Several weeks ago I posted an article with dashcam video about roads with double yellow lines. I was driving the car, and slowed to follow a bicyclist at a blind curve on a two-lane rural highway. A large dump truck with a trailer appeared, coming from the opposite direction.
If I had held my speed and passed the bicyclist, I could not have merged left far enough to pass the bicyclist safely. Neither could the truck driver see me in time to make more room.
The location, in Lincoln, Massachusetts, USA
The bicyclist kept to the right as far as he could. He relied only on hope — and my good judgment — to avoid a close pass, or worse.
The video held a message for motorists: “What you don’t see can hurt you” — or hurt someone else (in this case, most likely the bicyclist).
Blind curves hold a message for bicyclists
To clarify this message, I later rode the same stretch on a bicycle with front and rear video cameras.
As this video shows, I mostly rode on the shoulder. Several cars and a pickup truck passed me — no problem. No oncoming traffic prevented safe passing clearance.
But as I approached the blind curve, the shoulder narrowed to almost nothing. A big truck or other large vehicle could be approaching ahead. Who knew? Who could know? Neither I nor the driver of the car approaching from behind me could see around that curve.
Here’s what I did — what I always do — to protect myself:
I checked in my rearview mirror and took a look over my shoulder. If vehicles had been closer behind, I would have have used a hand signal to negotiate my way into line.
This car was far enough back that I simply merged to lane-control position. Then I made a hand signal: “Slow.”
The driver slowed to follow me for a few seconds. Once I had rounded the curve and could see far enough ahead, I released to the right and give a friendly wave. The driver accelerated and passed me.
How control and release promotes safe passing
What did my actions achieve?
They indicated that I was aware of the driver’s vehicle behind me.
They indicated that I knew it was unsafe to pass. Maybe I knew something the driver didn’t know!
In case the driver was impatient, they made it clear that passing would have to wait until we could both see far enough ahead.
The car’s slowing confirmed to me that the driver was aware of me and acting safely.
And by releasing as soon as it was safe, I demonstrated courtesy. No motorist wants to be “stuck” behind a cyclist.
As it turned out, there was no large truck, or not even a small car, approaching from the front.
But that isn’t the point. One could have been.
Might the driver behind me have passed, unable to see far enough ahead, if I had hugged the right edge of the road? I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter, because I took active control of my safety in a potentially dangerous situation.
When my safety is at stake, I choose not to rely on others to do the right thing. As we say in CyclingSavvy courses, drivers get smarter when we lead the dance.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/shadow.jpg392703John Allenhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cs-xlong-header.pngJohn Allen2020-11-27 11:55:092020-11-27 10:01:47“Control and Release” for safe passing
We can’t understand our present time — or plan for the future — unless we know how we got here. In a previous post, I described how I ride on Massachusetts Route 9. Now I’ll tell you what that makes me think about. Bear with me.
Backstory
One of the pleasures of riding in eastern Massachusetts is to discern the age and the history of roads from their meanderings, and by studying the buildings along them. Most rural roads here pre-date the advent of motor vehicles. That works well for bicyclists. Roads follow the contours of the land, except for notorious roads with “hill” in their name,
From the arrival of the first humans as glaciers retreated, until the arrival of settlers from Europe in the 1600s, there was only singletrack, trodden on foot.
Settlers introduced horses, oxen and wagons. Many old trails widened to doubletrack. The settlers located early town centers on hilltops for defense against Native Americans who did not like being driven from their lands. Settlers later built town centers in valleys with water power for mills. Local people would organize a “bee” — a day when they’d get together for road maintenance. Distances between towns were short, so farmers could manage a day trip by wagon to market and back.
I can infer all this as I ride my bicycle in the Eastern Massachusetts countryside. Some old roads still have stone mile markers from before the Revolution.
In the 1700s, Benjamin Franklin organized the postal service. Town-to-town roads, strung together, connected major population centers. Parts of U.S. Route 20, which passes a half mile from my home, are still called the Boston Post Road. It connected to New York and beyond.
From the Worcester Turnpike to Route 9
In the early 1800s, private companies established turnpikes with government authorization. These toll roads radiated out in several directions from Boston. The Worcester Turnpike heads west to — Worcester. The Turnpike was created in one political stroke, rather than its evolving like most roads. For this reason, it is quite straight, and for the most part, avoids town centers.
Turnpikes served budding intercity commerce, but they soon failed financially. They were expensive to construct. Unlike modern toll roads, the turnpikes had no access control. “Shunpikes” went around the tollgates.
By the mid-1800s, railroads linked cities. The turnpikes couldn’t compete. Many did continue to exist, under government management and free for users.
The eastern half of the Worcester Turnpike survived; the western half deteriorated. In 1903, the entire Worcester Turnpike revived, hosting a light rail line. Trolley cars stopped running in 1932 as increasing use of motor vehicles drained demand. Some political shenanigans occurred, too, as Joe Orfant, expert on Route 9, has told me. He has written a fascinating detailed history.
Trolley on the Worcester Turnpike in Brookline (Brookline Historical Society archive)
“The Finest Motor Road in the World”
You’ve probably read about struggles to improve roads toward the end of the 1800s, involving in no small part bicyclists and the bicycle industry. But hardly any roads outside urban areas were paved before the 1920s.
In 1933, benefiting from Depression stimulus funding, the Worcester Turnpike was designated as a segment of Massachusetts Route 9, and extensively rebuilt. At the time of this construction it was heralded as “the finest motor road in the world.” It relieved the congestion on Route 20, which meandered through town centers.
