reducing fear when cycling?

Everyone talk about cycle lane but nobody want to talk about educating drivers.

It is now perfectly legal to text drive, perfectly legal for driver to give you a punishment pass, illegal to cycle on the road when there's a cycle lane nearby, etc.

They're not law, but if everyone think that, then it might as well be law.

I'm going to give that a listen mate. I always wear a helmet on the commute just due to the speed I'm going at, if I catch an unexpected pot hole etc I'm likely to land on my bonce.

But after my most recent ped strike I've invested in a pair of these bad boys: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/troy-lee-designs-bp-7605-short/rp-prod59933

I landed right on my hip, black and blue for two weeks, these should save me a bit. I haven't had a chance to "test them out" yet but I'm two weeks over due and I've been faced with some pretty intense walls recently.

You aren't likely to land on your head.

There's not much specifically relevant to cycling in the podcast - and I thought it was kinda funny that they slammed Teresa May for providing unwelcome opinions where the statement about helmets and body armor was just as tosh-driven - although it is funny and interesting.

I usually avoid such thing because I'm vividly aware of what will happen to me if I took a spill.

The worrying thing about purchasing those bad boys is that you might end up feeling more comfortable about falling off the bicycle, rather than comfortable about preventing it in the first place.

TL:DR I sound like an asshole.

#heyasshole

Hit a pot hole about 8 months ago on Camberwell Green, took my front wheel from under me, straight over the handlebars. The first point of contact was my head, luckly had a helmet on at the time, it looked like it had been hit with a sledge hammer.

If you regularly hit pot holes and peds then perhaps defaulting to head protection rather than considering how you ride may be the wrong choice...

justsayin' (what @edscoble Said)

You don't sound like an #heyasshole! at all dude.

You're 100% right, I don't know what to add except I need to remain as cautious as ever, and not get lazy because I've got armour.

Also at the end of the day, I really don't want to scratch my bike/buckle a wheel etc...

Nah that was the only and last pothole I've hit, but it was a bit of a shocker how I landed.

Peds on the other hand, err.......

Only been in one incident with a motorist, he basically tried to initiate a parallel park on me when I was riding in the gutter. It was quite a lol crash.

You're 100% right, I don't know what to add except I need to remain as cautious as ever, and not get lazy because I've got armour.

The original research into risk homeostasis [1] (in skydivers) showed that the increased risks were taken subconsciously.

1. Or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation
   

I get all the above points but...

The idea of risk homeostasis is disputed. One author claimed that it received "little support" another suggested that it "commands about as much credence as the flat earth hypothesis"

Sure it's disputed, that's why the page links to research rather than just the opinion of two people.

The theory of relativity and quantum physics are disputed, too. :)

So is the big bang theory, when we all know the earth was created in 7 days by Santa Claus.

Before this turns into a bike radar helmet thread, its personal preference, just because I wear a helmet during the commute doesn't mean I'm going to start head-butting busses and anyway weekend.. helmet >>>>>>>>>>

Really? Which bits?

General relativity and quantum mechanics have both had a fair bit of research into them, and there's even the odd bit of theoretical and empirical evidence too.

Risk compensation, on the other hand, not so much.

It seems like an odd comparison to make.

Going off topic here, but this thread has reminded me of something that as far as I'm aware hasn't been mentioned that could completely ruin mass cycling in London.

Rising house prices.

Are you going to convince the average joe to ride to work when they now can only afford to live in zone 4 and have a 12 mile ride to work?

because I wear a helmet during the commute doesn't mean I'm going to start head-butting busses and anyway weekend.

A la @ChainBreaker

The theory of relativity and quantum physics are disputed, too. :)

By creationists?

I could dig up the data but, meh...

So the theory that the theory of relativity and quantum physics is disputed too is disputed too. Who knew.

