle reference to the U.S. election, I bring you 5 things cyclists should learn to love.

1. Electric Bikes

“Cheater!” is my gut reaction when I see someone riding an electric bike. Perhaps I’m a purist or maybe I’m just jealous.

However, whenever I’ve been the one riding an electric bike, I’ve thought “wow this is wonderful!”. It makes me want to go out on longer rides, where otherwise I’d opt for the tube.

Anything that can get more people cycling is a big plus and that’s the point of electric bikes. From my grandad (picture here!), to a busy mom/dad transporting kids or a driver, if it encourages them to cycle, why not!

As cyclists, we need to overcome the idea that riding electric is in some way cheating and that it’s not how cycling is meant to be. By being too much of a “purist” we’re stopping more people from becoming cyclists.

2. Inflatable Bike Helmets

What will those crazy Swedes come up with next?! To be the first country to go entirely fossil fuel free? Oh, well, okay, fair enough.

Just before we discuss helmets – a caveat – some people wear them, some people don’t, let’s not get in to it.

On first glance the Hovding inflatable helmet comes across as just another mad Kickstarter product.

However, I think we should give it a chance. For a start, it is apparently 8 times safer than a regular helmet. Second, it won’t mess up your hair do. A friend of mine who runs a bike shop said it’s selling surprisingly well.

At £200 I’ve not yet invested in one myself, but don’t be too shocked when it happens!

3. Inspirational Cycling Quotes

If you follow a cycling blogger on Instagram, you will have undoubtedly at some point been subjected to an inspirational cycling quote. Here’s why I think we should learn to love them.

Christmas is around the corner and we all have that relative or friend who hates cyclists. You may have felt your fists clench as they uttered the phrase “I just don’t get why they ride two aside – I mean it’s impossible to overtake them”.

Well, here’s your chance to subtly get your own back.

Instead of a Christmas card, get them a card with an inspirational cycling quote on it. It’s subtle but it’ll annoy the hell out of them. For bonus points, don’t mention anything about the fact it’s a cycling quote.

Here are some inspirational cycling quotes to get you started.

4. Bromptons

Bromptons are like marmite. You love them or you hate them. I’ve spent much of my life in the latter camp but I now find myself moving towards love!

“But.. but… but.. the wheels are so small!”

I know, I can see that the wheels are so small, but it does mean that it accelerates really quick at traffic lights, which lets be honest is where we spent about 1/4 of our time as cyclists in London.

The convenience of Bromptons is indisputable and from what I’ve seen most restaurants are happy for you to bring it in with you and it can be stored out the way.

This point comes back to the first point, we shouldn’t be purists as cyclists.

5. Drivers

A friend of mine spent 10 weeks on a silent meditation retreat in India. On the first day, she was given a single instruction: remain equanimous.

She spent the next 10 days trying to figure out if equanimous was really a word.

The point is, this is how we should feel towards drivers. The vast majority of them are nice people, like us, trying to get from A to B. Occasionally, these nice people will lose their temper or do something silly, like us. There’s not much point in meeting that anger with anger or in carrying that frustration with us during the day. We have to learn to let things go.

For more spiritual guidance, see our zen guide to becoming a happier cyclist.

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When a cough just won’t go away

Who has never had a cough? I bet no one can raise their hand. We see this in clinic all the time. But chronic cough— one that lasts at least eight weeks — can be hard for patients to deal with and difficult for doctors to figure out.

In the October 20, 2016 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, lung experts describe a step-by-step approach doctors can use to help treat patients with chronic cough. Most often a prolonged cough is due to one of the “usual suspects.” But when it’s not, we have a long list of increasingly rarer conditions that we should run through and rule out. If it isn’t due to any of those, experts now recognize that the culprit may be overactive nerves that cause an exaggerated cough response to certain triggers.

The “usual suspects” that may be behind a chronic cough

The authors describe a typical patient with chronic cough, and she is very similar to many of my patients. She’s a middle-aged lady with a cough lasting many months. Of course, first we want to ask a whole lot of questions.