Route 9’s two roadways separated by a median identify it as a precursor of the German Autobahns and New York-area parkways, constructed in the mid- to late 1930s; the Pennsylvania Turnpike (1942); and limited-access highways everywhere.
Even though much of Route 9 seems interstate-like today, designation of the Worcester Turnpike segment as a limited-access highway has never been possible.
Today’s transportation engineers would not create this sort of roadway through a densely populated area. But by necessity Route 9 is “grandfathered,” because it is lined with businesses and residences. and offers the only access to numerous side streets.
Reaching most destinations on the opposite side requires continuing to the next interchange and doubling back. Space-saving interchanges require drivers to slow before exiting and stop for through traffic before entering. Many of these interchanges still exist, largely unchanged.
Interchange of Cedar Street and Route 9, Wellesley, Massachusetts
Massachusetts Route 9 and Bicyclists
The Worcester Turnpike segment of Massachusetts Route 9 is not quiet or pleasant for bicycling. Until recent years, though, it has been serviceable for bicyclists of an average adult skill level. Route 9’s wide shoulders are easy riding. Its slow-and-stop intersections are tame.
But parts of Route 9 have been modified, one by one, to accommodate increases in motor traffic. From early on, many minor cross streets were interrupted. This works well for bicyclists who don’t need to cross the highway, and poorly for those who do.
And when the Massachusetts Highway Department builds or reconstructs an interchange with a limited-access highway, it tends to add limited-access highway features to the intersecting road. Such it the case with the Route 95 interchange.
Full cloverleaf, original design of Route 9-Interstate 95 interchange
From the time of its construction in the early 1950s until recent years, the interchange with Interstate 95 was a full cloverleaf, as shown in the satellite image above. Route 9 had two weave areas where traffic slowing for an off ramp crossed traffic accelerating from an on ramp. These weaves were underneath the Route 95 overpass.
Traffic slowing down mixing with traffic speeding up inside an underpass on a high-speed highway is not a great concept.
Redesign of the Route 9/I-95 Interchange
Revised design in the mid-2010s eliminated the weaves, introducing instead a couple of signal-controlled left turns. This “partial cloverleaf” design includes reduced vegetation, which improves sight distances.
Revised design of Route 9/Interstate 95 interchange
What does all this mean for bicyclists?
I’ve already described the specifics of a trip which required me to ride through the interchange. Granted, the present configuration is better than the earlier full cloverleaf. As I showed in my previous post, I was able to negotiate it using lane control and a CyclingSavvy bag of tricks.
Bicyclists could use sidewalks. These meet the letter of the law for the Americans with Disabilities Act, though not exactly the spirit of the law. How would you like to negotiate a wheelchair crammed in next to high-speed travel lanes through an underpass? In winter, sidewalk users often must clamber over mounds of plowed snow. Distances are long for walking.
Opportunity is Possible in an Auto-Centric Landscape
In an ideal world, pedestrians and slower, local, wheeled traffic — people on foot, bicycles, e-bikes — would not to have to use Route 9 at all. But this traffic would have to cross Route 95 somewhere.
Including a separate underpass or overpass while reconstructing the interchange would have added little extra cost to the project. It didn’t happen, no thanks to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Highway Division.
But a single overpass and less than a mile of paths could connect the William Street office park, east of Route 95, to Cedar Street and several residential streets to the west, also opening up a riverfront park to residents and to workers. Route 95 crosses the Charles River on a bridge north of the interchange. A path on a boardwalk could run next to the river. Just sayin’.
Paths could provide alternative access and open up a riverfront park. Click to enlarge.
Worcester Turnpike, to Route 9, to the Big Picture
My story raises the larger question of sustainability of the transportation system and world economy. The die was cast in the mid-1800s as railroads bootstrapped the accessibility of coal — fossil fuel — for themselves, for industry, and for space heating, supplanting water power and wood.
Then petroleum made possible the motor vehicles which led to demand for motor roads. These among other technological developments allowed the world to support an increasing human population.
It’s easy to look at what succeeds in the present while neglecting thoughts for the future. It should have been obvious from the start that fossil fuel resources were finite. Grimly, climate change — caused by fossil fuel use — is catching up with us faster.
I almost regret saying this, but the present Covid-19 pandemic is showing us how bicycling becomes more popular in times of crisis. No matter how the future unfolds, people will ride bicycles. The more difficult conditions get, the more people will need them. For all of us, this is motivation to make bicycling better.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Rt9featured.jpg5921053John Allenhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cs-xlong-header.pngJohn Allen2020-10-02 11:55:112020-10-08 13:17:05Worcester Turnpike to Route 9 to…?
OK, folks, now I have ridden the route that takes me to the two appointments along Massachusetts Route 9, through a gnarly interchange.
My route (right to left). Click on the image to enlarge it.
I think that I mostly got it right on the second try. I shot video, and now you can see how I did it.
You could do it on a sidewalk.
Yes, CyclingSavvy teaches safe pedestrian behavior, too! Even a novice bicyclist could use sidewalks to get through the Massachusetts Route 9/I-95 interchange.
Using the sidewalk, you’ll cross a couple of high-speed highway ramps. As you enter a crosswalk, either no traffic should be approaching, or a driver should come to a complete stop to allow you to cross, blocking other traffic. A blinking turn signal is a good indication that a driver will enter an on ramp; its absence is no guarantee that a driver will not.
But I did it in the road.
Using the roadway is faster, and savvy strategies make it work better.
Here’s how I prepared.
I drove through in a car, with a dashcam running. That showed me the basic layout of the intersection, but the experience is so unlike cycling that it didn’t help much.
I next studied the route using Google Maps — as described in my previous post — and rode through a first time on my bicycle. The traffic lights were all green, and I just kept moving. I took notes mentally, and shot video.
