Before the heat sets in for summer, come join CyclingSavvy for our last two spring sessions:

• April 27-28 – Hosted at Northway Christian Church on Northwest Highway in Dallas
• May 11-12 – Hosted at Northway Christian Church on Northwest Highway in Dallas

Take the full course for $75 or individual sessions for $30 each. Note that Truth & Techniques and Train Your Bike are required before the Tour.

April 27-28 – Dallas – Registration

• Truth & Techniques of Traffic Cycling – 6:00-9:00p on Friday, April 27
• Train Your Bike – 8:00–11:30a on Saturday, April 28
• Tour of Dallas session – 12:30-4:00p on Saturday, April 28

May 11-12 – Dallas – Registration

• Truth & Techniques of Traffic Cycling – 6:00-9:00p on Friday, May 11
• Train Your Bike – 8:00–11:30a on Saturday, May 12
• Tour of Dallas session – 12:30-4:00p on Saturday, May 12

Read more about each of the workshop components.

The weather turned perfect for us this weekend! We had a great time with our students and took full advantage of the spring-like February. An excellent start to our 2012 CyclingSavvy DFW season!

Check out our Facebook album for some photos from the weekend… and our new Vimeo channel for a little recap on the on-bike portion of the workshop.

By the way… We’ve just announced our spring 2012 class schedule:

• March 2-3 - Register now!
• April 27-28
• May 11-12

We’ve resolved to help you make bicycling safe, comfortable, and fun again.  Whether you are riding for sport, transportation, or just plain fun, CyclingSavvy will give you tools and confidence to ride any street (or path) safely and comfortably.

Truth & Techniques of Traffic Cycling

February 3rd, 6-9PM

Updated Location:  Northway Church (map)

Learn the truth and techniques of traffic cycling. Through guided discussion with video and animation, this classroom-based session familiarizes students with bicycle-specific laws, traffic dynamics and problem-solving strategies. Students discover that bicycle drivers are equal road users, with the right and ability to control their space.

This session is available á la carte for $30. You may take it as a stand-alone class.

Train Your Bike

February 4th, 8-11 AM

Updated Location:  Northway Church parking lot (map)

This session is conducted in a parking lot. It consists of a set of progressive drills designed to increase students’ control and comfort handling their bikes in various situations. Drills include:

• Start/Stop, Power Pedal & Balance Stop
• Snail Race, Slow-speed Balance
• Drag-race, Gears & Acceleration
• Ride Straight, One-handed
• Shoulder Check
• Object-avoidance Handling, Weave, Snap
• Turning: Slow-speed Tight Turns, High-speed cornering, Emergency Snap-turn
• Emergency Braking

This session is available á la carte for $30. You may take it as a stand-alone class. In three short hours, you will learn to command your bike with precision and confidence.

After the Train Your Bike session the class will ride to lunch before beginning the Tour of Dallas.

Tour of Dallas

February 4th, 12:30-4 PM

Start/End @  Northway Church parking lot (map)

This class requires completion of the first two sessions. It will begin after a group lunch.

This session is an experiential tour of Dallas roads. The course includes some of the most intimidating road features (intersections, interchanges, merges, etc.) a cyclist might find in his/her travels. The students travel as a group, stopping to survey and discuss each exercise location. After observing the feature, discussing the traffic dynamics and the best strategy for safe and easy passage, the students ride through individually and regroup at a nearby location. This session is designed to give you the confidence and skills to handle any situation you might encounter.

Register Online

Individual sessions are $30 each package for all three sessions is $75.

Truth & Techniques of Traffic Cycling

December 9th, 6-9PM
Location: JCC of Dallas (map)
Learn the truth and techniques of traffic cycling. Through guided discussion with video and animation, this classroom-based session familiarizes students with bicycle-specific laws, traffic dynamics and problem-solving strategies. Students discover that bicycle drivers are equal road users, with the right and ability to control their space.
This session is available á la carte for $30. You may take it as a stand-alone class.

