Dr John M

cardiac electrophysiologist, cyclist, learner

  • Home
  • About
    • About Me
    • About the Blog
      • General Cardiology and Internal Medicine
    • Six Reasons why I Blog
    • What’s Electrophysiology?
    • ICD/Pacemaker
    • Electrophysiology Column / Medscape
    • Contact
  • Afib
    • AFib
    • AF in Athletes
    • The best tool to treat AF
    • Know your CHADS-VASC Score
    • 3 non-warfarin anticoagulants
    • AF ablation
      • 13 things to know about AF
      • Atrial Fib Ablation -2012 Update
      • Gender-Spec results of AF ablation
    • Female gender and stroke risk in AF
    • My AF Story
  • Heart Healthy
    • Heart Disease (by DrJohnM)
    • Healthy Living
    • Exercise
    • Nutrition
    • inflammation
  • Policy
    • Policy
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Reform
  • Doctoring
    • Doctoring
    • Knowledge
    • Reflection
    • General Medicine
      • Does your cholesterol level matter?
    • General Cardiolgy – Medicine
      • What is a normal heart rate?
      • Cardiology/Internal Med
      • General Cardiology
      • Athletic heart
        • The ECG of an athlete
      • General Medicine
      • Stroke
      • Statins
  • Cycling
    • DrJohnM on Cycling
    • How I became a bike racer
    • My top 12 Likes on Cycling
    • Cyclocross
      • A CX-Primer
    • Fitness
    • Athletic heart
    • The Mysterious Athletic Heart

Bike friendly is a relative term…

May 3, 2010 By Dr John

It is pretty cool that my town, Louisville, KY, was named the 21st best cycling city, by Bicycling magazine.  Each city gets one picture in the feature, and Louisville’s snapshot features yours truly on the tandem with Will as stoker, my best-friend Bob Bobrow to our right, and one of the Mandrola’s favorite teenagers, Andrew Llewellyn to our left.

Sadly, even tragically, is that this picture (circa 2007, by Tom Moran) was taken during a memorial ride for “Chips” Cronen, an experienced 57 year old cyclist who was killed by an inattentive motorist on the second street bridge; which is still the only way for cyclists to ride a bike across the Ohio river in our city.

Ironic.

Here is a picture of my road bike taken after being struck while riding in my neighborhood by an inattentive police car.  Yes, that’s right, run over by a police car. I was going straight through an uncontrolled intersection, when the oncoming police car turned left right in front of me. In the instant before the bumper hit me, I thought, “ah, it’s a police car, surely he sees me.”  Wrong!  Interestingly, the police officer who hit me was being sued for striking and killing a pedestrian a year previous.  Luckily, I suffered only road-rash and a monster hematoma.

Ironic.

The twenty-first best cycling city has many more bike versus auto tragedies to tell.  In recent years, two teammates of mine spent months in the hospital after being struck by inattentive motorists in our bike-friendly city.

In bike-friendly terms, Louisville is moving slowly in the right direction, but the hill is long, and the summit is far in the distance.

It is true that cycling is good for our bodies and minds.  It is environmentally favorable as well. However, riding a bike on the same roads as autos piloted by the busy, the distracted, and often irritable, is not without risk.  We cyclists try to mitigate this risk as much as possible, but like most adventures in life, zero risk is unobtainable.

Patients ask if I ride a bike to prevent heart disease.  I reply with the usual response, “I am hoping to live long enough to get heart disease.”

JMM

  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • More
  • Reddit

Related posts:

  1. Back to the usual…
  2. A discovery: but it is already known or thought of. So what…
  3. The Evening Ride.
  4. Sunday’s with Will

Filed Under: Athletic heart, Cycling Stuff Tagged With: Bike vs Auto

John Mandrola, MD

Welcome, Enjoy, Interact. john-mandrola I am a cardiac electrophysiologist practicing in Louisville KY. I am also a husband to a palliative care doctor, a father, a bike racer, and a regular columnist at theHeart.org | Medscape

My First Book is Now Available…

Email Newsletter

Search the Site

Categories

Find me on theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology

  • Electrophysiology commentary on Medscape/Cardiology

Mandrola on Medscape

  • My Medscape column on general medical matters

For patients...Educational posts

  • 13 things to know about Atrial Fibrillation — 2014
  • A new cure of AF
  • Adding a new verb to doctoring: To deprescribe is to do a lot
  • AF ablation — 2015 A Cautionary Note
  • AF Ablation in 2012–An easier journey?
  • Atrial Flutter — 15 facts you may want to know.
  • Benign PVCs: A heart rhythm doctor’s approach.
  • Caution with early Cardioversion
  • Decisions of 2 low-risk cases of PAF
  • Defining success in AF ablation in 2014
  • Four commonly asked questions on AF ablation
  • Inflammation and AF — Get off the gas
  • Ten things to expect after AF ablation
  • The medical decsion as a gamble
  • The most important verb in our health crisis
  • Wellness Requires Ownership

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.