Google satellite view of part of my route, right to left. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Why go to the trouble?
Was it worth going to this kind of trouble? Yes, so I could write this post, and so I could test savvy cycling strategies against the toughest challenge I could find within easy riding distance of my home.
Before I rode through a second time and reviewed my video, I wasn’t even sure that I would be comfortable riding here myself.
I am not running a contest to find the worst possible riding conditions.
Rather, I am demonstrating that the process to tame a troublesome route segment can work for very unfriendly road configurations.
Your time is well spent if it frees you to ride a bicycle more. After you’ve figured out one or two situations, others get easier and easier to sort out.
Strategies For A Busy Highway
The video below shows the strategies I used. Below the video, I’ll describe the strategies.
The first stretch on a frontage road is easy. It’s 20 feet wide, a good example of where it makes complete sense to keep right so motorists can pass.
Frontage road leading to Route 9
Then things get interesting. Unless you just happen to arrive at the end of a platoon of Route 9 traffic, you do well to to turn right into William Street and make a U-turn, as I did. I waited, at first behind a pickup truck, then I pulled forward and waited alone.
Waiting for the platoon to pass on William Street
By waiting, I could time my entry onto Route 9 and use traffic platooning to get an empty roadway most of the way to an off-ramp, the first major challenge of the ride.
Last vehicle in the platoon, just ahead
On my way past the off-ramp, I rode in the left tire track, signaling that I intended to go straight and allowing a really big truck behind me to enter the ramp with zero conflict.
Truck entering off-ramp from Route 9
I continued past a traffic light, then pulled off onto the shoulder, where I could check for traffic coming from an on-ramp. I waited until the traffic light that I just rode through turned red to block through traffic.
If ramp traffic were heavier, I might have had to negotiate with an entering motorist to slow or stop, and then pass me on the left. But like me, entering motorists would have no main-line traffic to deal with, except for, well, me. Motorists could use the two empty lanes to my left.
Looking back at the on ramp to Route 9
Thanks to my preparation in the previous step, I next rode through a long underpass on a completely empty roadway. This suited me because drivers exiting the ramp have a somewhat restricted sight line.
Looking back into a completely empty underpass
I got nearly to the next traffic light before it turned green. You may notice that the cars waiting at the light are from the platoon that passed while I was pulled over. Waiting for them to pass didn’t lose me any time. Had I not stopped, I would have waited at this red light. This traffic light blocks traffic entering from the right, and so I had clear passage on a green light.
Signalized on ramp at next traffic light
Plain-Vanilla Lane Control
From this point forward until past the interchange, I used plain-vanilla CyclingSavvy lane control, riding in the rightmost through lane.
One rogue motorcyclist split the lane between me and the SUV to my left. This is legal in some states, but not in Massachusetts. Avoiding collisions with other road users of this ilk is one more reason to be predictable, though it would also be nice to see some law enforcement.
I kept a steady, straight line of travel, and Wild Man sped onward to crash somewhere else.
The rogue motorcyclist
With lane control in a through lane on this high-speed highway, I was relying on motorists to change lanes and avoid me. They did.
Car merging to pass me
Rear-end collisions are rare, and motorists are unlikely to be driving distractedly when they know that they have to pay attention. But it can happen. My tools to avoid a driver who might rear-end me are glances into my rear-view mirror and if necessary, to swerve out of the way — though possibly into other trouble.
Another Trick Up My Sleeve
There’s another option in this segment: to use the right-turn lane and make a U-turn, as I did earlier at William Street, then turn right on a green light. This can help you ride without other traffic on the short shoulderless section of Route 9 that follows. (If I may editorialize, that segment of Route 9 hardly shows lip service to pedestrian safety. The sidewalks west from there look as though they haven’t been paved or cleared of overgrowth in 50 years.)
Little detour to turn right on green onto Route 9
I do think it’s good that I demonstrated the plain vanilla approach. If the video didn’t cover that, it would offer incomplete advice. On the other hand, with that last U-turn and right on green, it is possible to ride all the way through this interchange, on the roadway, without once mixing with high-speed motor traffic. But that isn’t possible everywhere.
After passing the shoulderless section, I rode a wide, paved shoulder the rest of the way to my destination.
Did you ever imagine that fast traffic might offer a safety advantage? On this busy highway, it does. Any driver who would turn right would have to slow way down, offering ample warning of a right-hook risk.
Riding on the shoulder west of the interchange
This part of the video got so uneventful that I have inserted a map of the ride, and titles, over parts of it.
No love affair with Massachusetts Route 9!
The creation of this post does NOT mean that I like riding a bicycle on Route 9.
I do notlike the interchange, whose present configuration dates from 2016.
Nor do I like the stretch of Route 9 designed in the 1930s, despite the shoulder that makes for an easy, if noisy, bicycle ride.
The crowning problem with both of these segments is that there is no other way in or out of office parks, residences and residential streets along Route 9, by any means of transportation.
As I remark in the video, there’s also no way to cross Route 9 for stretches of a half mile or more. As a result, Route 9 has created car dependency far in excess of anything usual in Boston suburbs.
Criticism is fair only along with explanations and suggestions. I plan to be back with another post about the history of Route 9 to discuss the opportunities lost, and explore possibilities to improve matters.
I’m also planning to post a video of a a ride on the same route when traffic is heavier, in rush hour. I expect that the ride will be easier, because the traffic will be slower.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Route-9-fallback-2-e1598566416756.jpg395702John Allenhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cs-xlong-header.pngJohn Allen2020-08-28 12:55:332020-08-28 13:44:50I Rode a Bicycle on Massachusetts Route 9
At CyclingSavvy we teach communication with other road users. But there’s a part of the course called “Train Your Bike.”
