Ian's Gary Fisher Cronus Singlespeed

BEHOLD!

97.68% done, the bike still needs a 1/2 link in the chain and a tensioner. We're using my Rennen as a stopgap measure and the remaining parts will be here Thursday.

Working with an eBay purchased steel frame ($40) we did our best to keep the parts under $1000, including wheels built by me.



DT Swiss 450 rims laced to Surly New Disc hubs


Salsa Moto Ace bar & stem, WTB headset, American Classic post




Truvativ Stylo SS cranks & BB

Fat America

The epidemic "grows"

Americans 'sicker' than their English counterparts

* 17:15 02 May 2006
* NewScientist.com news service
* Roxanne Khams

For all the pork pies and clotted cream the English are reputed to consume, they still face less risk of diabetes and heart disease than their US counterparts, a new study shows.

While wealthy Americans enjoy better health than their poorer fellow citizens, this high status fails to confer health benefits to match even the lowliest of their trans-Atlantic cousins. The health of the richest people in the US is as poor as the worst educated, lowest paid among the English.

“Americans are much sicker than the English,” claim the researchers, who are based on both sides of the Atlantic. They came to this conclusion after studying self-reported information about diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other illnesses from about 8000 adults aged 55 to 64 years, half in each country. The information came from government-sponsored surveys.

The team confirmed that this data offered an accurate representation of disease rates by cross-checking it against a smaller sample of clinical data from people aged 40 to 70 years.

The self-reported and clinical data sets each showed how the figures varied according to income and education. The researchers looked exclusively at data from non-Hispanic whites in both countries.
Shock findings

In England, 7.8% of people in the highest income bracket had heart disease, whereas 12.0% of the same group in the US had heart disease, according to the survey data. The lowest income groups in England and the US had heart disease rates of 11.6% and 17.1%, respectively.

The analysis also suggests that while about 6.1% of adults in England suffer from diabetes, the illness affects 12.5% of US adults.

“We really did not expect there to be that big a difference,” says James Smith of the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California, US, who co-authored the study. England was chosen because its population was expected to share many characteristics with that of the US.
Super-sized citizens?

Smith says the fact that all people in England have access to government-sponsored health cover does not explain the differences seen between the populations. He notes that about 94% of non-Hispanic white Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 years report having access to health insurance.

He speculates that dietary differences – and in particular greater consumption of fast-food – could perhaps explain why 31% of Americans in that age group are obese, compared to just 23% of their English counterparts. Possibly more stressful and sedentary lifestyles might also make Americans less healthy, Smith speculates.

While Americans have higher rates of cancer, they are less like to die from it than the English. Researchers say this may come down to a matter of money. In the US $5274 is spent per capita on medical care while in UK, taking both nationally funded and private healthcare into account, that number is just $2164.

Journal reference: Journal of the American Medical Association (vol 295, p 2037)

With that said, The Wednesday Night Ride is on tomorrow night with yet another new rider planning to join. Our own epidemic is growing quietly on the streets of Montclair, New Jersey. Interested? njbike@yahoogroups.com