When I begin bicycle training discussions, I often ask students what word they associate with cycling.
Most commonly, that word is Freedom.
Think back to your childhood. Your bicycle was quite likely the first technology you encountered that significantly expanded your independence. Once you had confidence in your operation and navigation skills, you were free! You could undertake longer excursions, and choose your own path.
You probably also chose how you rode. Absent significant instruction — or even if you had instruction, absent direct supervision — you made your own decisions about how you interacted with other vehicles or roadway users.
Many adult cyclists hold onto beliefs they derived from their early cycling experiences. These include:
You can ride a bike if you can balance and steer it
Getting from Point A to Point B is a question of navigating a lawless terrain where pragmatism is the first principle
The way to be successful on a bike is to capitalize on its form and design — its narrow profile and maneuverability — and to exploit the limitations of cars
Bicyclists don’t have to obey laws designed for motorists
Given our early preconceptions, who would see any need for further education in bicycle operation and traffic rules? Who would judge it worthwhile to learn how to adapt their cycling to principles based on traffic rules? As cyclists, must we give up our freedom and act like drivers? Are we really less privileged than pedestrians?
Who’s actually safer on his bike? Where is it easier to ride?
Childhood misconceptions imperil us as cyclists. These misconceptions impede a disciplined approach to easier and safer cycling.
There’s much to learn about how you as a cyclist can reduce the prospect of a crash, and even be able to predict where conflicts and stress are likely to occur, and how avoid them.
On top of this are the incredible benefits of savvy cycling: Understanding how to exploit subtle principles and traffic patterns adds tremendous value to your cycling. The fascinating thing about traffic patterns is that exploiting them not only makes cycling safer. It makes cycling more enjoyable and less stressful. Solving a few hard spots in your daily commute can make all the difference in your attitude when you arrive at your destination.
CyclingSavvy offers small sessions that allow instructors to focus on each person’s needs.
The beliefs we accept as beginning cyclists or infer from the behavior we see in other cyclists can lead us into a stressful, hostile, and dangerous world. CyclingSavvy instructors know that there is another direction, and most anyone can take it if we can just get them to spend that 9 hours with us; to educate oneself about the most common types of traffic conflicts, and learn how to avoid the situations that lead to these conflicts.
So the dilemma for cyclists is whether to accept the constraints of traffic and learn how to use them, or to ignore them and make it up as they go.
The paradox is that while it appears cyclists give up independence by accepting and responding to the principles of traffic, they actually gain freedom of travel. Knowledge of traffic patterns and the skill to analyze any roadway situation will increase, not decrease, the places you can go by bike. Seemingly insurmountable obstacles to travel can be diagnosed, broken down, and overcome.
When I began commuting to work by bike 15 years ago in Maine, I didn’t intend to ride through the winter. It wasn’t until about mid-February of that year that I realized: Hey! I’m still riding! Maybe I really will go all winter. And I did!
Not that it’s always easy. There’s a lot to get used to. Dressing for the weather takes practice, and a lot of experimentation.
One bad experience early on found me not well prepared for single-digit temperatures. My commute is five miles one way. About a mile down the road, both the bike cables and my body started to freeze. I turned around. By the time I got back home, I stumbled shivering through the door and onto the couch, where my wonderful wife brought blankets and served me hot tea until I got warm again. Then I drove the car to work. Oh well.
My colleague Josh Stevens in Michigan wrote a great column last November which covers the basics of winter commuting very well, especially clothing, lights, and tires, so I need not re-invent those wheels here. You may also be interested in an article I wrote here a few years ago about Staying Safe in the Snow, in response to concerns I heard from my co-workers during a particularly snowy month.
For this post, I want to share some miscellaneous thoughts about navigating in snowy weather. It was prompted by this scene I captured last December while biking to a holiday choral event, a day or so after a snowstorm:
Unplowed snow in the door zone
What’s going on here is that the parking lane has not been well plowed, possibly because of cars being parked there when the plow went by. Secondly, the travel lane, which was plowed, has since been even further cleaned up by many car tires traveling over it. If I had any inclination to ride close to the parked cars — which of course, being a savvy cyclist, I didn’t — the snow would have prevented me. In effect, the snow is creating a very effective door zone buffer!
Door zone avoidance guidance on a dry road.
This reminded me of the photo on the right, in which you can infer the door zone from observing where the car tire tracks don’t go. The snow works even better! Motorists don’t drive in the door zone. Why should we?
Snow changes infrastructure in significant ways. Sometimes, in good weather, even savvy cyclists will opt to use a paved shoulder, if it is sufficiently wide and clear, and the intersections are not frequent. But below is a recent photo of a shoulder I usually use on my daily route, next to a two-lane road that is fairly busy at rush hour. Can you see why I chose not to use it that day?
In good weather, this paved shoulder is fairly practicable. Not today.
Many people ask me in the winter if the roads aren’t too slippery. In town, it’s true that many of the neighborhood streets remain slippery a lot of the time, because they don’t have the frequent car traffic that this suburban road has. This road remains clear and dry much of the winter, even when the edge is still slippery.
