Cycling for good health - but whose ?

I think that it is pretty well accepted that cycling can be good for your health. All that fresh air and exercise has got to have some good effect on your body as long as you don't attempt too much too soon. Sometimes though when I read about cycling and it's health benefits I have to ask whose health ?? I had to ask that question on two occasions over the past couple of days and it was my health that I was concerned about.....!!

'What can he mean'? I hear you say. Let me explain. There I was walking along through a shopping precinct when all of a sudden some bl**dy idiot on a bike comes weaving through the crowds travelling at some speed and misses me by less than an inch- I really thought that he was going to knock me flying. At the speed he was travelling he would have launched me into orbit!! If he had hit me my Atlantic Coast Challenge Ride would have finished before it had even started and this happened twice over the past two days. His cycling would not have been good for MY health. Riding bikes on pavements is NOT legal. That is the beginning and end of it. How much longer do the rest of us have to put up with this sort of thing with nothing being done about it? This is dangerous for pedestrians and also adds to the bad press that decent law abiding cyclists could do without. If more fixed penalty notices of £60/£80 were given out on a regular basis for riding on the pavement and an extra amount for dangerous cycling (weaving in an out of people at speed IS dangerous) I am certain that eventualy it would not happen as often as it does. If you have any doubts about how dangerous it can be - two or three years ago an old lady was killed on the promenade by a cyclist weaving in and out of people at speed. This accident was one of the things that led to cycling being banned during July & August between the hours of 1000hrs & 18oohrs along the Bournemouth promenade-trouble is it is not policed and cyclists still ignore the NO CYCLING signs on the promenade and along the chines.

Cycling good for your health? Depends whose riding the bike!