• Has she had chronic allergy symptoms such as itchy, watery eyes and nose, stuffy nose, and postnasal drip? If so, it’s worth trying antihistamines and nasal steroids. Undertreated allergies can lead to chronic sinus infection, which causes cough by postnasal drip, so we may want to treat for this as well.
• Could she have “cough variant” asthma that causes a cough but no wheezing? Many of my patients would rather not wait for an appointment with a lung specialist and undergo fancy tests. So, if we suspect cough-variant asthma, we simply begin inhalers. A few weeks of inhaled albuterol to help open the airways and a steroid inhaler to quell inflammation may both make the diagnosis and treat the problem.
• Is she suffering from heartburn symptoms? Acid reflux can also trigger cough, and if someone describes heartburn symptoms, or even if we are not sure what is causing the cough, we often prescribe eight weeks of an acid-lowering medication.
• Is she taking a medication for which coughing is a side effect? Lisinopril or another blood pressure medication from the class called ACE inhibitors can cause cough in 20% of patients. A trial period off this medication may be warranted.
• Is she among the 17% of Americans who smoke cigarettes? If so, her cough may be due to chronic bronchitis, where cumulative lung damage prevents the body’s normal ability to clear particles, the airways swell and make excessive mucus, and eventually areas die off and leave “dead space.” In a smoker, other symptoms with the cough may raise concern about a lung infection or even cancer.
• Does she have other health risks or conditions? If she has been incarcerated or in a shelter, or perhaps is from a resource-poor country, we consider tuberculosis (TB). If she has a weakened immune system as well, due to HIV or long-term use of corticosteroids, TB and a host of other unusual organisms are on the list.
• Are we stumped? Rare conditions to consider include pulmonary fibrosis, sarcoidosis, autoimmune diseases, and anatomical abnormalities. Additional workup should include pulmonary and ENT evaluations.

Beyond the usual — and even the “unusual” — suspects

But what do we do for patients who either do not respond to treatments for their common conditions, or for whom extensive evaluation rules out the less common causes of a chronic cough? Well, researchers are now describing a new family of breathing and cough conditions caused by nerve dysfunction.

New evidence suggests that postnasal drip, acid reflux, or even forceful coughing in and of itself can aggravate nerve endings in the “cough centers” of the airways. These aggravated nerve endings then overreact to many other triggers, such as smoke, perfume, or temperature changes, causing an overwhelming urge to cough. They label this condition “neuronal hyper-responsiveness syndrome” and outline several approaches to treatment.

But wait, there’s more. Other researchers describe a similar concept at the level of the larynx, a family of disorders under “laryngeal dysfunction syndrome” that can include “laryngeal hyper-responsiveness.” Many of the treatments they describe are similar to the treatments for “neuronal hyper-responsiveness,” and the most promising include the anticonvulsants gabapentin and pregabalin, the antidepressant amitriptyline, speech therapy, or a combination of these.

Basically, medical experts are describing a new cause of chronic cough based on aggravated nerves and airway dysfunction, and more research will result in better treatments.

Related Post:

• 3 things you might not know about childhood asthma
• Lung disease in smokers who don’t have COPD
• Just what is pneumonia, anyway?
• Why your wheezing baby may need TLC, not medication
• When do you really need antibiotics for that sinus…

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Olesen’s 62 Key to Second-Round Turkish Lead

Thorbjorn Olesen shot a tournament-low 62 to jump into first place at the Turkish AIrlines Open on Friday, leading halfway through the first leg of the Final Series.

Olesen has a huge 6-stroke lead over unheralded Adrian Otaegui of Spain and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee.

Olesen’s lone blemish was a bogey on No. 11. OTherwise he shot 32 on the back nine with four birdies and an eagle. Through two rounds he is 9-under on the back nine.

Before his 62, the talk of the day was Otaegui’s 63, which jumped him from 30th to second on the leaderboard. Otageui entered the tournament as a wild card, ranked 75th in the Race to Dubai standings and  284th in the world. Jaidee shot a 66 after his opening 67. He is 20th in the Dubai standings.

Day One leader George Coetzee plummeted into a tie for 13th, following up his opening 64 with an ugly 73. One-over at the turn, Coetzee found total disaster with a quadruple-bogey 8 on No. 10. He countered with three birdies in his next five holes to get back down to 2-over, but the damage was already done.

 

There are no Top 10 Race to Dubai players in the top 25 on the board currently. The top player is No 5 Tyrell Hatton tied for 27th at 3-under.