Because much of my commute is on this type of road, I choose not to run studded tires the whole winter. If I did, that would help me to try to use even a shoulder like this. And when people ask me if it’s not slippery, I know they are usually asking from the assumption that I ride at the edge all the time, like most cyclists do. So yes, one solution would be to run studs the whole winter and keep riding on shoulders no matter what.
Without studs, I could often still ride slowly and carefully on an icy shoulder like this, or I could practice control and release in the travel lane. Usually I choose the latter, and it works remarkably well — especially because I’m fine with pulling off into a driveway once or twice per trip to let a pack of cars go by if they have built up behind me. Doing this is not legally required in Maine, but it’s a courtesy, and also makes me more relaxed to have the road to myself afterwards. I like to think of it as sharing the inconvenience: I cause some for them, I take on some for myself.
More Thoughts On Studs
I went through maybe a half dozen winters in the beginning never using studded tires. There were days I could have used them, and days I fell on black ice or into a snowbank. (The snowbank fall can actually be kind of fun!)
My solution in recent years is to put studded tires on a separate mountain bike and use that bike when I want them. But I’ve also found I’ve gotten better on slippery roads or even sheer ice without them. The secret is to go slower than usual, don’t change your speed or direction quickly, and don’t lean into your turns! Recently I was trying to get up a hill that had turned to ice with water on top due to a thaw, not using studs, and I managed to stay upright until I finally had to dismount because I had stopped making forward progress up the hill, even though I was still pedaling! My rear tire just kept going around and around not grabbing onto anything! I fell over only when I stepped off the bike. It was kind of fun, but it’s no way to get anywhere. :-)
I’m not necessarily recommending going without studs on slippery surfaces for your commute. It’s a personal choice, and highly dependent on where you ride. In town, where the roads take longer to clear after a storm, maybe you’ll need them most days anyway. There’s really nothing wrong with using them every day, needed or not. They are just more work, and I’m lazy!
As it happens, however, I was glad I had them just yesterday:
An icy private road yesterday morning — a good day for studs!
Gated entrance to the same road on the way home — found it was too soft and slushy even for studs, so I turned back and took the main road!
My bike tracks in my driveway, one set from the morning and one from the evening. This was about an inch of slushy ice. See where I fishtailed on the way in
Last pro tip on studs: If you can only afford one at first (they’re more expensive than normal tires), put it on the front wheel. It’s more important to keep control with the front wheel, because if it slides, you’ll almost certainly go down. If the back wheel loses traction, you may fishtail, but you’ll still maintain forward momentum and probably be okay.
Winter Lane Position
Best to stick with the car tire tracks here.
Where do you think would be the best lane position here? If you guessed the tire tracks — you’re right! Often those are the best place to be. But not always. Sometimes the main travel part of the road is all slippery brown slush, and a bit over to the edge in smoother snow is better. In some cases, it’s a matter of slowing down and constantly re-evaluating the best position. This is another good argument for lane control, to give yourself room to move around to find the best place. If you are trapped at the side, you have much less flexibility to avoid the even-more-frequent slippery spots there.
Speaking of trapped, when you are doing control and release, and decide it’s okay to release, be extra careful monitoring the passing traffic. Those “follow the leader” motorists in the 3rd or 4th car back can decide they can pass too, at the same time that your marginally clean shoulder may be getting less and less usable.
Another side hazard is that snow can hide the edge of the pavement. If there’s no curb, like on the rural roads I’m showing here, you can slide right off the edge! When a road is “crowned,” sloping slightly down towards the edge for drainage, you can literally be pushed down the “slippery slope!”
Be careful of that pile of snow between the two tire tracks! It can be extremely hazardous. Whether you choose to ride in the left or the right tire track, be really careful if you need to move to the other one. I went down once last winter doing exactly that. It was also on a slight downhill, so the higher speed didn’t help, and the snow in the middle was about 6″ deep.
Lastly, vantage around corners — another great reason to be further away from the edge, where it’s easier to see and be seen.
Can you see around this corner? Can a motorist pulling out see you?
Riding in winter can give you a great sense of accomplishment. I think all of us winter commuters have experienced this situation at one time or another (credit YehudaMoon.com):
And there’s always the co-workers to impress (or convince that you’re crazy):
Yes, you can ride in the winter! Be safe and have fun!
Electric pedal-assisted bikes are becoming more prevalent at bicycle industry trade shows and bike shops. They’re being ridden for recreation and transportation, at MTB races, and even now by some public safety agencies across the US and beyond. My purpose in writing this post is to point cyclists and cycling instructors in the direction of educational, training, skills and legal aspects associated with e-bike use. This serves only as a starting point. Never stop learning and improving your skills, whether on a “traditional” bike or e-bike!
Clint Sandusky at Interbike 2017, with an e-bike in the Bosch “Circuit” test track staging area
My experience and knowledge of e-bikes comes from riding eMTBs at Interbike trade shows, at home, and at a recent Southern California bike patrol class. I’ve also read countless articles on e-bike use in public safety and by the community. At Interbike 2017 I attended the presentations on e-biking offered by Bosch, People For Bikes and the International Mountain Bicycling Association. But don’t call me Mr. E-Bike. I’m always learning, too!
