A Good Time Beats A Long Time

Nowadays I only have a Brompton folding bike , I know this because everyday on the way back from the station ,a group of glue befuddled youfs call ”Brompton” at me in the lilting dialect of the Island Dr. Moreau . Back in the day, however, I had as gleaming urban chic groover , upon which I diced with death around Islington. Ah yes ,James Brown was on the earphones and “ Sometimes I wanna jump and kiss myself “,summons the joyful spirit of the endeavour. A nasty scratchy helmet would have defeated the object, which was to be free and easy doing as you damn well pleeezy (if you will).
Lets talk bikes then .Nicola Cooke’s splendidly gritty gold was achieved on hills and in rain that as a Welsh woman she must have prayed for . Her smile beamed from beneath a fibre glass horror of course and with mangled bike strewn about the course ,the boots that boss will see yet more reason to enforce wearing the life condom, or ‘cycling helmet’ . Recently lovely Boris was “caught “ bare headed whilst atop a peddle cycle . He chose, he explained ruefully “Hatless windswept liberty “, over helmeted security, and moderately expressed the view that we should have the choice. Quite so Boris quite so ,but the elf and safety imps multiply in the darkness and with Biblical portentousness they are able to wing hands to the refrain... ”If it saves the life of one child .....”
Well is that right ? In Paris there is a renaissance of cycling due to the success of the Vélib bikes which can be hired from ranks every 300m. (Lovely Boris please introduce here as promised ). The Free French have an insuperable problem with helmets ,“ C`est relou de porter un casque “, they say , its boring ; and more important still ,the Mademoiselles refuse to mess their hair up. The calls for them to scrunch their locks is nonetheless clamorous ,due to the sheer success of the scheme . Use has risen exponentially with inexperienced cyclists obviously joining then ranks. Well that sounds dangerous, but these are the figures. Three deaths a year, 24 million journey on a vélib, which means you have a 0.0000125% of killing yourself while cycling . What’s more in Paris last year 53% of deaths were motor cyclists ,22% pedestrians and 18% cars /lorries . Bikes were only 7%” It would seem then you are safer sur la cycle than walking and then think of all the advantages to your heart and waistline . Formidable !
Total cycling deaths in the UK have steadily declined since 1934 (1536) to 136 in 2007 . Helmets have made no noticeable impact and there is evidence they are actually a danger. When cycling helmets were introduce in Australia ,and this is crucial , cycling dropped by a third , but injuries only fell by 11%. Nothing new here, seat belts have had not effect on road deaths, speed cameras have not reduced death and serious injury ,and the congestion charge had a temporary impact but eventually only slowed down traffic journey times . I `ll make the easy point about unpredictable consequences and the health risk of overregulation , but there’s more .There is evidence that you are better off with a wig than a helmet . Drivers think you are jittery woman and steer clear. (Honest its in a study by Dr. Ian Walker Travel Psychologist at Bath)
There is something more than this.It is “la relou “ versus “windswept Liberty “. Who is to say that had Nicole Cooke been obliged to look stupid from day one whether she would ever have climbed the hills of Wales, and eventually the very summit of sporting achievement .The joy of her triumph ,and our participation in it, should remind us all of a great truth . We are here for a good time ,not just a long time ,and we should all aim to screech to our rest ,sideways, in a radical handbrake turn .Not drop of our battery chicken perch as New Labour would prefer.