Cute catchphrase? Well, sort of. You are actually training yourself, but “training the bike” is how it feels. We want you to feel at one with your bike.
Many riders never learn to be one with their bike when they are starting and stopping.
It sounds so basic. Why spend time on it? How could people possibly screw up starting and stopping enough for that to be a problem?
Well, they can and it is.
Lowering the stress level
CyclingSavvy founder Keri Caffrey once had a student who was a super-experienced athlete. The student had completed a half-Ironman triathlon. But for her, starting and stopping were near-crashing events. She wobbled scarily at slow speed — and slow speed is part and parcel of every start and stop. Keri’s instruction lowered that student’s stress level enormously.
You don’t have to be a serious triathlete to need this instruction. Look around at other cyclists, and you’ll see:
People don’t stop at stop lights because their stop/start skills are so poor. (Double that when an unskilled rider gets a pedal-binding system.)
If someone does stop, it’s disturbing to watch, and so are the first 30 feet after restarting.
Just as you come to a stop sign, there is a gap in the cross traffic. Is it long enough? That might depend on your being ready for a quick restart.
Category IV (novice) mass-start road race starts are scary. People don’t accelerate smoothly away from the starting line.
The solution is right here!
This can be fixed. Easily. But you have to know how.
If you follow all the steps in sequence, every start is smooth. Every stop is smooth. None of these steps is difficult. None requires fancy bike-handling skill. But you have to know them and understand them.
This is exactly what we teach in Train Your Bike.
It looks so easy. Because when you start and stop the best way, it’s a non-event.
To start, you lift a pedal to the power position while straddling the bike, with your butt in front of the saddle. Stand on the one pedal, lift your butt up and slide it rearward. Put your other foot on the other pedal and continue pedaling.
To stop, use the brakes to stop the bike, slide your butt forward off the saddle and put your weight on one foot. Lean the bicycle toward the other foot — so it is outboard of the pedal. Put that foot on the ground just as the bike stops. You use that foot and your hands to hold the bike while it’s stopped. And you use the other foot to lift a pedal into the power position for your next start.
Putting a foot down for a landing
We love teaching starting and stopping — and other skills — because we love to see both novices and experienced riders discover entirely different and better ways to do things on their bikes.
Try practicing this skill. Watch the video a few times. Then follow up with practice, so the sequence unfolds smoothly. It takes practice, as the saying goes, to get to Carnegie Hall.
Should bicyclists be riding now? Should bicyclists wear face masks now to avoid the risk of catching the COVID-19 disease?
Common sense suggests that masks help, but the US Centers for Disease Control until recently downplayed them. With masks in short supply, the highest priority has been to ensure first responders and medical professionals have protection.
Judgments like that are about the Greater Good. They aren’t just about saving you in particular. They are based on epidemiological risk assessments from one point of view or another.
Good Health and the Greater Good
I like to think that I advocate for the Greater Good, but I do better at that if I am in good health. I might take that idea farther than some people. By 1978, bicycle helmets were becoming common, and like many people I wore one. But I was unique in wearing an industrial respirator mask when riding in the city.
The author riding with helmet and mask in 1978 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Photo by Anita Brewer-Siljeholm
Cities were smelly in 1978. Most cars did not have catalytic converters. Brake shoes were made of asbestos, and they shed asbestos fibers into the air. But my respirator worked great. Car exhaust had a heavy, oily smell back then, but it came through the mask odorless. Acrid diesel-bus exhaust exited the mask’s activated charcoal filters smelling like a fresh slice of whole-wheat toast.
If I hadn’t been wearing a respirator mask while cycling in the late 70s, the damage to my lungs and body would have been as significant as if I smoked cigarettes. Then, things got better. As pollution control on cars improved, I used the respirator less. It deteriorated in storage, and eventually I threw it away.
Now we have a different problem.
The pandemic has created a new and different problem. CyclingSavvy outdoor sessions have been postponed or canceled. Bicycle clubs have suspended their group ride programs. Should I ride at all? Wear a mask?
There is no absolute social distancing. The widely cited 6-foot rule reflects a balance of risk against what people will tolerate. The good news is that you don’t get infected by just one individual virus spore. Exhaustive research on the AIDS virus has established that there is a threshold level of contamination below which it does not take hold in a person. With the virus that causes COVID-19, the principle is the same, though the amount is not yet known. Individual susceptibility varies, and a higher dose appears to result in worse symptoms. Wearing a mask does lower the risk of catching the disease, or transmitting it.
Are Masks Practical?
I happen to have a few N95 masks left over from sanding and painting projects (opened box, not accepted for donation). I have shaved my beard — for the first time in 50 years — to make the masks work better.
My wife and I reserve the masks for shopping trips. We use them only once every several days, so they have time to decontaminate themselves. (Viruses die outside of the host animal’s body.) Three or four masks between us will probably hold out until supply improves. I wear eye-protection goggles over my eyeglasses. We also happen to have a couple of surgical masks.
My experience:
An N95 mask proved practical only for short bicycle trips, especially in cold weather, because I couldn’t lift it off my face to blow my nose.
A surgical mask is not practical for me when cycling in cool weather, because it doesn’t seal, and fogs my glasses. Lifting this mask is possible, though, without unbuckling the helmet.
There are too many kinds of improvised cloth masks for me to come to a single conclusion. A bandana that hangs down and can be lifted up is probably going to allow blowing the nose.
An industrial respirator mask is practical, though it could become uncomfortable on a long ride. The degree of protection it provides depends on the type of filters.
