My full-time job is teaching people about how to bike commute. Living the dream? Definitely. Do I bike commute 365? Nope. More like 65. Am I qualified for the job? Some would say “no” since I own a car and sometimes use it to drive to my bike commuting classes.
In my mind (and hopefully in my students’) I’m confident I’m delivering potentially life-changing lessons from a balanced perspective. My personal continuing education lesson plan is delivered via a combination of cork-clad bar tape and a leather wrapped steering wheel. Trader or teacher? Heretic or helper?
What’s my preferred commute mode? Mileage would indicate the car. I like my car. The heart and lungs, however, launches a body-filling aria of a life-long love affair with the simplicity and freedom of everything bicycle.
Here’s where I believe my double-life of internal-combustion operator and pedal-powered-commuter pays off for my students. I study the habits, foibles, successes, ignorance, victories, naïvety and stupidity of car drivers and bike riders alike with a balanced critique.
I’ve witnessed the outcome of poor driving and poor riding decisions in traffic. I’ve seen the aftermath of inattentiveness from careless drivers and oblivious cyclists. I know where education applied to both driving and riding skills would make the difference between a dangerous road and a joyous path.
Success for safe bicycle commuting distills itself to a few easily learned and employed elements that have changed the way I ride. These changes have delivered a new sense of security by providing me with the skills to predictably communicate to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians where I am, what I am, and what I am going to do next … before I do it. It sounds simple and it is.
Here are some things to practice on your next bike commute:
• Wear a helmet that fits your noggin and continually maintain proper strap adjustment (two-finger clearance under chin strap, side straps’ buckles under earlobes). I beg of you, please don’t ride without one. Doctors have told us time and time again the huge difference they see between the protected and unprotected skulls in emergency rooms.
• Wear bright, reflective clothing. When I’m behind the wheel I typically take note of cyclists wearing bright yellow shirts, vests, jackets, and helmets much sooner than darkly attired riders. This goes for the day as well as low-light conditions. At night, cyclists without reflective elements on their clothes, gear or bike become “ninja bikers” and it scares me to tell you how many “Oh poo! I didn’t even see him/her” moments I’ve had.
• Blinkies front and back. Attach a white blinking light to your handlebars and at least one blinking red light to the rear of your bike/seatpost/backpack/helmet. (I have one on all four of these locations.) Here’s the important tip about blinking lights: turn them on whenever you ride — day or night. Your ability to be noticed increases dramatically in traffic because you have a smaller profile among larger vehicles.
• Ride in the first third of the road (where cars’ passenger side tires have marked/grooved the pavement). It takes a little practice to break the old habit of riding close to the road’s shoulder, but this practice establishes you as traffic. Cars will now go around you instead of brushing up next to you. You’ll also keep out of the dreaded “door zone” and deny your dentist from traveling to Italy for a personal fitting with Ernesto and adding another Colnago to her bike quiver.
• Take the middle of the lane at stop signs or stoplights. Cars will have to stay behind you until you complete your right/left/forward movement. The most common bicycle/vehicle collision (and it’s a “collision,” not an “accident”) is a vehicle making a right turn into a cyclist. The driver often tries to beat the bike to the turn or doesn’t see the cyclist because they are too far to the right. Take your rightful place as part of traffic in order to maintain your equal rights (and equal responsibilities) as a participant and not a spectator.
• This last must-learn habit and skill is my personal contribution and one that has kept me crash-free for the past 48 years: Keep your chin up, kid! Most cyclists tend to fix their gaze 10 – 15 feet past the bike’s front wheel. If you focus 50 to 200 feet down the road you’ll see everything in your lane (potholes, train tracks, tonight’s Crock-Pot™ possum fricassee, etc.) as well as have the luxury of analyzing all developing situations: Is that car 100 feet away going in or coming out of the driveway? Is the light going to turn red? Is that pedestrian going to step out from between those parked cars? Are tube tops really making a comeback? Focus! Focus!
There’s a lot more to share about the joys of bike commuting and I’ll relate more of my findings in future issues of Outdoors NW. Please feel free to write me with questions or to arrange a bike commuting class for your workplace: chris.cameron@CascadeBicycleClub.org
Chris Cameron is the Bicycle Commute Director for Seattle’s Cascade Bicycle Club (the nation’s largest member-supported bike club with 9,400+ members). He develops bicycle-commuting programming to show Northwest companies how to successfully establish bike commuting as an integral part of transportation options. Chris has taught approximately 3,000 people to safely and efficiently use the beautiful bicycle as transportation. |
