Empowering The Bicycle Traveler

The Rights and Duties of Cyclists

90 percent of the Bike Hermit’s trips around town are made by bicycle. He doesn’t care if you ride your bike or not. He is not out to change the world or to save the environment. He just enjoys riding his bike and he truly thinks it’s just as quick and infinitely more convenient than driving an automobile. He doesn’t think there should be a “cycling community” any more than there should be a “motoring community”. Sometimes we are cyclists and sometimes we are motorists. The Bike Hermit thinks words can be divisive.

## END RANT ##

Notwithstanding the aforesaid, this post is about how to ride a bike. Not how to improve strength or stamina or speed, but how to safely ride a bike to work, to school, to the pub or to the grocery store. I know that the main barrier to people who might consider using a bicycle for some of their short trips is the fear of riding on the same road with cars and trucks and buses. Here are a couple of educational resources to check out:

The League of American Bicyclists has been in existence for well over one hundred years and their mission is;
To promote bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation and work through advocacy and education for a bicycle-friendly America..
Recently, while touring the forums over at bikeforums.net I rolled across this video which shows how a couple of League certified instructors navigate some of the challenges one can expect when using a bicycle in a designed for autos world.

In fact, according to the Boise Street Smart Cycling website;
those who ride in a predictable and safe way will dramatically reduce their chances of ever experiencing a significant accident!

And while most people are concerned about a collision with a motor vehicle, that doesn’t happen very often – in fact, only 18% of cyclist falls have anything to do with a motor vehicle.
Boise Street Smart Cycling and the Treasure Valley Cycling Alliance provide education and work to raise awareness about the benefits of riding bicycles. In past years we have invited the TVCA to present their Street Smart Cycling course and the response was good. We are considering sponsoring another course in Boise. It will be in the evening of a to be determined date and will last two to three hours. The L.A.B. certified instructors at TVCA do a great job with these classes and even if you have been riding for decades, I almost guarantee you will learn something you can use. We would like to set this up soon and would like to get an idea of the amount of interest. If you have an interest in attending one of these courses, let us know in the comments.

6 comments… add one
  • Boe August 12, 2012, 8:59 pm

    I would like to add parking is great on my bike, I always get the closest spots, let me know when the course is and I will try to go.

    Reply
  • Linda August 14, 2012, 10:30 am

    I have to keep seeing this info over and over. I can’t get it out of my head that I should stay as far to the right as possible to allow cars to pass without leaving their own lane. Where’d I get such a fool notion? Probably from hickville Wyoming!

    Reply
    • Bike Hermit August 14, 2012, 4:09 pm

      Linda,
      I think it’s sort of a common sense thing. If there is room, I ride to the right and let cars use the whole lane…if not I am not shy about demanding enough space to maneuver (could be womaneuver I suppose, as the situation warrants), so if there is no shoulder I take the right part of the traffic lane. Most people are not psychopaths and they will not intentionally run over you. I’m more inclined to think they will run over you if they don’t see you.

      Reply
  • Don August 16, 2012, 11:15 am

    The problem with the L.A.B. and those that practice the disciplines taught by them is that it assumes that the rider is physically capable and can ride a bike at the “enthusiast” level. Taking the lane is never going to happen by the person who just turned into a court appointed bicycle commuter. If commuting is ever going to become even slightly more mainstream the roadway infrastructure will have to include more dedicated multi use paths or at least wider bike lanes so that non enthusiast level riders feel safe. Bicycles are great transportation and many more of us should be riding them but we can’t assume those that try will become lean and mean commuting machines. Also the enthusiast will have to become much more tolerant of slower riders and increased bicycle traffic in the areas and routes they ride in.

    Reply
  • Joe Bellin August 18, 2012, 12:47 pm

    Hi,

    I am always interested in learning anything that will make my daily commute safer. Please let me know when this course will be offered.

    thank you

    joe

    Reply

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