 

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Vulpine British Waxed Harrington Jacket Review – Style & Practicality

The goofy grin on my face is because I’m thrilled to be trying out Vulpine’s new British Waxed Harrington Jacket for a review on London Cyclist. If you find yourself wearing this same jacket right now, it’s likely you’ll have the same silly grin.

This has become my go to jacket over the autumn and winter. It’s designed for warm to mild conditions and has some rain resistance, though it is not classified as waterproof. In practise, that means you’ll be fine most days, even with light or slightly heavier rain, but if heavy, prolonged rain is predicted, you’ll want to grab something with stronger resistance.

Over the past few days, where we’ve seen temperatures around 8-9 degrees celsius, for a short, casual 3 mile cycle, I wore the Vulpine Harrington Jacket, with a t-shirt and jumper beneath. This suited me just perfect.

The Harrington Jacket – The Basics

Let’s get the basics out the way.

From Vulpine’s wide range you pick between:

• Casual vs. sporty
• Waterproof vs. rain resistant
• Summer vs. winter

The Waxed Harrington is classified as a casual, rain resistant, half way between summer and winter jacket. Basically, it’s just right for anyone looking for something that looks good off the bike, but feels comfortable and practical on the bike.

It’s not waterproof enough to get you through the whole of winter and it’s not really right if you are looking for something for more competitive rides.

Available from extra small to XXL, the jacket retails at £350. There is also the unwaxed edition which retails at £295, which doesn’t feature water resistance.

Jacket Features & Details

The Vulpine Waxed Harrington jacket features two zipped pockets on the sides and an internal zipped pocket. The inside pocket is large enough to fit a Kindle. The side pockets are large enough to fit a couple of bike lights, your wallet, phone, keys and so forth.

This jacket is part of Vulpine’s Made in Britain Range and on the inside, next to the pocket, you’ll notice a label for the British Millerain Fabric. Manufactured in Lancashire, the fabric they’ve chosen is both lightweight and windproof.

The zips feel durable and should easily stand the test of time. There’s a flap that covers the main zip and a couple of buttons to clip in to near the neck, for a really tight fit. In practise, I find this a little too tight around my neck, so I don’t tend to use it.

On the back of the jacket, there is an additional pocket, with another button which clamps down hard. It’s a little too fiddly to open and close while riding, but this jacket isn’t designed with competitive riding in mind. This is a useful pocket for keeping a pair of gloves or a snack.

There’s beautiful tartan lining, which looks great on the inside and on the pockets.

The back of the jacket features some light reflective detail.

The Fit

I always tend to buy medium sized clothes and for my shape the Vulpine Harrington feels just right. It’s tight enough to look good, but still feels really comfortable and great for while riding. There is of course a slightly longer cut on the arms for when you are leaning down on the handlebars. I think Vulpine have really got the fit just right and it makes a difference.

Which Vulpine jacket should you choose?

Let’s be honest, if you have close to £350 to spend on a jacket, then it’s tricky to decide from Vulpine’s excellent range.

The Vulpine Waxed Harrington is a really fashionable jacket, with the usual cycle friendly features. It has some rain resistance, a great fit, great pockets, it feels really good and looks good. It’s a jacket you’ll be able to wear most of the year.

If you are looking for stronger rain resistance, then it’s likely you’ll also want to take a look at the Harrington Rain jacket. It’s perhaps not as fashionable/trendy, but it is £100 cheaper.

Whatever the choice, it’s unlikely you’ll be disappointed.

The jacket can be ordered from the Vulpine website.

We also have a review of the Vulpine Urban Cycling Jeans.

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There’s no sugar-coating it: All calories are not created equal

Counting calories doesn’t work. Burning more calories each day than you consume may have been the diet advice from the past, but that has since been debunked. So you no longer have to work out until you’ve “burned off” that apple cider donut you had with lunch. You just have to make sure you’re eating whole foods and avoiding processed carbohydrates — like crackers, cookies, or white bread.

A recent review in JAMA Internal Medicine further casts a light on the shaky history of nutritional science. Before the 1980s, regulations did not require researchers and physicians to declare conflicts of interest before publishing a paper. By not announcing affiliation, research had the potential to be swayed by money and funding. That’s why it had to change.

