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Survey Says: Cyclists Would Rather Give Up Sex Than Their Bikes
29
@ 28, thank you.
@ 27, color me unimpressed with someone who makes blanket statements like the ones quoted here. He may be a leading urologist instead of a quack (I'll withdraw that charge), but he knows fuck all about how make his case without resorting to attention-getting exaggeration. Sounds like the kind of "leading doctor" who ends up with a radio or TV show, but not with articles published in medical journals.
BTW, my dad is a doctor. Not a urologist, true, but someone who will understand urology and the causes of impotence much better than someone who's day job has nothing to do with medicine.
@ 27, color me unimpressed with someone who makes blanket statements like the ones quoted here. He may be a leading urologist instead of a quack (I'll withdraw that charge), but he knows fuck all about how make his case without resorting to attention-getting exaggeration. Sounds like the kind of "leading doctor" who ends up with a radio or TV show, but not with articles published in medical journals.
BTW, my dad is a doctor. Not a urologist, true, but someone who will understand urology and the causes of impotence much better than someone who's day job has nothing to do with medicine.
28
@24, no, he's not a quack, but he's made some alarmist statements, including the one Fnarf quoted. It's irresponsible to tell men cycling causes impotence when that's not a medically established fact. But the doctors agree that you should take the shape of your seat, your riding style, and length of rides pretty seriously, especially if you ride a lot. There are some good tips at the end of the article I linked to above.
27
@24, he's not a quack, he's one of the top urologists in the world. And he knows more about impotence than you or your dear old dad. It is possible for people at the top of their field to have disagreements. Irena just quoted one of those disagreement; I'm not sure how you get from "I take what Dr. Goldstein says very seriously," says Richard Lieberman, M.D. to "quack".
Anyone who doubts there is a real link between bicycle-riding and trouble with the old block and tackle is a much better candidate for the term.
I've given perhaps an outlying point of view but a legitimate one from a real doctor. You've quoted your 77-year-old dad. How do you know he's not impotent, by the way? Do you think it's possible that there are other spots along the continuum between you're dad's incredible penis on the one hand and total impotence on the other that might be at least partly attributable to bike riding?
Google "bicycle seat neuropathy" and get back to me. Or not; I don't really care one way or the other.
Anyone who doubts there is a real link between bicycle-riding and trouble with the old block and tackle is a much better candidate for the term.
Bicycle seat neuropathy is one of the more common injuries reported by cyclists.[1, 2, 3, 4, 5] The injuries and symptoms are due to the cyclist supporting his or her body weight on a narrow seat, and they are believed to be related to either vascular or neurologic injury to the pudendal nerve.[2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]Is WebMD a quack?
For excellent patient education resources, visit eMedicine's Erectile Dysfunction Center and Sports Injury Center. Also, see eMedicine's patient education articles, Impotence/Erectile Dysfunction, Erectile Dysfunction FAQs, and Bicycle Safety.
I've given perhaps an outlying point of view but a legitimate one from a real doctor. You've quoted your 77-year-old dad. How do you know he's not impotent, by the way? Do you think it's possible that there are other spots along the continuum between you're dad's incredible penis on the one hand and total impotence on the other that might be at least partly attributable to bike riding?
Google "bicycle seat neuropathy" and get back to me. Or not; I don't really care one way or the other.
26
I think it's interesting that men are an even split for giving up sex or cycling, but nearly 2 out of 3 women would give up sex over cycling.
I have a bad knee, even after surgery. Leisurely cycling is painful for me, much less the type of cycling I assume these women engage in. However, I always want more sex. Is there some way that I can have the sex these women are willing to give up?
Re: male cyclists and impotence, special seats are made to prevent unwanted pressure on the important areas: http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-Anatom…
And in a tee-hee moment "While sit-bone gel pads provide needed cushioning on pressure points, the full-length center recess keeps pressure away from your most vulnerable areas, providing anatomic relief from painful bumps and/or long rides."
I have a bad knee, even after surgery. Leisurely cycling is painful for me, much less the type of cycling I assume these women engage in. However, I always want more sex. Is there some way that I can have the sex these women are willing to give up?
Re: male cyclists and impotence, special seats are made to prevent unwanted pressure on the important areas: http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-Anatom…
And in a tee-hee moment "While sit-bone gel pads provide needed cushioning on pressure points, the full-length center recess keeps pressure away from your most vulnerable areas, providing anatomic relief from painful bumps and/or long rides."
24
@ 23, really?
Wow.
Fnarf, what the fuck are you doing quoting such a quack? Were you joking? Please tell me you were joking.
Wow.
Fnarf, what the fuck are you doing quoting such a quack? Were you joking? Please tell me you were joking.
23
@16 Your Dr. Goldstein needs to tone down the hyperbole:
But the main concern seems to be the situation where a man falls onto the top tube by accident, rather than everyday riding:
And Dr. Goldstein even admits:
People should also be aware that his colleagues take his more hyperbolic claims with the grain of salt they deserve:
And:
And finally:
http://www.nightbikers.com/ntbnews/The%2…
More...