Train Your Bike

December 10, 8-11am
Start/End @ NorthPark Center
This session is conducted in a parking lot. It consists of a set of progressive drills designed to increase students’ control and comfort handling their bikes in various situations. Drills include:

• Start/Stop, Power Pedal & Balance Stop
• Snail Race, Slow-speed Balance
• Drag-race, Gears & Acceleration
• Ride Straight, One-handed
• Shoulder Check
• Object-avoidance Handling, Weave, Snap
• Turning: Slow-speed Tight Turns, High-speed cornering, Emergency Snap-turn
• Emergency Braking

This session is available á la carte for $30. You may take it as a stand-alone class. In three short hours, you will learn to command your bike with precision and confidence.
After the Train Your Bike session the class will ride to  lunch before beginning the Tour of Dallas.

Tour of Dallas

December 10, 12:30-4PM
Start/End @ NorthPark Center
This class requires completion of the first two sessions. It will begin after a group lunch.
This session is an experiential tour of Dallas roads. The course includes some of the most intimidating road features (intersections, interchanges, merges, etc.) a cyclist might find in his/her travels. The students travel as a group, stopping to survey and discuss each exercise location. After observing the feature, discussing the traffic dynamics and the best strategy for safe and easy passage, the students ride through individually and regroup at a nearby location. This session is designed to give you the confidence and skills to handle any situation you might encounter.

Register now!

Individual sessions are $30 each package for all three sessions is $75.

Last month, Richard Wharton and myself had the pleasure of attending the CyclingSavvy Instructor education course. We are joining Waco Moore as instructors for the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Through CyclingSavvyDFW.org we will be sharing information about well-mannered social rides and local cycling education opportunities. We are excited about sharing the positive and empowering CyclingSavvy program with our fellow cyclists in the North Texas area.

To kick-off this new chapter in DFW cycling, we will be hosting a Dallas Santa Ride–a free, well-mannered, social ride–on December 3. I am personally very excited about this ride to enjoy some of the finest Dallas holiday decorations and the opportunity to meet some Dallas-area cyclists.

But, wait! There’s more! We are also very excited to announce the final 2011 CyclingSavvy class for DFW. We had a great time in September and hope to see even more folks out on December 9-10. Registration has already begun!

I am looking forward to being part of the CyclingSavvy program and equally excited to share all this great news with you! Hope to see you out there!

Well, these days I’m a much more savvy cyclist and more and more I’ve started taking Preston Road instead of using residential feeder streets like Douglas.  The funny thing is that despite all the rush hour traffic, Preston is a much easier and more pleasant road to ride!  Because Douglas is only two lanes, cyclists have to be very aware of oncoming and overtaking traffic and often negotiate (via “control and release”) with motorists to ensure safe passing distances.  It’s a hassle for me and a hassle for motorists. I haven’t counted, but I think that are about four million stop signs on Douglas too (and yes, I do stop at stop signs!).  Preston on the other hand, is a six-lane arterial that provides plenty of opportunities for overtaking without delay.  I simply take the lane and it’s hassle free.  All in all, it’s much easier for me, and much more convenient for drivers who want to go faster than me.

Don’t believe me?  Here’s a video of part of my rush hour afternoon commute on Preston Road (HWY 289) from Lovers Lane to Northwest Highway.

As you can see, I follow the rules of the road and occupy the right lane in a position left of center. This puts me in approximately the same spot I would be if I were driving a car. It is where motorcyclists are taught to drive. Not only does it give me the best sight lines, it ensures me maximum visibility. It also communicates to drivers behind me that there is not room to “share” the lane (which in fact there is not in these narrow, substandard lanes) and encourages early and complete lane changes when passing. Put simply, drivers behind me see me sooner and are able to change lanes to pass well before they are upon me. Not a single time in this video—or in the 36 minutes I spent on Preston—did a driver make a close pass or come up close behind me and have to wait to change lanes. I did not delay any drivers more than a few seconds, and most experienced no delay when overtaking me.

The real delay was caused by traffic lights and the overall level of congestion. At a couple of traffic signals, we had to wait through multiple cycles because there were so many vehicles lined up. In the 36 minutes and 36 seconds I spent on Preston going from Armstrong to Forest Lane, 15 minutes and 13 seconds were spent stopped, waiting with everyone else at traffic signals.

