Bad news for bike nuts

Maybe this is why many bike riders seem to be so cranky: An article in yesterday's NY Times cites "a raft of new studies" showing that those who do a lot of cycling are impairing their sexual functioning:

Researchers have estimated that 5 percent of men who ride bikes intensively have developed severe to moderate erectile dysfunction as a result. But some experts believe that the numbers may be much higher because many men are too embarrassed to talk about it or fail to associate cycling with their problems in the bedroom ("Serious Riders, Your Bicycle Seat May Affect Your Love Life," Sandra Blakeslee, Oct. 4, 2005,).

The problem is that when cyclists sit on a bicycle seat they put pressure on the perineum, the area between the genitals and the anus, thus pressuring both an artery and a nerve that directly affect blood-flow and the function of the penis. 

And the bicycle seat problem evidently affects women, too, since their sexual organ is in the same region, though apparently most of these studies were done on men.

Along with the other well-known safety problems for cyclists, still another reason not to ride a bike in the city---or anywhere else, for that matter.

Later: Yes, it's bad news for women cyclists, too.