[T]here’s a catch [to e-biking] many people don’t realize. With speed comes a greater need to understand the traffic environment: sight lines, door zones, blind spots, and common motorist mistakes caused by underestimating speed. Without this understanding, an e-bike may be just as likely as any other bike to gather dust in the garage after a few close calls. This is why the engagement of CyclingSavvy and e-bike owners needs to happen, and can’t be a moment too soon.
As a longtime bike patrol instructor and now bicycle safety advocate, I TOTALLY agree!
I’ll take Karen’s thoughts one step farther. Additional training and/or evaluation MUST be done for riders wanting to use an e-bike during any CyclingSavvy, Public Safety Cyclist or other bicycle safety course. This should be done prior to the start of a class (not on Day 1) to ensure the rider understands how to safely operate an e-bike and is skilled enough to use it. This also means that bicycle safety instructors — even if they don’t ride e-bikes — now need familiarity with their operations and challenges in traffic.
Important topics and basic principles that should be discussed prior to or at CyclingSavvy or other courses where cyclists ride or are considering riding e-bikes include:
Hazards and conflicts associated with higher-speed riding. With speed comes responsibility!
Maneuvering and stopping considerations. E-bikes are 15 pounds or so heavier than their equivalent “traditional” counterparts
The dynamics of lane control, and a solid understanding of cyclist behaviors and how to use them. If you’re riding an e-bike at its maximum speeds, you want to do so ONLY when you’re practicing “driver behavior.” DON’T ride an e-bike fast on edge of the road, or on sidewalks
Legal & safety issues (to be discussed below)
When e-bikes are used during any type of cycling class, they must be inspected prior to use to ensure they’re safe and adequate.
By ensuring the rider has adequate knowledge and ability to use an e-bike and that the bike is safe to use, time and attention won’t be diverted from the other students in a class. IPMBA and the agency I teach bike patrol courses for are looking at these very issues.
Safety & Legal Issues
The adage of “speed kills” is a legitimate concern when using an e-bike, both for you and fellow roadway users. As an example, a Class 3 e-bike provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling, and ceases to provide assistance when the e-bike reaches 28 mph. Twenty-eight mph!!! You must have excellent bike handling skills and know how to protect yourself when you’re riding that fast. Simply manipulating the different modes of pedal-assist can be distracting for a novice cyclist.
Cyclists using e-bikes need to know how they and their bikes work together, especially under high-speed, emergency and/or adverse conditions. As Clint Eastwood said in the movie Magnum Force: “A man’s got to know his limitations.” Therefore, the faster you intend to go, the more skill and training you need.
“Conversion kits” are also available, allowing someone to turn a “traditional” bicycle into an e-bike. Cyclists should be very leery when adding this technology to their existing bicycles, especially due to the likelihood of insufficient braking systems and frames!
An NL Times (Netherlands) article from last September noted that “The number of fatal traffic accidents involving e-bikes is increasing, especially among older people.” Is this because Europe has embraced the use of e-bikes much more than the US, or because elderly people may tend to be less fit and skilled in higher-speed cycling?
Cyclists riding e-bikes both on- and off-road MUST know local, state and federal laws/regulations/definitions pertaining to all types of e-bike use, especially if they’re riding a Class 3 e-bike. This includes riding on sidewalks, bike lanes, shared-use paths and trails. I recommend e-bikers contact their local jurisdictions and/or land management agencies for up-to-date laws and regulations on where they’ll be riding.
While we don’t endorse specific products, Bosch powers many of the e-bikes on the road, and offers excellent information on the mechanics and technology of e-biking.
Bottom Line
Technology can be a wonderful thing in bringing people to cycling, and riding e-bikes is certainly FUN!!!
However, cyclists choosing to ride e-bikes — for their safety and the safety of others — NEED to take important steps to learn how to interact safely, legally and with less stress with all users of the road. A CyclingSavvy course will do that for you!
My best buddy, Eric, showing off his personally-owned Trek eMTB at a recent California POST bike patrol course.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ebikes-clint.jpeg301400Clint Sanduskyhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CS-logo_xlong-header.pngClint Sandusky2018-01-17 11:30:552023-02-27 12:54:18Ebikes: Education, Training & The Law
How fast is your city? You might have missed this info at the bottom of last week’s post about electric bikes. For most trips, an e-bike could get you to your destination as quickly as your car.
The trick is knowing how to keep yourself safe while you zip around.
Part Two
Four days after returning to St. Louis, I walked into my local e-bike dealer with my credit card ready. My husband and I didn’t own a cargo bike. After riding my sister’s electric cargo bike in Nashville, I wanted to see for myself if an e-cargo bike could truly replace car trips.
One less car.
While we looked around the store, my husband noticed a lovely commuter bike. “That one’s used,” Archie, the dealer, told us.
It looked hardly used, and was deeply discounted. Harold and I would be able to ride together!
We bought it, and that hasn’t happened. Harold prefers his 100 percent human-powered bikes. There’s certainly good reason for that. With e-bikes it’s easier to get in trouble, because of the higher speeds a person can go. Harold calls himself “Old Turtle.” He likes to go slow.
