Tag Archive for: saint louis

CyclingSavvy group at Woodford Corner, Portland, ME

Springing Forward with Spring Courses

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As the weather warms, thoughts turn to bicycling. CyclingSavvy spring courses are happening. Classroom sessions are being held online — which has proved to be, all in all, an advantage: people don’t have to travel, and can join from anywhere. Instructors and students can hang around longer at the end of a session.

On-bike sessions with Covid precautions are ramping up too. Here’s what we have as of now.

Savvy Cycling Now April Series

Instructors John Allen and Pamela Murray are hosting a Savvy Cycling Now online series on two Wednesday evenings, April 21 and 28. This will cover the same material as the “Truth & Techniques of Traffic Cycling” classroom session of our regular 3-part course, and qualifies students to proceed to the Train Your Bike in-person session anywhere, anytime and with any instructor. Students in this round will qualify for the Boston course described below, if space is available; we’ll arrange more sessions as needed. On-bike sessions will be discounted if you take Savvy Cycling Now to qualify for them.

Here’s a video clip from an August 11 2020 session of Savvy Cycling Now:

“Truth & Techniques of Traffic Cycling” contains a lot of information and ideas. They are easy to digest in a series of one-hour sessions, spread over four weeks. This format has proven itself.

St. Louis, April 21-25

Instructors Karen Karabell and Matthew Brown are running a full three-part course April 21-25. The classroom session is online and the on-bike sessions will be adapted with Covid precautions.

Boston area, May 14-15

Instructors John Allen, Bruce Lierman and John Brooking are running a full three-part course May 14-15. As with the St. Louis course, the classroom session will be online. The in-person sessions will be in Waltham, 10 miles west of the Boston downtown area. Both on-bike sessions will be on the same day, May 15.

Check Out Ride Awesome!

Ride Awesome! — CyclingSavvy’s premium online course — is … awesome. There’s truly nothing like it. During the pandemic, lifetime access to Ride Awesome! is half price. This is the best fifty bucks you’ll ever spend.

This too qualifies students to proceed to discounted on-bike sessions anywhere, anytime and with any instructor. With enough requests, we should be able to have on-bike sessions within driving distance for most U.S. participants. Let us know if you want to complete the course. Contact us

energy is real

Energy Is Real

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I’m shocked when motorists are rude to me. Here in St. Louis or anywhere I ride, it just doesn’t happen.

The driver’s anger poisoned the energy of the other drivers on the road. Everyone started honking.

riding a bike on a freeway-like surface street

Google Maps view of Forest Park Parkway

OK, I’m exaggerating. Last year one driver was obnoxious.

He or she apparently could not buh-lieve I’d ride a bicycle on that road.

I was riding on Forest Park Parkway, a road similar in design to a freeway. People on this section are typically zooming through to get somewhere else.

On a fateful afternoon last fall, a driver of a black Audi either stayed or got stuck behind me — I’m not sure which — and honked for what seemed like an eternity.

Here’s What’s Fascinating

The driver’s anger poisoned the energy of the other drivers on the road. Everyone started honking. I waved to acknowledge their annoyance, and my humanity.

What could I do? I was on a section where I couldn’t escape. I simply had to endure, until I got to my destination at the other end of this canyon-like stretch of road.

forest park parkway in saint louis

Forest Park Parkway between Skinker and Big Bend boulevards in St. Louis

On the rare occasions that I have problems, I don’t blame “stupid” motorists. I analyze what happened. What could I have done differently so it wouldn’t happen again?

Energy Is Real

A big reason I have such good experiences is because I expect to.

Attitude elevates your ride. Courtesy and cooperation are the twin pillars of every great ride.

Attitude elevates your ride. It’s important to understand the dynamics of truly dangerous situations, and how to avoid them. Once you’ve got that down, courtesy and cooperation are the twin pillars of every great ride.

If you’re a mensch, you have every reason to expect other drivers to be mensches, too.

Ever since my honking takedown, I’ve wanted to revisit the scene, and see if I could control the energy around me this time. I’d be more careful to actively communicate with the motorists who would most assuredly be on the road with me.

I finally rode it again last Friday. You can see what happened below.

cycling right on green

How To Get A “Scary” Road All To Yourself

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My bank is on the corner of a major St. Louis intersection. Before I started using a marvelous CyclingSavvy strategy, I dreaded going to this bank.

If I rode, I added at least half a mile to my trip to avoid biking on the major arterial road on which the bank sits. :(

If I drove, I felt guilty using my two-ton land missile to process pieces of paper. :(

Then I learned about turning right on green. Motorists, of course, turn right on red if they can.

BMO Harris Bank on the corner of Kingshighway & Southwest In St. Louis.

My bank, at the intersection of major arterial roads in St. Louis

But I learned through CyclingSavvy that if I wait for a green light to turn right onto major arterial roads, I typically get the road all to myself for the amount of time I need to be on it.

Game Changer

Why is this such a big deal?

Because the red light shuts down the pipe. The motorists on that road are waiting at a red light. While they just sit there, I can get where I need to be. On my bicycle!

You’ll see above how I use Kingshighway–a massive St. Louis stroad–for the three blocks I need to get to my bank.

Magnolia Avenue at Kingshighway in St. Louis

Wait until the light is green on the “smaller” road to turn onto the “big” road

In the video I’m turning right on yellow. I would have preferred to show you a “pure” right-on-green maneuver. But at some point I needed to quit taping and get back to my day job. This is Take #2 of 5. The other takes were also totally uneventful. Here’s the first take, if you’re a junkie for this stuff.

Right-on-green works like a charm. Over the years I’ve used this strategy hundreds of times. I can’t recall a bit of trouble anywhere I’ve used it.

If you try right-on-green, it’ll seem weird at first, being out there all by yourself on your bicycle.

Another tip: Go immediately into the lane that best serves your destination. If you’re making a left up ahead, use right-on-green to go directly into the left lane. Position yourself early, and you won’t need to negotiate with fast-moving traffic, which is hard to do.

What if the light turns green while you’re riding your bike on that big scary road? Motorists who come up behind you will see you from a long way back. They see that you’re on a bicycle. They’ll assume you’re slow, even if you’re not. They’ll either slow down, or choose whatever lane you’re not in to pass you.

Any motorist turning right on green with you at the intersection will quickly leave you in the dust. They don’t want to be behind you. On multi-lane roads they’ll choose a lane you’re not in to pass you.

Often, you’ll roll right up behind them at the next red light.

If they’re surprised to see you, just smile and wave. :)

CyclingSavvy is a program of the American Bicycling Education Association. Our mission is to provide programs and resources for the education of bicyclists as drivers of vehicles, and bicycling-related education for traffic engineers, transportation planners, law enforcement professionals, educators, and the general public.

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