The use of a helmet when riding a bike is always a controversial issue. Some people argue that it can save your live in an accident. Some politicians have pushed its use with specific laws just to follow the previous point. Curiously, the same politicians do not ride bikes. They prefer driving cars. They also think helmets are a kind of titanium armor, able to stop bullets and space rockets. I think the statement is false in most of the cases. The true key is that the helmet does not save your life in a car accident, the car speed does. Studies show that the more car speed, the more probability a cyclist has to die. The probability a biker lives in an accident driving the car at 50 km/h or approximately 31 miles/h is less than 10% and it diminishes as car speed increases. Moreover, the low speed bikes reach, normally bellow 25 km/h or 15.5 miles/h, makes it unnecessary. The helmet use is compulsory in some countries and areas. What was its impact on the number of biker use the next months after approving by law? They have discouraged bikers to use the bike.

To sum up, forcing bikers to wear helmet is not a correct way to improve bike use or reduce cyclist deaths. It is better to force cars to drive slower, not to mention the fight against climate change.

There has been a recurrent discussion among bikers who live in large cities regarding which infrastructure is the best to ride. On the one hand, we have bike line and on the other one the whole street. Both sides offer points in favor and against. Cyclists who ride on a bike line enjoy a dedicated space for them which is respected specially in the cases in which it is separated by a physical barrier from pavement and car lines. They feel this separation as a privilege with a potential effect on avoiding traffic accidents. This fact encourages those who are learning to ride and makes bikers who do not want to ride at high speed happy. It seems to say “Hey, we drive a vehicle, but we live in a peaceful manner not as the pollutant cars”. On the contrary, pro-street bikers say “Hey, we drive a vehicle, so we are traffic and must share the street”. They feel traffic has to be calmed down, not by cornering them but by forcing cars to reduce speed as bike do not usually reach high speeds as cars do. This type of cyclists often complain about the facts that bike lines often zigzag and their surface imply deficiencies, whereas streets often follows direct lines with better asphalt. Which position is the best? Neither, it all depends on the particular circumstances of infrastructures and the way of thinking of every biker.

Biking in a city with a huge car usage feels like a struggle, like a war for the future with clear enemies and allies, and here are some of them.
Our allies:

• Polite people
• Nature lovers
• 99.9% of the people
• Health conscious people
• People who love their life
• Progressive urban designers
• Politicians aware of the potential to win votes

Our enemies:

• The stress level
• Tight schedules
• Closemindedness
• Driver’s cellphones
• The lack of empathy
• Any drug taken before driving

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There is almost a unique way of biking as bikers are. Each person has its own riding style. Some people prefer doing it slowly while enjoying the travel. Others are in favor of speed and adrenaline, and do not hesitate in counting how many time they spend on the streets without paying any attention in what surrounds them. This points is the main source in distinguishing cyclists in broad strokes.

We have sport cycling as a valid exercise which can be done within a city or a village. These cyclists are dressed in highly colored, fashion maillots, commonly in accordance with the official strip of a particular cyclist team. They also wear helmet even in places where it is not compulsory and ride so fast that can overtake cars. In front of this view, we see the urban bikers.

There is a myriad of them who are characterized by riding not so fast and most of the time in a friendly way. They use the bike to go to work, carry children to school, go out with friends, etc. Similarly as pedestrians, the garment they wear is variate. It does not matter whether you wear jeans, smart dresses, scarfs, tracksuits, you name it. Usually the bikes are not so expensive as in the case of sport cyclists and the bikes they use can be more than 30, 40 or 50 years old. The natural place of sport cyclists are the streets whereas urban cyclists prefer bike lines or also streets. I will talk more about this point in the future.