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Q&A
A deflating look at biking

BY NINA WILLDORF

As the weather finally turns warm, folks eagerly drag out their dusty bikes, fancying themselves ecologically conscientious, economically savvy, and a few miles away from a hot tight bod. But one local doctor offers a cautionary message: that bike might be the only thing you’ll be mounting.

Irwin Goldstein, a urologist at Boston University who is also the director of the university’s Center for Sexual Medicine, says that riding a bike is like asking for impotence and other dysfunctions. Goldstein explains that both men and women crush vital genital nerves and arteries when riding on “narrow Tour de France–type” saddle seats. Bike riding can irrevocably impair blood flow in men and nerve endings in women. And, he adds, even the most occasional riders are at risk.

Yikes. Rethinking that morning ride, we talked with Goldstein about risks, surgery, and what he screams at local riders.

Q: How common is bike-related sexual dysfunction?

A: It’s hard to say. There are some studies, but a lot is anecdotal, observational. We’ve concluded that of bicyclists in one of the larger clubs in Boston, 20 percent of the men have erection problems, as opposed to five percent in running clubs. And I’m talking about an age group that shouldn’t have sexual problems.... Let’s put it this way: I see 800 new patients a year. I’ll see seven men and women a day with sexual problems because of this ridiculous biking. People think you can wear helmets and shoulder pads, [but] you don’t wear anything on the perineum [the area in front of the anus]. That is a very important place if you like to have sex.

Q: How often do you have to ride to put yourself at risk?

A: I see people who rode once in their life who’ve become impotent, and we see people who ride 20 years and don’t see any problems. It’s sort of like smoking.... There’s a new study coming out, with the New England Research Institute in Watertown showing that with minimal hours per week, there was significant risk in those who rode versus people who didn’t ride at all.

Q: So what kind of surgery do you do?

A: It’s called a microvascular arterial bypass. Sort of like heart bypass or kidney bypass — we do a penis bypass for these young folks. We need a donor artery from another part of the body.

Q: What are some other options?

A: Once impotence develops, Viagra would be an excellent option. Another is real seats. There are very few bicycle seats that are seats. If a seat doesn’t allow you to sit on your sit bones, it’s not a seat. Would you go buy a chair that forced you to straddle a one-inch bar?

Q: Do you ever ride?

A: You are kidding, right? I actually enjoy being able to have sex.

Q: What do you think when you see people riding around town?

A: I go crazy. I’m uncontrollable. I totally lose it. I go up to people and say, “Do you know what you’re doing??!” Do you ride a bike?

Q: Umm, yes ...

A: Ooooh. Do you have a boyfriend? Does he ride a bike?

Q: Umm, yes ...

A: Nina, good luck.

Issue Date: May 24 - 31, 2001