Last 5mins on the bike

brushed
brushed Posts: 63
edited March 2009 in Commuting chat
I heard this one from a motorbiking colleague and I think there is definately some relevance to cycling as well. These guys dont even get sweaty.

He said the last 5mins of your ride is the most dangerous and you are most likely to crash at this point so you should make an extra mental effort to reign back the desire to cane it and take extra risks to speed up the last bit of the journey to get home.

I think its true but more relevant in an urban area where alot of us live.
FCN 4 summer
FCN 6 Winter

'Strong, Light, Cheap : choose two' Keith Bontrager

Comments

  • Greg T
    Greg T Posts: 3,266
    brushed wrote:
    I heard this one from a motorbiking colleague and I think there is definately some relevance to cycling as well. These guys dont even get sweaty.

    He said the last 5mins of your ride is the most dangerous and you are most likely to crash at this point so you should make an extra mental effort to reign back the desire to cane it and take extra risks to speed up the last bit of the journey to get home.

    I think its true but more relevant in an urban area where alot of us live.

    This is the truth.

    A high proportion of accidents occur at the beginning / end of journeys.
    Fixed gear for wet weather / hairy roadie for posing in the sun.

    What would Thora Hurd do?
  • Kieran_Burns
    Kieran_Burns Posts: 9,757
    I agree - it's a mental as well as physical wind down. Good point to highlight.

    I'll bear that in mind in future
    Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
    2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
    2011 Trek Madone 4.5
    2012 Felt F65X
    Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter
  • jonginge
    jonginge Posts: 5,945
    This theory has been around a while and I'm pretty sure it's true. <my-anecdotal-evidence>The guy who left-hooked me last summer was only 100yards from his work</my-anecdotal-evidence>
    I always turn up the spidey-sense in the last couple of miles from home (the roads being lined with parked cars and motorists needing to poke out of junctions to see if it's clear to pull out may also have something to do with it)
    FCN 2-4 "Shut up legs", Jens Voigt
    Planet-x Scott
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  • NFMC
    NFMC Posts: 232
    I think this is one of those 'prove anything with statistics things'...there are stats that say that the majority of accidents are within a mile of your home or your destination but that may be because the vast majority of journeys are only a mile or so long. That and motorways are - statistically - the safest form of driving.

    Anyway...it's bad form to go flat out for the last few minutes and then just stop and either sit down or go for a shower. The 'warm-down' is as important as the 'warm-up' so you really should do your fast riding until you're about a mile out and then gradually reduce your pace to allow your body to get back to normal.

    Of course, I don't practice what I preach. Who does?
  • fossyant
    fossyant Posts: 2,549
    The woman that smashed into me was within half a mile of her home when returning in the evening. I was still 3 miles from home. It was also in the few days before Christmas when everyone is rushing about.

    I get a warm up going to work as the first mile or two are down hill, coming home is a different case.
  • chuckcork
    chuckcork Posts: 1,471
    NFMC wrote:
    That motorways are - statistically - the safest form of driving.

    This is a dangerous one, usually conflated to motorways are where you go the fastest, and they're the safest driving environment, ergo, its safe to speed.

    Only if the street your driving down is designed to motorway design standards, is one way, has no stopping, parking, pedestrians, cyclists, potholes, intersections, things to smash into like telephone poles....

    Of course when accidents do occur on motorways they can be horrific!
    'Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk, that caught the cycling craze....
  • Bikerbaboon
    Bikerbaboon Posts: 1,017
    I have had a few offs on my motorbike never been close to my house when its happend and never found out from the person how far along the planned trip they had got. Getting scraped off the tarmac and in to the back of the ambulance tends to put a crimp on the small talk i managed...... I did always manage to find out that they were sorry and they just did not see me.
    Spidey on max full time. but yep its important to make sure you can identify when you have dips in consentration and work ways to keep on top of the game.
    Nothing in life can not be improved with either monkeys, pirates or ninjas
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