I love using both e-bikes. To my surprise, I’m on the commuter much more than the cargo e-bike. I was on the commuter e-bike when I crashed.
A previous owner named the bike “Black Beauty.” I call it the “Black Stallion,” because it zips along like the most gorgeous beast.
When I had my accident, I was riding on Kingshighway, one of our town’s major arterial roads. The Stallion and I were zipping over to The Hill, an Italian neighborhood about three miles from my home. I was in the outer of three lanes and stopped at a red light with other traffic. I planned to turn right, and had already signaled my intentions to the driver behind me.
While waiting at the light, I glanced to my left at a woman in a white car. She thankfully saw me, too, because of what happened next.
The light turned green. A shiny red pickup truck in front of me started to go. The Stallion took off as I engaged both the throttle and pedal assist, which was in its highest speed.
Then the driver in front of me stopped.
I slammed on my brakes to avoid hitting the back of the truck. Because this e-bike’s back end is heavy — that’s where the battery is — I didn’t fly over the handlebars. But I did lose control. I fell to the left on the road, and was suddenly blocking two of the three lanes of traffic.
At the time I had a milk crate zip-tied to the rear rack. As I fell over, the crate’s contents spilled onto Kingshighway. (Yes, after this escapade I started using a bike cargo net.)
The woman in the middle lane stopped her white car and jumped out. “Are you OK?” she asked. “I’m fine,” I responded as I stood and lifted my bike back up. “I just didn’t want to hit the truck in front of me.”
I don’t know what story she told that night at her dinner table, but that’s my version. Mainly I was embarrassed, holding up TWO of the three lanes of traffic going in my direction. All I wanted was to get out of the way.
The woman found my U-lock in front of her car. She picked it up and gave it to me. I waved apologetically to all the people I was holding up and walked my bike and bruised ego onto the sidewalk.
This is typically how the Kingshighway bridge looks as I cross it. There’s nothing scary about empty pavement!
While the light is red, though, lots of others pull up and wait at the light with me. When I slammed on my brakes and crashed to avoid hitting a pickup truck in front of me, this bike and I blocked two of the three traffic lanes.
I’ll make a mistake once, but not twice. As soon as I got home, I described what happened to my fellow CyclingSavvy instructors. I needed to talk about this. I never dreamed I could smash a bicycle into the back of someone else’s vehicle! CSI Brian Cox, a fellow e-bike enthusiast and bike shop owner in Southern California, had excellent advice.
“Leave a car length between you and the motorist in front of you,” Brian wrote. “You now have the speed to beat motorists off the line and you are responsible to not hit the motorist in front of you.
“With a people-powered bicycle, you did not have the acceleration capability you now have with a motorized bicycle.”
CSI John Schubert offered framing that I’d never considered.
“With an eBike, we ordinary riders can now ride at racing speeds,” he observed. “We therefore need the vigilance, razor sharp attention, and caution that go with riding that fast.”
Hmm. John’s right, though when I’m practicing “driver behavior,” I’ve felt fine riding the bikes at their max speeds of 20 to 25 MPH.
E-bikes magnify the need to understand both cyclist and motorist behaviors. For example…
My e-bikes have indeed replaced my car trips. But I’m well aware that they are still bikes — and that no motorist wants to be behind me, even if I am going as fast as Lance.
This is part of being savvy, too: How to help others who want to go faster than you do so, easily and without conflict.
Then — especially on an e-bike — you invariably pull right up behind them at the next red light. Just make sure not to hit ’em.
CSI Shannon Martin had comforting words.
“As more riders adopt e-bike technology, experiences like yours will help riders understand the power of the machines they ride and the need for sound bicycle handling skills to keep themselves safe.”
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ebikes-karen2.jpeg227400Karen Karabellhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CS-logo_xlong-header.pngKaren Karabell2018-01-10 11:30:402023-02-27 12:40:56Everyone’s A Racer Now
My sister warned me. “After you ride mine, you’ll want one.”
She was talking about her electric bicycle. Ironically, she’d never heard of e-bikes until I suggested she buy one.
Shannon learned to ride when she was 11, but for the next 30 years or so, showed no interest in bicycling, except to comment on observations she’d made from behind the wheel of her car.
During those years we enjoyed lively conversations about bicycling. If Shannon asked my opinion, I’d give it. Otherwise, I tried not to proselytize.
I’ve been an avid transportation cyclist for years, but I’m well aware that this is a tough sell to most Americans.
“C’mon now. Can it possibly be safe AND courteous to ride a bicycle in traffic?”
Adult bicycling education is an even tougher sell.
Savvy cycling makes transportation cycling a no-brainer. Yet you don’t learn this stuff overnight. Savvy cycling needs to be experienced. Then it takes time to process what you’ve experienced. There’s a lot to absorb, and deep cultural conditioning to overcome. So, I didn’t push my love of cycling on my sister.
But then, out of the blue in the Spring of 2016, Shannon called with shocking news.
“I bought a bicycle,” she said.
