Hi velogirl... The article about the study leaves me with the same "hmm, sounds like an urban myth" (besides some high dose of skepticism about proper research methods in medical studies). I'd like to take a peek at how the study was designed. The actual abstract is posted in <http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2006.00317.x>, but it does not mention how the sample was selected or how long the subjects were followed. One could think that people self-select into an activity like cycling based on individual characteristics, not that the activity causes the characteristics as the study implies. If that is the case, comparing self identified cyclists to non cyclists is the wrong comparison.

I would be curious to hear comments from anyone on this forum that might be familiar with the New York activists mentioned in the New Yorker article.