Are fat and cholesterol the dietary “bad guys”?

A study funded by the Sugar Research Foundation (SRF) from the 1960s found that cholesterol and fat were the main contributors to weight gain and responsible for an increased risk for coronary heart disease. These results kick-started the country’s decades-long consumption of added sugar. With fat removed, food lost taste and appeal, so manufacturers added sugar to combat this. The country’s intake of sugar and processed carbohydrates went up, while our intake of fat went down. Dr. David Ludwig, a professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, says “Overall, these processed carbohydrates are worse than the fats they replaced.”

The JAMA review from September found that the doctors involved with the study were in fact paid by the SRF. Their research was tainted due to conflict of interest. The SRF — and thus the doctors paid by the SRF — directly benefited from the results of this 1960s study, and they profited tremendously from the uptick in sugar sales, while consumers made health decisions on the basis of questionable information.

The scoop on carbohydrates

It is true that fat has more calories than carbohydrates, including sugar. But by that logic, a sugary beverage is better for you than a handful of nuts. That’s just not what the unbiased studies have shown. Looking only at calories ignores the metabolic effects of each calorie; the source of the calorie changes how you digest it and how you retrieve energy from it.

Carbohydrates have been categorized as simple or complex in the past. Dr. Ludwig says these classifications are misleading. Many doctors are pulling away from those narrow categories and moving toward the all-encompassing terms of high glycemic index and low glycemic index. An apple is a simple carbohydrate because it is digested quickly by the body, but fruit is better for you than other simple carbohydrates like chips or crackers. That’s why Dr. Ludwig views the glycemic index as a more accurate measure of a food’s value (good or bad). When something has a low glycemic index, it raises your blood sugar levels slowly, increasing your insulin levels gradually.

That’s good, because too many insulin spikes result in insulin resistance, where your body stops responding to insulin it is producing (also known as type 2 diabetes). High-glycemic foods, on the other hand, cause blood sugar levels and thus insulin to rise quickly, prompting the overproduction of insulin and fat storage. Ludwig would rather you focus on low-glycemic foods like whole-grain pasta, wheat bread, fruits, beans, and nuts. High-glycemic foods include candy, croissants, and scones. By choosing the low-glycemic foods and thus the minimally processed foods, people can lose more weight, feel fuller longer, and remain healthier.

Can you make peace with fat?

Today you can look at food differently. Counting calories alone doesn’t work because ultimately it matters where those calories come from; this matters more than the number of calories ingested. Dr. Ludwig says, “It was this calorie-focus that got us into trouble with the low-fat diet in the first place.”

So don’t be afraid to go back to fat. Just make sure it’s the healthy fats like avocado, olive oil, and nuts. Don’t cut out the fat, and don’t make a habit of eating products labeled “fat free.”

Related Post:

• Using the glycemic index to stave off holiday weight gain
• Eating too much added sugar increases the risk of dying with
• The type of fat you eat matters!
• Are fresh juice drinks as healthy as they seem?
• Making one change — getting more fiber — can help with…

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DZR H2O Review: Urban SPD Shoes

Last week we brought you a run down of some city worthy SPD shoes I have good experience with. I promised you an in-depth review of one of these pairs, the DZR H2O’s, so here it is.

What are they?

They are regular looking trainers but with stiffer soles and an attachment for cleats. This means they blend in well with whatever clothing you wear on a regular basis. They are also lined with a waterproof membrane, meaning they keep your feet completely dry. Couple that with a raised, snug cuff and your feet will be very happy all winter.

Before I got the shoes, I thought they were going to be like a very expensive, but still somewhat cheap version of Converse or other type of trainers. Boy was I wrong. The leather on these shoes is buttery soft and gives them a really classy look. They are clearly well made, and they really do keep your feet dry. At £140 this is good to hear!

The soles are nice and stiff for peddling, but not too stiff for walking around. The cleats are pretty recessed, as you would expect from a pair of city shoes. However, I had high hopes that they would not grate on the ground but they do. You can certainly hear these are cycling shoes, even if you are not at risk of falling down.

Fit

These are roomy shoes, probably because they are unisex and therefore a little wider than I am used to. This is good for wearing winter socks and having lots of toe room. However, it makes them a little cumbersome. I have pretty skinny feet and so have to tie the laces completely tight to stop my foot moving around too much.