“Really?” I responded. Nothing she could tell me would have surprised me more.
Once Shannon decided to get a bike, education was an easy sell! Shannon is the kind of woman who becomes an expert at anything she sets her mind to. She read voraciously about bicycling and signed up for CyclingSavvy Online (there were no CyclingSavvy instructors in Nashville at the time). She loved the online course so much that she decided to travel to St. Louis to take an in-person workshop.
Shannon used her recumbent trike when she participated in a St. Louis CyclingSavvy workshop in August 2016
Shannon discovered for herself 1) the tremendous control she could have over her safety while riding and 2) that it was impossible for her to significantly delay motorists. Trust me, she tried. One of her vehicles is a recumbent tricycle. You have to change lanes to pass those things.
In traffic-choked Nashville, she figured that she could get to her office almost as quickly on her bike as in her car. She was ready to ride everywhere. Then Middle Tennessee’s “hills” put the kibosh on her plans to become a bicycle commuter, at least temporarily.
Nashville features gorgeous mountainous terrain, a challenge for anyone who commutes by bike. Shannon has no shower at her office. She didn’t want to carry multiple sets of clothes, and needed to look professional when she arrived. I suggested she consider an e-bike, even though I knew next to nothing about them.
She researched various brands, and rode e-bikes in New York City and Nashville. She decided to patronize a local dealer, and bought not one but two: a cargo and a commuter. I loved hearing about her adventures with each e-bike, which served very different purposes.
When I went to Nashville last April to celebrate Shannon’s birthday, we rode her e-bikes around town.
She was right.
I wasn’t “sold,” though. I was captivated.
Shannon riding on Hillsboro Road in Nashville, Tennessee
E-bikes aren’t replacements for bikes. They replace cars. They can move you across town, and over steep hills, at higher speeds with less effort while still offering clean, low-cost transportation. What a tremendous opportunity to change the conversation about transportation, and maybe finally make bicycling normal in America.
But there’s a catch many people don’t realize. With speed comes a greater need to understand the traffic environment: sight lines, door zones, blind spots, and common motorist mistakes caused by underestimating speed. Without this understanding, an e-bike may be just as likely as any other bike to gather dust in the garage after a few close calls.
This is why the engagement of CyclingSavvy and e-bike owners needs to happen, and it can’t be a moment too soon.
“I am a textbook example of how an e-bike transformed someone who doesn’t ride into a cyclist,” Shannon said.
That, and a solid knowledge of savvy cycling. Shannon went on to become a CyclingSavvy Instructor. (I wasn’t kidding when I called her an expert.)
Now that I’ve told you some of Shannon’s story, I want to tell you mine. But that’ll have to wait until next week.
While pondering how to make the shidduch of e-bike owners and CyclingSavvy, I did some Googling. It hopefully won’t be news to you that personal automobiles are a major cause of global warming. But do you truly appreciate how shockingly inefficient cars are at getting us anywhere?
How fast is your city? If you click through, you’ll likely be surprised at how slow motorists are in cities. Your e-bike can get there just as quickly.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ebikes-karen1.jpeg239400Karen Karabellhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CS-logo_xlong-header.pngKaren Karabell2018-01-03 11:30:532023-02-27 12:26:29Savvy Ebiking To A Car-Free Future
The weather was overcast and in the 50s on that Sunday last October, as Dan Marinos ponied his horses on a quiet country road in West Newbury, MA.
“I’ve done this hundreds of times,” Dan wrote to me as background to what happened next. Dan and I connected through my work as a bicycling instructor. He wanted me to spread the word, so that all cyclists would know how to avoid what could be a dangerous or even deadly situation.
Dan wrote: “My horses are well trained and very much used to traveling on roads. But they are horses–prey animals. They choose flight when perceiving a threat.”
What was the threat? Two cyclists, who had ridden up behind Dan and his two horses. Dan was astride one and ponying (leading) the other.
“The cyclists came up silently and were upon us in an instant, much like a mountain lion would behave,” Dan wrote. “The ponied horse spooked and bolted. The horse I was on did the same, herd instinct it’s called.
“I had to let go of the second horse in order to gain control of the horse I was on,” Dan continued. “The loose horse lost his footing, went down, and slid 40 feet on his side.
“I’m extremely lucky that his wounds are superficial, and he’ll be OK. It could have been so much worse.”
Recreational horseback riders frequent many of the same trails as mountain bike riders. Amish horse-drawn buggies are common in some rural areas. Urban areas have police patrols on horseback, and horse-drawn carriages are popular with tourists.
This sign is often posted on trails. It’s a start in dealing with horses and their riders, but there’s more to that than the sign can show.
Communication is central to success as a bicyclist. With other road users, it is mostly through lane positioning, hand signals and head turns.
Horses, though, respond to different signals.
“It could have been avoided so easily,” Dan wrote. “Two words: ‘Behind you!’ If the cyclists had announced their presence, like most cyclists do, none of it would have happened.”
Dan’s advice is excellent:
“When approaching a horse on a cycle, do not stay silent, it worries them. When approaching from the front, slow down, look for direction from the rider, say anything so the horse realizes it’s a human approaching. All horses are different, a good rider who knows his horse is responsible for instructing cyclists on what to do after they greet.”