Any mask will somewhat impair breathing.
Should Bicyclists Wear Face Masks For Shopping Trips?
While I have access to a car, I prefer to shop by bicycle. The bicycle is more convenient when I am bringing home a small load. Cycling to the store alone generally carries far less risk of infection than riding public transportation. But when shopping, I have to interact with people, and sometimes go into a store.
Should bicyclists wear face masks for this kind of trip? Yes, at least when going into the store, but also if having to ride under crowded conditions.
For shopping trips, I wear gardening gloves with rubber fingers and palms. I carry a small bottle with disinfectant solution, and disinfectant wipes. I disinfect the shopping-cart handle before gripping it. I also disinfect my gloves, then my hands after I leave the store. When I get home I disinfect them again after removing the mask, goggles and helmet.
The reusable shopping bag in the picture below does not go into the store. Stores in Massachusetts don’t accept them any more, as they might carry infection. I use the bag after I’m done shopping, to increase the carrying capacity of my bicycle.
The author, April 2020, in full kit for a shopping trip. Photo by Jacob Allen
When I get home, I lay out items that I bought in the driveway to disinfect them, or pour food out into clean containers. Apartment dwellers have to disinfect indoors. There’s plenty of good information online about how to disinfect foods, and yourself after handling them. Here’s one example.
Should Bicyclists Wear Face Masks For Recreational Riding?
Should you wear a face mask while riding? Or not? Or just hang up the bicycle? Strategies are different if you’re riding solo or with someone else.
Each person’s circumstances are unique. In my case, it’s only a mile from my home to semi-rural outer suburbs. Traffic on roads there is very light now, and I’ll go on solo rides without wearing a mask.
Urban and suburban traffic is also light, though a friend — a high-mileage recreational road rider — has had to dodge many newbie wrong-way riders. (This is one more reason to stay away from riding on the edge of the road.)
Another friend who is a strong advocate for shared-use paths avoids them now, because they are crowded, largely with people who don’t know how to be safe on them.
In some places, notably New York State, masks are now required for everyone where social distancing is impossible. Spain and Italy have banned recreational cycling, allowing cycling only for some kinds of essential trips. That seems excessive to me, at least where I live, considering the low risk of contagion on lightly-used rural roads.
If You Ride With Another Person
The 6-foot rule doesn’t apply to bicyclists riding together, because bicyclists are moving, and the risk depends on which way the wind is blowing. One recommendation was to maintain 35-foot spacing, and greater at higher speeds. The front rider uses hand signals to indicate turns; the rear rider repeats them to confirm. Checking for confirmation is easier if the front rider uses a rear-view mirror.
Crash Risk
I do think about the risk of a crash that would require care in an already overburdened hospital. It could happen, but my last crash that required a doctor’s attention was in 1984, to no small extent because of the kind of skills that CyclingSavvy teaches. There is a balance to achieve.
April 2020: The author headed out on a recreational ride, no mask. Photo: Jacob Allen
I’ve been riding on the nearly empty semi-rural roads — without a mask, to stay in shape and avoid going stir-crazy. But you have to make up your own mind about this.
Even if you have hung the bicycle up for the duration, the time will come when you dust it off and ride again. This is a useful way to while away the time until then.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/john-allen-with-mask-2020-featured.jpg231248John Allenhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cs-xlong-header.pngJohn Allen2020-04-18 10:00:422020-04-19 23:23:43Should I Be Riding Now?
John will premiere “Riding the Eakins Oval” to a live audience at this weekend’s Philly Bike Expo. He and CyclingSavvy Instructor Pamela Murray are leading a one-hour seminar, Bicycling In Traffic Is A Dance You Lead, at 10:30 AM Saturday, Nov. 2.
At 3 PM Sunday, Nov. 3, Pam will give a seminar on How to Create a Biking Revolution. If you’re at the Expo, go. Pam is a charismatic dynamo, and walks the talk.
Here’s a link to the weekend’s complete seminar schedule.
Don’t forget to visit the CyclingSavvy/Coalition for Appropriate Transportation booth (number 2009) at the Expo. At the booth, you’ll be able to “drive” an HPV through a busy intersection and see how to avoid the hazards (yes, it’s 100 percent safe).
The Philly Bike Expo is celebrating its 10th year. This remarkable bicycling event brings together under one enormous roof outstanding vendors from throughout the country, including dealers, distributors, advocacy organizations, and specialty frame makers.
If you can go, don’t miss it! I wish I could be there. Sadly I must settle for a cameo appearance in John’s video ;-)
So many ways to bike on Philly’s Eakins Oval.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-31-at-5.36.36-PM.png10261274Karen Karabellhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cs-xlong-header.pngKaren Karabell2019-11-01 11:00:202019-11-01 10:24:25Eakins Oval, How Do I Bike Thee? Let Me Count The Ways
…about bike lanes in Philadelphia, I showed how I rode on Spruce Street, a narrow one-way street in Center City with a bike lane.
When my safety required it, I merged out of the bike lane — for example, whenever I might be at risk from a right-turning motor vehicle. At those times, it was safest to be in line with motor vehicles, where the driver behind me could see me.
Such Assertiveness May Seem Strange and Forbidding
It’s indeed counterintuitive to practice “driver behavior,” and take your place in the queue with motor vehicles. Yes, they are big, and heavy, and they can go fast. But these vehicles also are controlled by drivers. You use head turns and hand signals to communicate with drivers, and move into line when one has made room for you. That driver’s vehicle is protecting you from all the other ones behind!
