It's something I like to keep in mind after a big workout, particularly on the legs — get the weight off them!

Stand sit lie

A micromort is a one in one million chance of sudden death during the activity. You get a day of regular living for one micromort (though clearly that probably depends on what your average day is). Turns out you get a lot further per micromort by car, and that motorways are by far the safest form of road. You’ll experience 7 micromorts from running a marathon and 39,427 from climbing Everest.

Introduced by Stanford Professor, Ronald Howard.

Micromort: The unit of death

Sure the big city is worse than the country. But the reality is back streets in a big city are significantly better than the busy streets in a big city, and air pollution changes massively even for small children down at the height of exhausts versus adults standing higher.

So if you’re not about to move to the country you could help yourself a lot nonetheless by taking the back streets (I read this premise in Focus magazine, but can’t find an online link to reference).

Pollution is highly localized: take the back streets

I believe I first heard this on a Radiolab episode, but I can’t remember for sure. Since hearing it, I’ve reflected on it many times and can’t help but think there’s some truth in it.

For me it’s kind of why we’re just not that good at processing the scenery whizzing by from a car or train, and why cycling and walking are just about the best ways of getting around.

Alain de Botton, in The Art of Travel, has some great observations about why trains are so great for thinking, which I think has a lot to do with this - we have time to think, with a helpful intermission of the semi-connected landscape and houses passing by that we can only process for so long before we turn back to our thoughts. I love trains.

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Category: cycling