Dan continued:
“Approaching from the rear is a whole different story. They don’t see you or hear you. It is imperative you announce your approach from a decent distance.
“If this had been done the other day, I would have stopped, turned the horses so they could see what was approaching, and allowed the cyclists to pass.”
So – horses, as imposingly large as they are, are nonetheless prey animals, like deer and squirrels. Their instinct is to flee danger.
In the early days of bicycling, bicycle-mounted police were often called upon to bring stampeding horses under control. We’re not asking you to do that, only to avoid causing them to stampede in the first place.
It isn’t only the horse and rider who could be injured. It could be you, too.
This article has been about not inducing fear. But also, you might turn that thought back on yourself. Just as an example, do you have a clenching feeling in your belly if you hear car tires screeching?
Humans also experience fear, and many are fearful of bicycling. With CyclingSavvy instruction, cyclists discover how we can shed – not suppress – that fear, through bike handling, positioning for visibility and safe maneuvering, and proactive communication with other road users. These strategies avoid your surprising a driver and having car tires screech in the first place.
I extend many thanks to Dan Marinos for his concern and attention – and for writing most of this article for me. Also to Kirby Beck for digging up the stunning Collier’s magazine cover.
Be safe out there!
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/horse-sense.gif300300John Allenhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CS-logo_xlong-header.pngJohn Allen2017-12-20 11:30:132018-08-27 20:50:35Use Horse Sense To Avoid A Horse Wreck
With encouragement from my circle of friends, my New Year’s resolution was to make 2016 a year of bicycling. The amount of time I’d spent on a bicycle ebbed and flowed over the decades since I ditched training wheels. As 2016 unfolded, I was making significant progress on the goal: To put more miles on my bike than on my car.
Serendipitously, 2016 would be the year savvy cycling came into my life. I’ll never forget two sentences I heard that summer on an August afternoon:
“If you find yourself to the right of a turning truck, get off the road!” said Instructor Matthew Brown during Truth and Techniques of Traffic Cycling, the classroom session of Cycling Savvy. He was describing why cyclists should never ride to the right of a big truck. “They can’t see you and will crush you as they turn.”
I was taken aback to be hearing this for the first time. Information this important should be part of EVERY conversation about bicycling for transportation!
Matthew further emphasized this point during the next day’s Tour of St. Louis. In Forest Park,he walked us to the corner of Clayton Road and Skinker Blvd. There we observed for ourselves the deep ruts in the ground from off-tracking tractor trailers.
Matthew Brown (holding his son) shows the evidence of big trucks off-tracking as they turn right.
I signed up for CyclingSavvy out of intellectual curiosity. I had been riding for transportation for many years, and was fortunate to have picked up some best practices.
I went into the workshop already feeling confident about bicycling in the travel lane. I already signaled my turns, stayed out of the door zone, rode in the same direction as other traffic, used lights at night and had decent bike handling skills. Ten hours later I headed out with new techniques and ideas in my back pocket, should the need arise.
My vehicle of choice for travel.
A few months later I found myself with an afternoon to explore Chicago by Brompton. Encouraged by my Sweet Success in Skokie the previous evening, I was excited to enjoy a beautiful fall afternoon. I scribbled a few addresses and directions on a piece of paper, and was off with a power pedal to explore Chicago’s north side. With the Cubs in the World Series and the Chicago Marathon taking place, the easiest way to get around the Windy City would be on my flexible and maneuverable vehicle.
I was making my way back from exploring The 606, a former elevated rail track turned into a greenway. I was riding on a road with one travel lane and one bike lane in each direction.
There wasn’t on-street parking to create a door zone. The block was long so I’d have a while before I’d need to negotiate with possible right-turning traffic. The winds were strong that day, which gave me another reason to use the bike lane. I was not moving much faster than a pedestrian.
I pedaled along my merry way. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a yellow blinking light on the bus passing me in the travel lane. In a split second I had both hands on my brakes, pedals level, and torso over my saddle, throwing my weight back in an emergency stop.
Seemingly oblivious to my presence on the road, the bus driver pulled the bus over to its stop right in front of me.
I put a foot down and watched as while the bus loaded and unloaded.
I took several deep breaths and attempted to compose myself. My understanding of traffic patterns, bicycle handling skills, and brakes in good working order had just saved my life.
I don’t know why I was irrelevant to the bus driver. Perhaps he or she saw me and underestimated my speed. Understandably, the driver’s attention was probably on the traffic in front of the bus, and on the passengers on the sidewalk waiting to board.
Katherine practicing Quick Stop during Train Your Bike, CyclingSavvy’s parking lot skills session
In a perfect world, I would have done more route planning. That day my route planning consisted of a quick check to make sure streets I was using didn’t have door-zone bike lanes. After all, this was a leisurely afternoon ride. If I wasn’t having fun I’d hop on transit.
A bicycle lane on a road with regular bus service wouldn’t be my first choice–nor were Chicago headwinds. In my estimation the benefit of traveling at a slow pace outweighed the risk of riding in that bike lane. It was my choice that day in heavy traffic conditions with no other release option.