"Men should never ride bicycles," he says matter-of-factly. "Riding should be banned and outlawed. It's the most irrational form of exercise I could ever bring to discussion."
But the main concern seems to be the situation where a man falls onto the top tube by accident, rather than everyday riding:
"The majority of bicycle-related impotency cases Dr. Goldstein treats stem from this kind of accident."
And Dr. Goldstein even admits:
"I can't prove that long-term compression causes impotency, but I kind of think it does in a very small percentage of cases."
People should also be aware that his colleagues take his more hyperbolic claims with the grain of salt they deserve:
But Dr. Padma-Nathan, who is a former student of Dr. Goldstein's, doesn't think that saddle compression alone causes impotency. Rather, he views it as just one of many factors in an aging man that can combine to sap potency.
"To be diabetic, to smoke cigarettes, to have high blood pressure or cholesterol puts you at definite risk for erectile dysfunction," he explains. "But to ride a bicycle? Perhaps it's a risk. It may just aggravate other factors."
And:
"I take what Dr. Goldstein says very seriously," says Richard Lieberman, M.D., a clinical associate professor of surgery (urology) at Pennsylvania State University, who has treated impotent cyclists at his Allentown, Pennsylvania-based practice, "but I can think of a lot more things that are deleterious to one's health that should be outlawed before bikes. In fact, the overall vascular health of the cyclist may, in a lot of cases, outweigh some of the local deficit that's created."
And finally:
Dr. Padma-Nathan, who rides a stationary bike every day to stay in shape, actually groaned when he heard that Dr. Goldstein was advocating banning bicycling. "There's no doubt there's a real issue here," he says, "but bicycling is an important form of cardiovascular exercise. Rather than terminate it, I would recommend tailoring this information to your own bicycling and body type."
http://www.nightbikers.com/ntbnews/The%2…
21
Hmm, tricky one. I'd have to say sex, since I don't get any all that often anyway and I rely on my bike to get me places and stop the dining hall food from making me grotesque.
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@1, @16 so get a saddle with a slot for your grundle/taint like a Planet Bike A.R.S. or a Terry Men's. There ain't no penis tissue between my saddle and my sit bones.
18
@ 16, my dad has been an avid bike rider for 50 years. For 30 of those years, he rode hard leather saddles exclusively. And, at 77, he's not impotent.
Tell Dr. Irwin Goldstein to stick that up his ass and ponder it for a while.
Tell Dr. Irwin Goldstein to stick that up his ass and ponder it for a while.
16
Dr. Irwin Goldstein, the leading authority on male impotence, says ""there are only two kinds of male cyclists - those who are impotent and those who will be impotent."
He adds "Fifty percent of the penis is actually inside the body," explains Dr. Goldstein. "When a man sits on a bicycle seat he's putting his entire body weight on the artery that supplies the penis. It's a nightmarish situation."
He adds "Fifty percent of the penis is actually inside the body," explains Dr. Goldstein. "When a man sits on a bicycle seat he's putting his entire body weight on the artery that supplies the penis. It's a nightmarish situation."
15
@11/13—Just for the record: I have a Gary Fisher Cobia 29er on which I typically wear either 501s or cargo shorts, and I've never picked up a copy of Bicycling.
Also, it's 28° here and my bus pass is good for the rest of the month, so it's not a tough decision.
Also, it's 28° here and my bus pass is good for the rest of the month, so it's not a tough decision.
14
maybe they'd give up sex with another person. but they'd still wank. If I was forced to make a stupid choice between two things like that, I supposed I could stick to wanking for just one month.
13
@11 - I had to double-check that because my definition of "Fred" was apparently the opposite of yours, but Wikipedia tells me there are three meanings of "Fred", so we're both right.
12
Bike seats cause infertility, not impotence @1. But this cyclist is married so there's no sex to give up.
10
Wasn't a similar question (with similar results) posted a few years ago about giving up computers vs sex? Not many people have sex several times a day - every day - but being online is easy and doesn't require ... uh ... a connection other than to the web.
9
Bicycling magazine is for bike fetishists and Spandex-humping racer types. I think the result might be very different if you polled people who ride in normal clothes.
7
Weird. Bicyclists say such sane things when discussing transportation infrastructure. Who knew they had a secret crazy side?
5
The data skews strongly toward "give up cycling" if you throw out the answers from recumbent bike riders.
4
Why is that so crazy? It's totally hypothetical first of all - no one is REALLY making that choice - and cycling is more than just a goofy hobby for many of us. It's how we get to work, get our kids to school, etc. Giving up sex for a month wouldn't be fun, but it beats losing my job, getting my kids kicked out of school, or just being totally housebound.
What do you think the results would be if you asked people to give up their cars for a month? I betcha a FAR greater percentage would choose to give up sex over driving.
What do you think the results would be if you asked people to give up their cars for a month? I betcha a FAR greater percentage would choose to give up sex over driving.
3
Or maybe it's because the time interval was "for a month". Lots of people have one month dry spells anyway, and it's not that bad. But breaking a routine can make it difficult to go back to. Plus, it can make you feel less good, and it might affect your long-term odds of getting sex. Basically, this survey doesn't say much about which people would give up if they had to choose between them for good.
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