One day recently, on my way to work the conditions came together in the perfect storm for a classic “left-cross” type crash.  The sun position, street configuration, traffic levels, and traffic timing all came together in a way that could have resulted in a very bad day.  Luckily an awareness of the situation made it really easy to avoid the left-cross that was brewing.

The camera was rolling, so here’s an example of a left cross situation developing and some tips on avoiding this type of crash:

Although the left-cross is one of the most common bicyclist/motorist crash types, it can almost always be easily avoided with mindfulness and proper lane positioning.  Here’s a fantastic animation that shows some common left-cross scenarios and how to prevent them.

CyclingSavvy has come to DFW!

Truth & Techniques of Traffic Cycling

September 9th, 6-9PM
SouthSide on Lamar
1409 S. Lamar, Dallas TX 75215 (map)

Learn the truth and techniques of traffic cycling. Through guided discussion with video and animation, this classroom-based session familiarizes students with bicycle-specific laws, traffic dynamics and problem-solving strategies. Students discover that bicycle drivers are equal road users, with the right and ability to control their space.

This session is available á la carte for $30. You may take it as a stand-alone class.

Train Your Bike

September 10, 8-11AM &
September 11, 8-11AM 

Cycling Center of Dallas @JCC
7900 Northhaven Road, Dallas TX, 75230 (map)

This session is conducted in a parking lot. It consists of a set of progressive drills designed to increase students’ control and comfort handling their bikes in various situations. Drills include:

• Start/Stop, Power Pedal & Balance Stop
• Snail Race, Slow-speed Balance
• Drag-race, Gears & Acceleration
• Ride Straight, One-handed
• Shoulder Check
• Object-avoidance Handling, Weave, Snap
• Turning: Slow-speed Tight Turns, High-speed cornering, Emergency Snap-turn
• Emergency Braking

This session is available á la carte for $30. You may take it as a stand-alone class. In three short hours, you will learn to command your bike with precision and confidence.

After the Train Your Bike session the class will ride to  lunch before beginning the Tour of Dallas.

Tour of Dallas

September 10, 12:30-4PM & September 11, 12:30-4PM
Start/End @ Cycling Center of Dallas
7900 Northhaven Road, Dallas TX, 75230 (map)

This class requires completion of the other two sessions. It will begin after a group lunch.

This session is an experiential tour of Dallas roads. The course includes some of the most intimidating road features (intersections, interchanges, merges, etc.) a cyclist might find in his/her travels. The students travel as a group, stopping to survey and discuss each exercise location. After observing the feature, discussing the traffic dynamics and the best strategy for safe and easy passage, the students ride through individually and regroup at a nearby location. This session is designed to give you the confidence and skills to handle any situation you might encounter.

UPDATE: As of 8/31/11 Saturday classes are full and there are 2 slots left for the Sunday classes. 

Register Now!

Individual sessions are $30 each
A package for all three sessions is $75

“I’ll get run over if I ride on that street.”
“I’d ride more if there were bike lanes.”
“That @#$% honked at me!”

My family was worried about my safety, and frankly, so was I.  More than anything, I was angry that bicyclists were not being better accommodated in our car-centric cities.  And while I had heaps of blame to pass around, I didn’t have any real answers.

The first hints of an answer came when I stumbled upon some local bike blogs that talked about vehicular cycling.  While many of the posts and comments sometimes seemed arrogant, angry, aloof and dismissive, there was also a ring of truth to many of the points that were made.  Although I was somewhat skeptical, I tried some of the things they suggested.  Wow.  Drivers really treated me differently and everything got easier.  It was liberating.  But that was just the beginning.  I was determined to find out what else I’d been missing and get to the next big “Aha!”

I began a journey of education and advocacy.  I took the LAB’s Traffic Skills 101 class, became a League Certified Instructor and have served on the Bicycle Advisory Committee for the City of Dallas 2011 Bike Plan, but nothing excites me more than CyclingSavvy.  I say that because I know it works.  I’ve seen first-hand how it creates confident cyclists and nurtures a healthy cycling culture. This past April, I traveled to Orlando to become a CyclingSavvy Instructor so I could bring this innovative new education program to Dallas/Ft. Worth.

Please stay tuned to our local section and connect with us on Facebook for news about upcoming classes.