Putting “driver behavior” into practice on Spruce Street was easy, as traffic there is mostly slow. I had no trouble just falling into line with vehicles waiting at a traffic light.
A First-Timer’s Mistakes
If you think that CyclingSavvy Instructors always do everything right, watch today’s video. This was my first ride ever on Spruce Street. I wouldn’t do everything quite the same way a second time.
There were a couple of times when I didn’t move far enough OUT of the bike lane. I was in line with motor traffic, but I stayed in the right tire track — on the passenger side of cars — so that bicyclists in the bike lane would show in my video.
Right Tire Track Distracted Me From My Safety
That distracted me from an option which would have made my ride go better. As I reviewed raw footage, it dawned on me that most of the streets which cross Spruce Street are one-way. Some are one way right-to-left, others left-to-right.
I could take advantage of this!
Avoiding Unnecessary Delay at Intersections
Look at the incidents at one-way left-to-right cross streets. In one of these, a motorist ahead of me pulled over to the right curb just past the intersection. In the other, a motorist behind me turned right. Neither used turn signals. The driver who merged right delayed me, and I delayed the one who turned right.
Things would have gone more smoothly if I had been riding farther to the left. That is my usual practice where traffic can turn right, but it is even more emphatically correct where traffic can’t turn left.
I still won’t pull all the way over to the left, out of line with the motor traffic: even if a motorist is unlikely to turn the wrong way into a one-way street, one could still merge over to the left curb, like the one who merged over to the right curb in my video. It’s safest to wait in line.
Just For Fun
I’ve included a third incident where the mistake was made years earlier, in the design department of an automobile manufacturer halfway around the world.
In this segment, the driver did use a turn signal, but it was so far around on the other side of the car, I couldn’t see it.
This driver was yielding right-of-way to me when I should have yielded to him. To avoid a “no, you go first” situation, I went ahead. If I’d known that the driver wanted to turn right and would have to follow me, I would have been more assertively polite. Why would I want motorists behind me if they don’t have to be? I don’t!
The first two incidents illustrate why I never assume motorists will use their turn signals. The third incident brought home to me that I sometimes can’t assume that they are not using turn signals.
Savvy Cyclists Learn From Their Mistakes
While I kept safe, the encounters I’ve described could have gone more smoothly. Every ride can be a learning experience, and the next ride can go better.
More to Come
I have one more post about Spruce Street on the way. So far I’ve done my best to avoid discussing politics and religion.
But in my final Spruce Street post, churches are involved. In that post I’m going to let loose!
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Screen-Shot-2019-09-30-at-1.39.50-PM.jpeg744873John Allenhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cs-xlong-header.pngJohn Allen2019-10-04 09:00:202020-07-21 23:26:25A Philadelphia Bike Lane Learning Experience
In November 2015 I spent part of a day exploring Philadelphia by bicycle. I shot video of my ride, as I like to do.
I ride with a forward-facing camera on my helmet and a rearward-facing one on the bicycle’s rear rack. The video accompanying this post was recorded on Spruce Street in downtown Philadelphia.
Spruce Street is straight, narrow and one-way, lined with brick row houses. There are a couple of big, old churches. The street has sidewalks on each side and, from left to right, a parking lane, single travel lane and bike lane.
Then in December, one block from Spruce Street, a truck turned right and ran over Becca Refford, also 24 years old, leaving her seriously injured.
These heartbreaking events
moved me to edit my Spruce Street video and place it online.
Let’s be clear.
I can assure you that I wish this post didn’t have to be written.
I wish Emily and Becca — and every cyclist — knew what I know: How to protect yourself when choosing to use bike lanes.
I want you to understand why what happened to them doesn’t happen to me.
I want you to know how to avoid a catastrophe when you use a bike lane.
Pragmatic vs. Dogmatic Use of Bike Lanes
A cyclist who insists on never using bike lanes is, without question, rigid and dogmatic.
But a cyclist who insists on always using bike lanes is equally rigid and dogmatic.
My use of bike lanes is pragmatic.
I use a bike lane when it works. I get out of it when it doesn’t.
To Use or Not To Use
The bike lane on Spruce Street is entirely reasonable where it does work. The bike lane is next to the curb — parking is only on the other side of the street — so the bike lane doesn’t create a problem with a door zone or blocked sight lines.
I used this bike lane to let motorists pass me when they were faster. The bike lane also let me pass motorists when they were slower. Here’s what’s important:
When I use a bike lane to either release or pass motorists, I do so with caution — and constant observation of what’s happening around me.
Especially when approaching intersections, riding in line with motor vehicles is safer, and often easier.
Traffic Safety is a Dynamic Condition
For much of Spruce Street’s bike lane, sight line obstructions are minimized and there’s no door zone to worry about. But the remaining hazard killed Emily Fredericks and put Becca Refford into a body cast. You can avoid this!
How to Avoid Right-Hook Collisions
Merge left to ride in line with motor traffic. It’s easy to communicate with slow-moving motorists. Look over your shoulder and signal to the driver behind you that you want to take your place in the queue.
In the video you’ll see me take my place in line. I followed our traffic system’s Rules of Movement and passed right-turning vehicles on the left.
Yes, I waited a few seconds longer than some of the cyclists who stayed in the bike lane, but I also could get moving while others were trapped behind right-turning motor vehicles.
No motorists had to wait for me before turning right. So this worked better for the motorists too.
Complain to the Preacher?
I rode Spruce Street on a Sunday morning. In the video, you’ll see worshipers’ cars parked illegally in the bike lane.
I preferred not to get into the middle of a dispute involving politics and religion, so I got into the middle of the travel lane instead, avoiding the door zone on both sides.
Pragmatic, not dogmatic.
