I don't have kids but I can understand how having them changes the risk calculation. I have to think though, that having a father that is happy, active, and does what he genuinely enjoys would benefit them a lot as they grow up. There's gotta be a way to make it all work.

Agreed, but wonder if other hobbies would offer up the same happiness with a reduced chance of getting smashed.

There's a pretty pronounced genetic disposition towards heart disease and chemical dependence on my dad's side of the family. It's funny how many of my cousins of my generation are pretty hardcore active. A couple of cousins do several IM's a year, another is through-hiking the Appalachian Trail, another does open water swim races, I race bikes.

Y, replicating the type of fitness you have now after a few years off is not going to happen. Fat jokes and shots about your emotional state are all in good fun, but probably worthless attempts to penetrate your current state. What appears to need to happen is somehow making it work until the kids get a little bit older, repeatedly.

That means really listening to that nagging little voice in your head without fully giving yourself over to it. Chances are you'll come back with a fresher perspective on racing or enjoy talking to the people on group rides more. Sneak out now and then to keep sane. Otherwise doing max cadence burping intervals on Zwift for the next few months will do more for you long term than weak attempts to fully enjoy a new hobby. Which by no means rules out a new hobby in whatever limited time you have.

From my perspective your biggest hurdle is holding a kid in each arm makes relaxing with a beer into not relaxing with a beer, ever. Pre-pre selection is so ridiculous it can't even qualify as an acceptable human endeavor.

I can't help with that but I will point out that I was quoted incompletely, and out of context (to the extent there even is a context). But that was probably obvious.

But fairly and quite obviously for the purpose of pointing out numerous other people have survived being a new parent and riding a bike. Unless you thought he was being serious about separating the twins at birth and hiding one under the stairs with nothing to wear but a potato sack and grocery bags. My intent was not to be injurious to either party here.

This has probably already been covered, and doesn't really change much but..

It seems like it's not bike racing that's dangerous; it's the training is where people get really really hurt.

Since I quit racing and race training a few years ago all I have done is ride four times a week with a friend that was once a low level domestic pro and all we do is ride the local rail-trail (which is a really good one, BTW. 30+ miles round trip and the very nicest one I have ever ridden. I used to run into Phil Gaimon on it very often when he lived in Gainesville.)

He is the one that talked me out of road riding. I kind of miss it, though.

I hear (and relate to) that.

Here in Houston, traffic has gotten noticeably worse since I started riding. With the city's sprawl, you have to ride further and longer to get to the decent roads. I'm not worried so much about the cars as the inconvenience.

So I just ride the trainer now.

You're right, the act of riding the bike, especially near automobiles that's dangerous. In the past I'd say that danger is exaggerated in the cycling community (which it is) and has created and unhealthy fear. That being said, it still happens.

Racing is mostly scrapes, broken bones, etc.

Although evaluating an array of hobbies, bike racing is more dangerous than badminton, knitting, football, and hockey.

actually, i was shocked to find about a week or so ago that i'm now used to it and it seems normal. maybe you just need to spend more time on BF

A friend of mine does paragliding (like hang gliding, but with a parachute kind of setup) and talks about his 'wing folding' and going in to a downward spiral at 2k feet, then somehow pulling out of it.. yikes!

But yeah, bike racing is definitely risky - there's no way around it. Road riding/commuting is even riskier.

Hockey though.. I thought it was kind of a joke that hockey players have missing teeth, then saw a game on TV recently and realized it's not a joke at all. What if someone was in to recreational/weekend hockey and came in to worth with missing teeth?!

That picture really broke my heart. It just isn't fair.

The world would be a far better place without automobiles. Would be nice if the governments around the world realized that.

I ride in India where people drive crazy. A ride without close calls is a rarity. And yet, I have to ride to be sane.

Even in the summer of the South? how do you guys have the trainer set up? How many fans blowing, and any portable AC units? I remember @topflightpro mentioning that the AC doesn't do much anyway, so that may be a moot point.