Without a doubt, CyclingSavvy saved my life that afternoon.
Being an empowered bicycle driver turned a potentially deadly situation into a footnote on an otherwise delightful trip. I’m thankful for the simple ways I can keep myself safe on the road.
Friendly way to travel to the “friendly confines” of Wrigley Field.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/kat-savvy-safe.jpeg225400Katherine Tynanhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CS-logo_xlong-header.pngKatherine Tynan2017-12-06 11:30:152018-08-27 20:53:28The Day CyclingSavvy Saved My Life
CyclingSavvy is “Empowerment for Unlimited Travel.” We mostly think of this as removing obstacles so we can cycle anywhere, but CyclingSavvy also empowers us to cycle any time, any day or season.
While many of our friends in southern latitudes are getting their bikes out after a hot summer, cyclists up north are putting their bikes away for the season. It doesn’t have to be that way! When cold weather threatens to keep you off the saddle, tell Old Man Winter you can take anything he can dish out and still get to your destination under your own power.
I’ve been cycling to work year-round in Michigan for many years now. With the right equipment and savvy cycling skills, my commute is stress-free. I get to my destination refreshed, warmed up, and ready for the day.
Winter streetscapes are totally manageable and have a magic of their own.
There are of course unique considerations when the temperature drops lower than would be comfortable in your lycra shorts and jersey. As they say in Norway, though: “Det finnes ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlige klær” (“There’s no bad weather, just bad clothes”). We can extend that to other equipment as well. If you plan ahead with the right gear and the right strategy for how and where to ride, Jack Frost can go nip at someone else’s nose.
Starting with gear, here’s a few additional items you’ll want to consider:
Lights. Remember that the hours of darkness are long in the winter. Also, the weather can change quickly. Don’t leave home without good lights! You’ll want lights strong enough to see the pavement in front of you. Your lights should make you look like a motorcycle from the front, and slow-moving vehicle from the rear. Point your headlight slightly toward the ground, so that you don’t blind oncoming drivers. If you use USB-rechargeable lights, make sure they’re fully charged. Regarding batteries: Alkalines won’t work well below freezing, but lithium primary cells like Energizer’s Ultimate Lithium are good down to that unique temperature where Fahrenheit and Celsius are the same (-40). It’s a good idea to have “redundant lighting” (two headlights and two taillights). You don’t want to be fumbling with batteries in the freezing cold.
Tires. If there’s any possibility of encountering a patch of ice, consider investing in studded tires.
Clothes. Wind is the big enemy. As long as you’re protected from that, you’ll likely be able to generate enough heat to keep comfortable. The trick is covering your face, ears, hands, and feet. There’s an impressive variety of masks, hats, gloves and shoe covers available to meet the need. Dress in layers, and find out what combination works best in which temperature ranges for you.
With the gear sorted, strategies really aren’t too different from how we’d ride in any weather, but even more important when the mercury drops:
Lane position. Drive your bike where other vehicle operators are driving their vehicles. Not only does this make you visible and relevant, but it also puts you in a position where other road users have cleared a path on the pavement for you.
Bike lanes may not be plowed in the winter.
Route. When there’s snow on the ground, the plow crews prioritize the main roads and school routes. Counter-intuitive as it sounds, it’s usually best to ignore Robert Frost’s advice. Take the road more traveled. As with lane position, this provides the best and cleanest surface to enjoy.
There’re many more nuances and details, but those are the basics. If you live in Michigan, Maine, Montana, Minnesota, or some northern state that doesn’t start with “M” and are ready to give winter biking a try, contact me or your local friendly CyclingSavvy instructor and get Empowered for Unlimited Winter Travel!
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/josh-stevens.jpeg300400Josh Stevenshttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CS-logo_xlong-header.pngJosh Stevens2017-11-15 11:30:252018-08-27 20:56:36Empowered for Unlimited Winter Travel
We all have stories. When it comes to bicycling, they are all too often negative. Bicyclists gripe about motorists, motorists gripe about bicyclists, media outlets play up the conflict with an endless stream of “bikes vs. cars” stories, and social media magnifies all of it. It can get downright discouraging.
Too frequently, it’s these negative stories that stick with us. We remember the one motorist who honked at us, and forget the other 99 who passed us safely with no drama. But not only do we get a great majority of drama-free interactions, we also sometimes have good interactions! At least I do. I hope you do too. Let’s try to remember some of them.
CyclingSavvy “stay back” gesture
To start, there are many positive situations that happen too often for me to remember specific instances. For example, I may need to hold back a motorist in an unsafe passing situation, then release them afterwards. If I have held them back with the CyclingSavvy “stay back” gesture, left arm diagonally downward, palm back, I like to release with a friendly wave. That’s usually the end of the situation. That typically happens up to a half dozen times on my 5-mile commute.
If they’ve had to stay behind me a longer-than-normal time, I try to make my gratitude more pronounced by not just waving, but turning my head and mouthing “Thank you” as I wave. Occasionally, I’ll be rewarded with an obviously friendly short beep. A few weeks ago, I even got a thumbs-up!