It’s easy
to get into a bike lane, once you decide it’s OK to use.
It’s much harder
to get out of a bike lane, once you find yourself in danger.
Tune in again…
for a post about a couple of encounters on Spruce Street that could have turned into real trouble, and how I managed them.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Spruce-Street-in-downtown-Philly.jpeg494498John Allenhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cs-xlong-header.pngJohn Allen2019-03-29 11:00:492019-03-30 13:33:57Pragmatic vs. Dogmatic Bike Lane Use
I am a proud savvy cyclist…and I have a confession.
I took CyclingSavvy twice, first in Philadelphia and then Charlotte.
You might ask: Didn’t I learn anything the first time?
Using the top floor of a downtown Philly parking garage for Train Your Bike, the parking lot skills session. Even experienced cyclists – like Marc – learn new things. From left: instructor Karen Karabell, Marc Caruso, Camille Gervasio, Shannon Walsh and John A Petty II
Yes.
I learned an incredible amount about training my bike and how to ride comfortably and confidently with traffic. But some things don’t sink in until later or, in my case, the second time around.
In Philly, I learned from Karen Karabell that there’s nothing scary about empty pavement behind you. How do you get “scary” roads to yourself? You make the lights and the law work for you.
A great example is choosing where you enter a road from. Use traffic lights to your advantage by turning right on green. You have no obligation to turn right on red.
By turning right on green, motorists on the road you’re turning onto are stopped at a red light. When they finally get a green, they’ll be far enough back to use one of the adjacent travel lanes to pass you, in whichever lane you’re not in.
Strategy, Courtesy and Mindfulness
We practiced the right-on-green technique in Charlotte, too. Before I tell you what happened, you need to know that the on-road Tour is like nothing you’ve ever done before.
You’ll be riding on roads you can’t believe you’re using — and you’ll be doing it by yourself, unless you don’t want to. Then an instructor will ride with you. But by the time you get to that point in the workshop, almost everyone wants to try on their own.
Marc making a left turn in Charlotte
A Savvy Cyclist Can Go Anywhere
As a savvy cyclist, I’m not a road warrior. Just the opposite!
CyclingSavvy instructors teach strategy, courtesy and mindfulness. They figure you’re probably OK riding on your neighborhood cul de sac, or on a trail. What they want is to show you how to make connections, so that you can ride out of your neighborhood, or not have to put your bike on a car to go to the trail.
When Motorists Want to Turn Right on Red
In Charlotte, we watched each student set off to practice right-on-green. It was a busy road and motorists would appear behind them. John Allen instructed the students to move to the left side of the lane and wave the motorists to pass on their right.
Staying to the left side of a lane allows motorists to turn right on red while you wait for a green light.
The motorists passed and made the right on red. When the light turned green, the student doing the feature would turn right.
The result was obvious: No cars on the big “scary” road behind the student. By turning right on green, motorists on that road were held back by a red light.
After making the turn, we were instructed to go directly into the lane we wanted. Motorists turning right on green with us could choose another lane and pass us easily.
Epiphany In Charlotte
Instructor Pamela Murray shook my thinking about shoulder checks.
Marc leads other savvy cyclists on the Tour of Charlotte
I use a helmet mirror, so some shoulder checks seemed unnecessary in my mind. Before taking CyclingSavvy in Charlotte, I only did shoulder checks when making lateral movements.
When I merged or turned, I’d do a shoulder check, signal, and shoulder check again to make sure it’s safe. Otherwise, I just used my mirror and then communicated with hand signals like “slow,” or “pass” when it was safe to pass me.
What this does, though, is make it seem like the motorist is communicating with just an inanimate piece of metal.
A Fellow Human
When you turn your head over your shoulder, you’re showing your face to the person behind you and making yourself recognized as another human being, not just a bike.
As a result of seeing your face, they’ll be more apt to take direction from you. People like to help other people out.
I’m grateful for the incredible, knowledgeable CyclingSavvy instructors who’ve helped change my street game into a savvy cyclist dance.
Celebrating last November after a great day in Charlotte. Left to right: Carl Fenske (who became a CyclingSavvy Instructor in February 2018), Marc Caruso, Doug Guerena, Pamela Murray, Charlene Poole, John Allen, John Gaul and Shannon Walsh
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/P1060496.jpg516894Marc Carusohttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cs-xlong-header.pngMarc Caruso2018-08-15 11:30:392018-11-07 10:02:04Learning A New Street Dance
This was spring in Boston, on a beautiful night. I had joined a Meetup ride, and a group of us were chatting afterward at a local eatery. Pamela Murray, a lovely Asian woman with a Southern accent, sidled up to me with a question.
“Are you going to the CyclingSavvy class that’s starting tomorrow?”
I didn’t know what she was talking about. I’d never heard of the program. But as she and John Allen described it, I thought: What have I got to lose? When I got home that night, I registered on the website.
Classroom session at Dana Farber Institute in Boston, with instructors Pamela Murray and John Allen
There’s a lot to a CyclingSavvy workshop.
The Friday evening program consisted of short lectures, videos, diagrams of street scenes, and techniques to avoid dangerous road conditions and traffic configurations.
The emphasis, to me, was on maximizing visibility — you can’t be too visible in traffic. A secondary topic was reading and assessing street and traffic patterns to anticipate potential dangers and avoid them. To this end, we discussed optimizing road position for safety and making one’s intent clear and unambiguous at all times.
The Friday evening program reminded me of the United Kingdom’s voluntary Institute of Advanced Motorists program, modeled after a defensive/assertive driving course developed by the London Metropolitan Police. It taught forward-looking road positioning, awareness of other road users (motor vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, livestock!) at all times, anticipating their intent and actions, and generally avoiding potential trouble spots.
