Monthly Archives: May 2019

Are MAMILs an endangered species?

Dear Rouleurs,

MMT has been overwhelmed by really crappy May. Knocked over by the early flu season, MMT has been struggling with illness and just juggling all the balls that life, work, a pregnant wife and three year old can throw in the air. So there has been no time for blogging and a lot less cycling happening. To top it all off, the Melbourne weather has turned nasty on the back of an old fashioned Antarctic blast…life moves on.

So on top of the early flu season and nasty weather, a recent article that appeared in the local Australian press, made MMT wonder whether his days as a cyclist are numbered. The primary factor in MMT’s growing sense of fragile morality and dread, lay in a report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

What did this report contain that so rattled MMT? The answer being statistics. That hardly sounds lethal but a recent study has shown conclusively that more MAMILs (ie male cyclists over the age of 45) are finding themselves in the back of an ambulance and in hospital, than ever. Check this out this direct steal from the Sydney Morning Herald on the 8th May 2019.

“The rise of the MAMIL — middle-aged men in Lycra — has led to soaring hospitalisations and a doubling in the number of deaths for cyclists aged over 45.”

“A new report from the AIHW looked at injury and death rates for cyclists from 1999/2000 to 2015/2016. It found that:

  1. there was an average of almost 10,000 cyclist hospitalisations a year, with the most recent figures showing three quarters were men.
  2. The number of cyclists aged 45 and over taken to hospital grew by nearly 500 per cent from 728 to 4120, more than a third of all cases.”

“The number of people aged 45 and over killed while riding a bike doubled from 41 to 81 deaths.”

FTW….MMT is wondering whether he needs to bump up his hospital and life insurance. MAMILs may not be a endangered species, it is certainly one that’s being threatened by injury.

Until next time, please take care out there in this horrendous weather

MMT

MMT’s 2018 Annual Report

Dear Rouleurs,

MMT has finally got around to reviewing his effort in 2018 and generally seeking to tidy up his blog.

Overall, 2018 was interesting year in the life of MMT.  MMT continued to be amazed by the development of his first daughter, the Ginger Ninja. 
Towards the end of 2018, Team MMT commenced a very exciting project.  The Team Manager, Mrs MMT, became pregnant with team’s second daughter.  At the time of writing, May 2019, that project is at the 33 week mark and progressing well. 

MMT’s efforts through out the year where fairly even, except for the last 3 months, where a 4 week holiday in Spain and the UK, clipped the end of October and start of November.  MMT finished December in style with a 1200km effort, mostly on the back of a Festive 500 effort.  MMT managed to attend 2 people’s rides, the Cadel Evans in January and the MS Cycle April. MMT didn’t really ride much with RCC. The Southside ride seemed to become a 40Km/h smashfest suitable for younger or lighter riders.

MMT’s beloved AFL football team, Richmond Tigers won the minor premiership, but ran out of gas against an impressive Collingwood in the Preliminary Final.  Going home at half time is a very bitter memory.  The alternative of sitting next to the Collingwood Cheer Squad at the city end was not an option.  Damn you Mason Cox!!!

So onto cycling, here’s bunch of pretty charts to present.  The first one shows MMTs yearly worm.   The dip at October and November reflects Team MMT’s northern hemisphere holiday.  The sharp kick at the end is the Festive 500.  The overall total of 8,269 kilometres was the first time MMT has managed more than 8,000 kilometres in a calendar

The second, has the same data set, except its month by month.  This graph shows how MMT’s efforts seesawed between months of 800+ km and 600+km for the first 9 months of the years. 

The final graph shows my ride activity month on month.  MMT averaged nearly 30 rides a month, through a mix of commuting, early morning circuits and longer weekend rides.

So in summary the numbers for 2018 look like this:

So in an average month MMT, does 29 rides, for 689km, which takes about 29 hours and burns 16,428 calories.  His overall average speed was 23.15 km/h.  MMT wonders what he could achieve if he were 10kg lighter.

Until next blog, ride safe

Marv