Times newspaper columnist reports new study that commuting by bike is good for mental health... before descending into bizarre anti-cyclist rant about "speeding, semi-psychotic masses"

The Time's anticycling article: It's strange how many feature writers believe motorists and pedestrians are law-abiding and harmless and never write an article criticizing their behaviour.

Editor: Hi Robert, how's this week's column coming along?

Journalist: Yeah, not great. Got any news stories I could riff on?

Editor: How about this, research is saying that cycling is good for mental health.

Journalist: Great. I used to ride a bit, I could do a piece on that. Fresh air, endorphins, etc.

Editor: One thing, we're getting worried about readers leaving us and going over the Daily Mail. Could you find some way to spin it to appeal to petrol-headed reactionaries?

Journalist: No problem. I once had an encounter with a red-light-jumper. He went through on amber, and I tutted, which he didn't notice. But I've had fifteen years to embellish it into a whole morality play, in which I am the level-headed hero, and he's more callous than a Post Office executive.

Editor: Sounds perfect. 800 words please. We'll run it opposite an advert for car insurance.

They just don't get it, do they? I've played, coached, refereed and watched rugby for the last 40 years and have encountered plenty of semi-psychotic people (and plenty of lifelong friends) in what is a wonderful sport. My perception of football is that most football crowds are largely made up of semi-psychotic people, particularly when the mob-mind kicks in. Most of the business-people I have met (mostly through rugby but often through cycling as well - an occupational hazard of cycling in Surrey) are semi-psychotic. Overwhelmingly the people I have met in cycling are the most relaxed and accepting, and the least semi-psychotic. Except for the woman I rode in a group with in the summer of 2022 who was convinced that Boris Johnson was A Good Thing. But she was the exception that proves the rule. The problem seems to be that in team sports the participants and spectators are confined to one area whereas in our sport (non-cyclists all seem to perceive it as a sport, even though that's only one aspect of cycling), we're there for all to see, getting in their way.

crampton

 has struggled for any relevance in his journalism for a while and appears to be descending into click bait territory. A boring suprisingly opinionated  man of little consequence. 

The International Journal of Epidemiology publishes peer-reviewed primary science; the Times does not. I know which I would trust.

The impression I get from the Telegraph fopdoodle is that he is stuck in 1992.

"I took issue with a light-jumper a while back for almost mowing down an entire crocodile of six-year-olds. 'But I'm on a bike!' he whined"

I've rehearsed my views on red-light jumping at length here, but I will eat my helmet and hi-vis if the above event actually happened. 

What does Mind say about this: "You do need to notify the DVLA if you experience anxiety or depression with significant memory or concentration problems, agitation, behavioural disturbance or suicidal thoughts." 

So, surely, if there are drivers out there taking medication for symptomatic anxiety we can check by doing a FOI on the DVLA for how many drivers have reported their road related anxiety. 

"Now, that vibe has been subsumed in a mass of angry, intolerant, semi-psychotic Strava men, aged 30-50 for the most part, monitors strapped to their arm, glazed expression, powering along making no distinction between red or green, pavement or road, one-way or two-way, speed never sacrificed in the quest to shave a second off their personal best."

More like: "Now, that vibe has been subsumed in a mass of angry, intolerant, semi-psychotic motorists, aged 30-50 for the most part, phones glued to their palms, glazed expression, powering along making no distinction between red or green, pavement or road, one-way or two-way, speed never sacrificed in the quest to shave a second off their personal best.

Another product from the road.cc outrage-generation factory.

Commuting to work by bike didn't prevent me needing anti-depressants when my mental health deteriorated in the mid-2010s.  However, cycling has played a major part in my recovery - and I am sure my mental health problems would have been much worse without it.

As a long time London cycle commuter, the changes in the past 15 years have been away from a hardcore of men aged 30 to 50 and to a much more diverse cohort of cyclists, i.e. the opposite of what Mr Crampon claims. The standard of cycling amongst commuters has generally improved, albeit that is undermined by food delivery riders (many of whom aren't technically on bicycles, although that's not how the general public perceive it).

Drivers up here are on something, but it ain't happy pills.

"Monitors strapped to their arm"..... ummm OK.

Tell me your article is based on your own biased opinions and perceptions rather than observed fact without using those words.

"speed never sacrificed in the quest to shave a second off their personal best journey time"  - that'd be most drivers these days then?