As a result of taking that course, I was rewarded with a healthy discount on my auto insurance. And not coincidentally, I had neither crashes nor close calls during the two years I drove throughout the UK and continental Europe in a right-hand-drive car.
CyclingSavvy holds benefits for people from all levels and backgrounds.
The six participants Friday evening represented a wide range of experience and riding skills. Another gentlemen and I had been bike commuting year-round for decades in and around Boston.
One woman had recently moved from New York City. She enjoyed the Hudson River Greenway and Central Park for weekend recreational rides, but was fearful of riding on NYC or Boston streets, even in bike lanes. She had learned of the program only that morning at a Bike Week get-together. She was willing to learn whatever CyclingSavvy had to offer, as commuting by bike was her best option.
A couple of other folks had ridden occasionally in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville running errands and on weekend group rides, yet felt uneasy riding alone on city streets.
Another woman, Binbin, had purchased a bicycle only a month earlier. She told me she was frightened to do anything but ride in circles in an empty parking lot on Sunday mornings.
Saturday morning:
Train Your Bike offers an easy way to discover the amazing capabilities of the marvelous machine known as the bicycle
The class spent three hours practicing bicycle-handling drills in a parking garage. The first exercise was to mount the bike and start from a dead stop. Most everyone could do this effortlessly, but Binbin appeared to have no idea how to get started. At one point she said she started in her favorite empty parking lot with a gentle slope, and used gravity to gain enough momentum to stay upright. She practiced that morning until she could reliably get the bike going by pushing off on one foot.
Then we spent the time practicing weaving around traffic cones, emergency stops, turns, evasive maneuvers. Binbin had a hard time with the emergency stops, but eventually got the hang of it.
I myself discovered that I could do better. During emergency stops, I repeatedly skidded my rear wheel. I’ve since practiced and my stopping distance is much reduced. Among other skills in which I learned that I could improve was a quick evasive maneuver to avoid hazards like potholes, rocks, dead squirrels, broken glass in the street.
On the streets of Boston.
After lunch, we went out on streets, executing prescribed routes and turns both as a group and individually. We made left turns from a major street, crossed trolley tracks the safe way, and finally navigated around the huge complex of streets at Park Drive/Riverway/Brookline Avenue/Boylston Street.
Here I am, doing a good job communicating with other drivers.
It was impressive to watch Binbin.
She, too, was amazed, as she negotiated the route with ease from Beacon Street to Brookline Avenue. I’d consider it a minor miracle, as a witness to her transformation between 9 AM and 3 PM that very same day.
During the last exercise, Binbin even had the confidence to respond with kindness to an abusive motorist while they were both stopped at a traffic light.
“Bicycles are not allowed on this road!” he yelled at her.
She politely thanked him for his “information.”
John Allen describes a route including a left turn across trolley tracks
When the light turned green, she proceeded ahead of this obnoxious driver, whose self-advertised knowledge of the law was obviously nonexistent. He offered a clear demonstration of the Dunning-Kruger effect — i.e., the less people know, the more they tend to think that they know.
With awe I still compare and contrast the newfound knowledge and confidence Binbin developed in order to ride safely in traffic in one of the most challenging confluences of streets in Boston.
CyclingSavvy holds benefits for people from all levels and backgrounds. Beginners like Binbin advance to where they can ride steadily and handle everyday cycling challenges. Longtime cyclists like me learn new skills that improve safety and confidence.
I’m kneeling at lower left, with my CyclingSavvy group and statues of Dr. Sidney Farber and Jimmy. Binbin is to my right. Photo credit: Fred Clow. All other photos by John Schubert
The full CyclingSavvy Course INCLUDES Truth & Techniques (classroom session), Train Your Bike (bike handling) session, and our signature on-road experience — Tour of Waltham.
Truth & Techniques (classroom session on Zoom or possibly in person) and Train Your Bike (bike handling, outdoor session) are included in this 3-part workshop. Completion of these two sessions is required before taking the Tour session, and you may sign up for individual sessions.
Truth & Techniques – Friday, May 14, 2020, 6:30-9:30 PM Zoom meeting online (Signup information to be provided). Earlier online sessions or the self-teaching Mastery Course may be substituted.
Train Your Bike – Saturday, May 15, 2020 at 9 AM – Noon at MacArthur School
…Lunch break…Pizzi Farms deli and ice-cream stand is just across the street.
Tour of Waltham – Saturday, May 15, 2020 at 1 PM – 4:30 PM from MacArthur School. You must have take the two other sessions to proceed to this session.
The Tour of Waltham is an experiential tour of our city’s 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.
Train Your Bike (bike handling) and Truth & Techniques (classroom session) are included in this 3-part workshop. Completion of these two sessions is required before taking the Tour session.
The ticket below gives the time for the (probably virtual) classroom session, but it is for the full three-part course, including the Tour of Waltham session.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/20170806_141756.jpg7201280John Allenhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cs-xlong-header.pngJohn Allen2018-11-22 13:21:382020-11-03 18:15:40Three Part Course: Waltham MA, May 14-15 2021
Google maps
Look at the incidents at one-way left-to-right cross streets. In one of these, a motorist ahead of me pulled over to the right curb just past the intersection. In the other, a motorist behind me turned right. Neither used turn signals. The driver who merged right delayed me, and I delayed the one who turned right.
In this segment, the driver did use a turn signal, but it was so far around on the other side of the car, I couldn’t see it.
![savvy cyclist facilitating right on red [orlando]](https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/left-side-wide-lane.jpg)