This was made even worse for me as I got the sizing slightly wrong when ordering. DZR suggest going up a size, and I am between sizes anyway, so erred on the side of caution and went up a size and a half. Wrong plan. they do not come up that small. Not a huge deal, just something to bear in mind. Even if they were not a little too big for me length wise, they would still be mighty generous on volume. For many of you this will be great, for others not so great.

The good

They are really good looking and feeling shoes. They are obviously well made (for the most part, see section below for tiny quibble). I like the way the leather has been layered and stitched, they really look just like a regular shoe. I also like that the rubber material around the side of the shoe is dark grey and black as well – too often black winter shoes are let down by having highly contrasting material.

I really like the reflective shape on the heel. It is a small detail but having a reflective element down there, moving around with every pedal stroke, really attracts attention from motorists.

The grip on the soles is really great. Sometimes in heavy traffic I prefer to keep one foot unclipped just in case. In the rain this can be a bit slippy on the platform side of my pedals in other shoes. In these it was not a problem and my foot felt almost as stable as if I was clipped in. The sole also looks to be of the unmarking variety, which is good for those of you with fancy marble foyers to travers on a regular basis – nothing worse that scuffing that up!

The bad

Whilst they look great and really look like trainers, they are somewhat masculine. Obviously for half of the population this is not a problem. Personally I am not a particularly elegant or refined female and therefore it does not bother me. However, if you prefer your shoes to be delicate, these are not for you.

I don’t like the fabric in the cleat mount at the bottom. It is on the underneath of the shoe, so not something you see very much, but there is some white felt material down there. This may be fine in the long run and it probably isn’t going to stay white for long but it looks kinda fragile. It also just looks a little odd and unfinished, which is not something you expect for a pair of shoes costing over £100.

Review Conclusions

These are a very nice pair of shoes. I am still taken aback by how beautiful they feel and how soft the leather is. For such a robust burley looking shoe, they sure do feel beautiful. Luckily the beauty does not seem to equate to delicate. They will get scuffed but they can be polished and oiled and restored again and again., also some scuffing adds character.

They are a great choice for winter. As they are waterproof they are warm and completely windproof.  The unisex fit is great in some ways, otherwise the shoe would probably only be available in men’s sizes. However, they are roomy if a little short.

If you want your own pair, you can pre order them on The Cycling Store’s website for £140 and they will hopefully be having a pop-up shop in the next few months if you want to try some on.

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McIlroy Blasted for Turkish Open Exit

Either Rory McIlroy is the most concerned person around, or he just does whatever he feels like.

For the second time in the past four months, McIlroy, ranked No. 3 in the world and the current FedEx Cup champion, pulled out of a high-profile tournament at the last minute because of safety concerns.

The tournament is being played in Antalya at the Regnum Carya Golf & Spa Resort. Last week, a car exploded in the parking lot of a government building in Antayla. Although Turkey has seen multiple attacks of terrorism in the last 1-1/2 years, government officials believed the explosion might have been just a malfunction and not a bomb. Ten people suffered minor injuries from flying glass.

Earlier in October, three rockets were fired into the Antalya region from a “mountainous area” nearby. The rockets were thought to be intended for a ship anchored off the coast, but instead hit a building used by fishermen. There were no casualties, as the building was unoccupied at the time.

Ahmet Agaoglu, the president of the Turkish Golf Federation, said he learned of McIlroy’s withdrawal via media reports.

“There are things happening everywhere in the world. If they are afraid of such things there is no safe place in the world,” Agaoglu said

“This is one of the major golfing events in Europe and I think they have to respect the sponsors because they are investing huge money. Pulling out is not the correct approach. You can be a superstar, an excellent golfer and sit on top of the rankings but to be an athlete you need something more.”
The president praised Tiger Woods’ way of dropping out. Woods emailed Agaoglu and apologized an hour before announcing it publicly.

McIlroy had been offered a fee of £1 million and the use of a private jet to play. His image had heavily dominated TV commercials and print ads.

McIlroy previously pulled out of the Summer Olympics late in the process for fears of the Zika virus. The World Health Organization reported that zero Zika cases were reported during the two-week athletic exhibition.

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