I've gotten very caution about my riding lately, spending hours on google maps to make sure that roads have shoulders (though that alone is no guarantee of anything). Perhaps eventually i'll do M-F riding on rollers as well, and if it's summer, i'll probably have to use ice vests

I have a little portable AC unit (12,000BTU), it can turn a small room into a refrigerator (it cools my whole condo no problem if I leave the bedroom door open).

Some of the best money I have ever spent.

Motorcycling, just saying. :lol:

i know baltimore isn't really the south but the one summer i spent there i actually rode the trainer a lot because my basement was significantly cooler than outside where the heat was simply oppressive.

Turn that AC up. I will ride outside on the weekends once school is over and I have my weekends back. For now though, it's weekday evenings, when we're running the AC anyways.

Chappy, I ride in the garage with two fans. On really hot days, I often put an ice pack on my back.

I tried a portable A/C unit. It took too long to get the garage cool, plus I didn't have good ventilation, so it was giving off heat as it was trying to cool.

Hm, just occurred to me I could technically ride to race at Lime Rock Sunday... 54 miles / 3600 feet each way.

this is basically the remaining pro argument that I have. Is the risk worth setting a good example.

Anyway, I lifted yesterday and am sore af despite using what I thought should be like 60% weight. When I opened the app I had been using to track lifting it said "621 days since last workout"... I guess that explains it.

yeah, both for sure. it's why I haven't packed it in to just be a(nother) group-ride racer. That **** is definitely not any safer.

This doesn't really contribute to the conversation, but I watched a couple of those vegan cyclist group ride videos and was amazed at the high speed traffic throughout. Maybe the videos make it look worse than it is but it seemed like the whole ride was on the shoulder of 55mph roads full of trucks. Don't you have any quiet 30mph roads out there?

Most of those roads look like county roads. If they're unposted, it's the default highway speed limit of 55. The big rides in the Sacramento area are all on roads like that (Garden Highway, South River Road, Auburn-Folsom, Putah Creek): 2 lanes, 55mph, maybe a shoulder, maybe not.

Depends on where "out there" is. Vegan Cyclist lives about 3 hours south of me/Caloso and about 3 hours east of the Fudgy/Matt/Aaron/Scheibo/Umney contingent. He's in a more rural area with fewer roads, but those roads get some hefty traffic as they're the only way to get from A to B. There are some roads less traveled, but to get on them you've got to take the roads more traveled. We've got greater selection in the Sacramento foothills area as do the Bay Area guys.

Since I've come back I've stuck to residential roads. Sunset is a good loop and cars are a rarity which don't go over 30. Our area has a lot of climbs that are empty, the problem is the traffic getting to them. Any flat road is a death trap. If its flat and empty, cars will go over 100 on it. Either to race, or shorten a commute.

I'm also not allowed to do any group rides until June, its more or less the compromise I have with my wife. I really don't mind it. I enjoy it as a solo activity just as much.

I think the riding out here is much less stressful than riding out east in the new york metro area (I felt drivers were more aggressive in the east coast). There are bike lanes on most roads here, and a lot of signs on the roads say "riders can use the full lane" or "give 3 feet when passing." I think the cars are used to seeing lots of bikes in silicon valley.

Even the roads where people may be driving fast in the mountains, the shoulders are wide and the roads are relatively wide. I ride about 12 miles a day with my kid on a gravel bike (and he's in a seat behind me) and love riding in the bike lanes. The suburbs here are pretty and the roads are very smooth. Riding through Atherton is like riding in Greenwich, CT but with nicer weather.

That said, I always feel more comfortable early in the morning when there are less cars on the road.

As far as road safety goes, about 75 percent of all car-bike crashes occur in urban and suburban areas, with most happening when the motor vehicle is turning.

However, about half of all fatal crashes occur on rural roads, where speed is greater.

(This is all based on North Carolina data, as NC is one of the few states to study this regularly, but it is likely a fair representation of what is going on throughout the rest of the country.)

The vehicles that scare me the most are lifted pickup trucks with elephant ear side mirrors. I very nearly got whacked in the back of the head by one this winter, I don't think their owners realize how far out those things stick.