Posts

I Rode a Bicycle on Massachusetts Route 9

August 28, 2020/2 Comments/in The Savvy Cyclist /by John Allen

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.

A Google mapssatellite view of part of my route, right to left

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 dhouler west of the interchange on Route 9

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 not like 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.

Starting and Stopping Smoothly

May 13, 2020/3 Comments/in The Savvy Cyclist /by John Allen

“Power Pedal” starting technique.

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.

Starting and stopping is only one of the several essential bike-handling techniques covered in the CyclingSavvy Train Your Bike session. The video is included in our free online Essentials course, and the steps are covered in our Bicycling Street Smarts booklet, also available as an Amazon Kindle e-book.

Should I Be Riding Now?

April 18, 2020/7 Comments/in The Savvy Cyclist /by John Allen

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.

Should bicyclists wear face masks? The author wore one in 1978.

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.

Should bicyclists wear face masks? The author in full kit for a shopping trip.

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.

Should bicyclists wear face masks? The author headed out on a recreational ride, no mask. Photo: Jacob Allen

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.

Something to Do at Home

CyclingSavvy online courses are available, and discounted during the pandemic. And my booklet Bicycling Street Smarts is for sale in print and as an e-book, with Keri Caffrey’s all-new illustrations (shameless promotion, sorry).

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.

map diagram shows path to ride eakins oval

Eakins Oval, How Do I Bike Thee? Let Me Count The Ways

November 1, 2019/1 Comment/in The Savvy Cyclist /by Karen Karabell

New Video Just in Time for Philly’s Bike Expo

CyclingSavvy Instructor John Allen has just released an outstanding video describing many ways to bike through Philadelphia’s intimidating Eakins Oval without breaking a sweat.

Savvy Cycling in Philadelphia

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).

Street Smarts, Autographed

The recently published Bicycling Street Smarts, CyclingSavvy Edition will be available at the CyclingSavvy/CAT booth. Yes, autographed by the author! At booth 2009!

One of the Nation’s Best

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 ;-)

one path for biking eakins oval in philadelphia

So many ways to bike on Philly’s Eakins Oval.

A Philadelphia Bike Lane Learning Experience

October 4, 2019/6 Comments/in The Savvy Cyclist /by John Allen

In My First Post

…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!

Pragmatic vs. Dogmatic Bike Lane Use

March 29, 2019/7 Comments/in The Savvy Cyclist /by John Allen

An observation, and a confession:

It’s much easier to shoot video than to edit it.

I use bike lanes.

Backstory

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.

Fast forward two years

In November 2017, 24-year-old cyclist Emily Fredericks died at the corner of 10^th and Spruce streets. As she rode on Spruce in the bike lane, a right-turning garbage truck swept over her and she went under its rear wheels.

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.

Learning A New Street Dance

August 15, 2018/2 Comments/in The Savvy Cyclist /by Marc Caruso

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.

savvy cyclist facilitating right on red [orlando]

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

My Fateful Meetup Ride

March 28, 2018/2 Comments/in The Savvy Cyclist /by Arne Buck

What a great evening for a bike ride.

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:

How far can a bicycle lean before it skids out? Preparation for quick-turn practice. Photo by John Schubert

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

Events

Nothing Found

Sorry, no posts matched your criteria