A report in today’s medical research magazine “The Lancet” has some worrying news for us mountain bikers.

High resolution ultrasound scans were conducted among mountain biking, road biking and non biking students at the University Hospital Innsbruck in Austria by Ferdinand Frauscher.
These revealed that 96 per cent of the mountain bikers had “pathological abnormalities”, compared with only 16 per cent of non-cyclists.

Of the “abnormalities” spotted, 84 per cent had benign tumours, 49 per cent had sperm-containing cysts and 44 per cent had calcium (bone) deposits in the epididymis, sometimes in considerable quantities. The 45 tested riders were certainly keen, spending an average of two hours a day, six days a week cycling off-road, but in comparison, out of the 5 road riders surveyed only one had any signs of calcification.

He is now conducting further research with stress sensors placed on the rider’s testicles to record the actual levels of vibration and impact suffered when riding.

Until more details are known he is advising riders to use the new wave of soft / hole centred saddles, or suspension bikes / seatposts to reduce the damage on the dangling sections of your anatomy.

We can see the “Rock Shox – for less shox on your Rock’s” marketing campaign already……