That reminds me of at least once in the past when someone slowed next to me after a turn to say he appreciated that I knew the hand signals and used them.
We talk about this kind of communication a lot in the CyclingSavvy classroom session. I like to say that communication is the most useful thing that most cyclists never do. One of the things motorists sometimes say they dislike about cyclists is how often they seem to be oblivious to what is going on around them. While I think it’s probably not always true that they’re completely oblivious, many do seem unaware of how much communicating would help the situation. They are shy about interacting with motorists, or don’t even know how.
A motorist thanked me for preventing him from making an unsafe pass on this road!
I always try to tell the story in my classroom presentation about my trip to a seafood restaurant in a nearby coastal town, which I blogged about here a few months ago. Spoiler alert: The motorist behind me for 1/2 mile or so actually thanked me for actively holding him back when passing was not safe, and of course releasing him when it was.
This bicyclist may not realize he is tempting motorists to pass too closely
In a recent conversation about this topic with my wife, she said that whenever she happens to be behind me on my bike when she’s in her car, she appreciates how clear I am about my intentions, by my lane position and signaling. I’ve had several other people say the same thing over the years. From the opposite perspective, someone told me once that what she finds most difficult about dealing with cyclists on the road is not getting any indication from them of what she’s supposed to do. I think part of that confusion is how many cyclists hug the edge as close as they can even in an unsafe passing situation, subconsciously tempting following motorists to do just what the cyclist fervently hopes they don’t. Ever since I heard that, I’ve tried even harder to be clear in such situations.
Sometimes we can read too much into a situation. For example, we’ve all experienced motorists gunning their engines as they pass. It always sounds aggressive, like they’re expressing impatience towards us. But years ago, someone on a mailing list pointed out that it could just be that this is the way engines sound when the driver is trying to get back up to speed quickly, especially if they are going uphill. Maybe, just possibly, it’s not about us!
Closely related is the common aphorism which I would express in this context as: “No need to attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by carelessness or misunderstanding.” Sometimes the motorist may actually be unaware of what they did. Pursuing a discussion with a motorist is often unproductive, but on occasion, it has ended well.
Two months ago on a 4-lane road, a motorist passed me somewhat closely (not completely in the next lane), at what felt to me to be a high rate of speed. I admit that I was ticked off enough that I kept an eye out for the distinctive pickup truck, and saw it in a parking lot a few blocks up. I decided to approach it, and the driver was still sitting in it, so I calmly asked her about it. She was unable to tell me how fast she was going, but was very apologetic. She explained that she had been the second car behind me, and didn’t realize I was there until the car ahead of her changed lanes to pass, so she was a little startled. She then told me that she used to ride a motorcycle, but stopped after having gotten in a crash. I still feel she could have been more careful, but she apologized multiple times, and we left on good terms. I hope she is more careful in the future.
Once a “student driver” car passed me and did something I didn’t like, I forget exactly what. Maybe passed a little close, or honked. I happened to catch up to them at the next light and asked what that was about. The teacher in the passenger’s seat said that they hadn’t meant anything bad by it, and that I certainly had the right to be riding where I was.
Another time two guys in the car I caught up with at their apartment building lot told me that as a bicyclist, I had more right to the road than they did! That’s not exactly correct, but I’ll take it.
Of course, every once in a while, a motorist is undeniably a real jerk. Even then, it’s possible that they are just a jerk to everyone, not just you on your bike. Riding an arterial road past some interstate ramps a few years ago, I heard some honking quite a distance behind me, and looked back to see a car driver apparently harassing another car driver. When the harasser passed me, my annoyance was immediately replaced with great amusement by this bumper sticker on the back of the car he (yes, he) was driving:
His wife’s car? If so, he was certainly proving her point! Maybe he was already put out by having to drive her car around with that sticker on it.
Me and my son? :D
It’s always nice of course to have friendly interactions that just arise organically, rather than out of a potential negative interaction. The one that stands out in my mind is the motorist who complimented me one snowy winter day because he had seen me out there every day, and just wanted to tell me that he admired my tenacity. (I think he may have been a fair-weather cyclist himself.)
Friendly interactions also happen with other non-motorized users. For example, it’s always nice to stop for pedestrians and have them thank you as they cross. I especially hope that when I do this in our busy Old Port area where the tourists roam, it gives them a positive image of our city, so friendly that even the cyclists stop to let them cross! :-)
Most recently, just a few weeks ago a “roadie” in full kit passed me on my morning commute and complimented my on my new CyclingSavvy jersey that I was wearing that day. (Thanks, Gary Cziko!)
Just another day biking in traffic. :-D
John Brooking modeling the new CyclingSavvy jersey. If you would like one, consult the sizing charts at hubbubonline.com to determine your size, then email Gary Cziko at gcziko@gmail.com. They are fitted jerseys, so you can order a size or two higher if you want a more relaxed fit.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/john-stories-from-road.jpeg400300John Brookinghttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CS-logo_xlong-header.pngJohn Brooking2017-10-18 11:30:332018-08-27 21:00:01Stories From the Road