EcoWorldly

If you want a blissful sex life, don’t ride a bike. I am not a keen biking enthusiast, particularly of the black mamba or Indian type, those old type ugly contraptions that are the primary mode of transport in most parts of Africa, other than human feet.

While walking is good for health and the environment, when you do it for miles and miles on end with a heavy load on your back or head as most men, women and children do in Africa, a bicycle comes in handy for it is in black Africa what a camel is in Arabia or a Llama is in some parts of South America.

Those who can afford a taxi ride take not the yellow cabs you’ll find idling on any street corner in New York City but a boda boda, as they are known in East Africa, literally a bicycle taxi that would take you from one border to another.

But the bicycle taxi riders here have learned the hard way and have taken to heavy drinking of cheap, traditional brew to drown their troubles. Becoming sexually inactive or rather a man who cannot sexually perform is the worst thing that can ever happen to a man, especially if his wife starts looking for fun elsewhere, risking catching the HIV/ Aids virus in the process.

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That is the predicament of these hapless bicycle taxi riders and now women are openly campaigning here for the government to help their husbands find other income generating jobs.

Said one: “We are concerned about the problem, and we want the Government and non-governmental organizations to support our husbands to set up more appropriate income-generating projects.”

The proposal at a recent forum that traditional herbs be used as stimulants was rejected by the women, who said it would render the men “even more useless“.

So biking is good for the environment but is there choice between a blissful sexual life and less carbon emission? Is biking bad for your sex life? The truth can be very uncomfortable. Some studies have suggested that male cyclists run a serious risk of becoming impotent because their saddles are exerting too much pressure on their manhood. There is likelihood that bicycle seat impotence is being suffered in silence by thousands of men.

However, traditional saddles are now being redesigned by modern manufacturers. When a man sits on a saddle, his weight is focused on the main penile artery, compressing it and temporarily inhibiting the blood flow. In the short term this results in numbness - but repeated over a number of years it can lead to complete dysfunction.

But the trend toward fashionably thin saddles comes with its disadvantages too because a cyclist’s weight is even more concentrated on one particular area, leading to even greater risks. Other studies have suggested that an improperly adjusted seat angle or incorrect seat height can lead to male impotence too. Which is bad for both the environment and your sex life too…

Further reading:
Erectile Dysfunction Blog, LA Times, The Independent

Other Articles in Ecoworldly’s Bicycling Series

• Forget Sky-high Gas Prices, Biking Beats Them All! by Sam Aola Ooko
• UK: Bike Week 2008 by Pem Charnley
• Bicycle powered water pumps and filtration systems by Nayelli Gonzalez
• Italy’s Two-Wheeled Cities Speed Up Your Life Quality by Eva Pratesi
• In Chiang Mai, Social Attitudes Crush Bicycling Prospects by Masimba Biriwasha
• Google’s Sexy Bicycle Giveaways and Africa’s Versatile Bike Trucks by Sam Aola Ooko
• South Korean Bicycle Ninjas Do Battle Against Asthma by Gavin Hudson
• Of Course Cycling in Australia is Healthy, But What To Do With the Cars? by Ross Kendall
• Cheer up! Bicycling in Italy is a Daily Adventure by Eva Pratesi
• If You Want a Blissful Sex Life, Don’t Ride a Bike! by Sam Aola Ooko
• Bicycling in Peru: An Art of Adaptation by Levi Novey

Image Credit: Geordie Mott at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

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