The case of the malformed sperm

~ by Mike Romaniuk, sharing his “secret thoughts of men”

“Honey, I know you said you didn’t want a vasectomy and that’s okay.  Instead, how about training for a bike race?”

The Law of Unintended Consequences is alive and well, as is proven by a recent Spanish research study. The study focused on top Spanish triathletes and found that those who bike rode more than 300km a week had less than 4% normal looking sperm.  As a guy, this scares the heck out of me.  If you are a spouse, it should scare you too!

We often think that getting more fit, working harder & pushing ourselves to the limit will give us good health and happiness.  This is a good reminder that that is not always the case.

Last year I trained for and raced in MOMAR Cumberland 2008 .  It was a 45km race which included approximately 10km of kayaking, 10km of trail running / orienteering and 25km of single track mountain biking. My weekly training sessions for the race typically included at least two of those disciplines and took between four & eight hours per session.

During the course of training last year, I:

• Had a bike crash which should have broken several bones – I was lucky with cuts & bad bruising.
• Missing getting hit by lightning by about 60 seconds (it hit the trail ahead of me…  had I been a bit faster that day…)
• Almost t-boned a black bear while riding.

The moral of my post today is something a lot of us sometimes forget:  harder, faster & more doesn’t always lead to happiness, the perfect body & a wonderful life. Women, this means you too!  Take it in moderation and always keep an eye out for the Law of Unintended Consequences – your body will thank you for it.