I know quite a few people who do, I did eight each way because:

1/

If you're not at Leytonstone station before 7am you don't get a seat, so you stand next to Mr Garlic Breath for half an hour and

2/

i saved £140 a month. It was like a pay rise, I was never delayed, I enjoyed it more and I always got a seat.

You mean you do not notice the number of middle class people commuting on their bicycles?

It's a reasonable point, and not everyone is going to want to cycle all of their journey, but with better conditions they might want to cycle some of it, e.g. to/from the station. Average commute distances have increased, but people still make a heck of a lot of short distance trips that could easily be cycled - to the shops, the school run etc. So cycling could take a lot of pressure off the public transport network, as well as making people healthier and better off, without getting them all up to SuperCommuter standards.

Are you going to convince the average joe to ride to work when they now can only afford to live in zone 4 and have a 12 mile ride to work?

Enough of them will be convinced by the overcrowded public transport that they'll cycle to escape it.

Once enough of them are convinced to cycle then public transport isn't so overcrowded. It's kind of self regulating.

I know when I used to regularly get the train from Putney to Waterloo at ~8am I often had to wait for the 3rd or 4th train before I could get on one (and I'm not shy about cramming myself in), the first two or three were just so full.

My choices were:
a) Start my day by traveling one or two stations backwards (Barnes, etc) to increase chances of getting on a train
b) Go later/earlier
c) Cycle

Cheers, I may buy the Lost Lanes book as a "present" for my girlfriend. I generally find the trouble is that a lot of quiet routes need either a car or a spell along an A road to get to. Plus a lot seem to be either an easy 20 miles or a hilly 80 miles with little in between.

The fact this thread was started in the same week as hippy won a 24 hour race saddens me.

It's like the anti-htfu.

#stfu
(Soften)

I just read through this thread and it makes me :/

I do enjoy cycling in london and I am rarely fearful. I say rarely because on the rare, very rare ocassions when something happens that might've been worse it right gives me the willies for a day or two.

I think my continued enjoyment may be down to a number of things:

• I choose to cycle. By that I mean I only cycle when I want to. I don't commute by bike every day if I don't feel like it, I've never been a hardcore cyclist of any kind or feel like I've lost if I don't cycle in.
  
• I rarely have to travel in proper rush hour. While it's brilliant that so many more people are cycling in London compared with 10 years ago, it does make rush hour kind of horrible especially on the really busy (with cyclists) routes. I used to live just off CS7 and do not think I would have enjoyed that every day much at all.
  
• I feel comfortable varying my routes and cycling style to match. (and to match my mood maybe).
  
• I cycle quite slowly. It's just my temperament. I'm also quite un-competitive.
  
• I've always cycled as a way of getting around (since I was 11) so it feels familiar and "normal".
  
  

I realise the first 2 (especially second one) are not available to all. And the last 2 are just things that you can't control. So not very helpful to others... but I do think it's important that cycling feels like a choice and not a curse. I also think society's insistence on peak hour travel is such bollocks. Everyone is trying to get somewhere quicker than they actually can, they're grumpy and selfish. Life is so much more pleasant if you don't have to do it, and I'm lucky that I don't. Working odd hours might actually be better - riding late at night after a late shift can be lovely. But yes, cycling while tired is Not Good especially for a beginner.

I also actually really enjoy riding public transport - napping, daydreaming, listening to music, peoplewatching. I have done the mad rush hour commute for decent stretches and even then I found it tolerable (train down every morning, arrive at KX at 8-8.30 and try and get on the Northern line along with the rest of commuterland...). So I don't know what that says about me. I do have bad days, don't get me wrong.

For @Clockwise 's partner - if it's something she'd like to do but feels fearful:

• As others have said just being comfortable handling a bike is important. Being able to navigate lumps and bumps without feeling the need to swerve around, being able to look over your shoulder without veering, being able to signal confidently, all that stuff. And that's just practice.
  
• Cycle training especially if she is nervous about "road sense".
  
• The other thing is getting to know the streets so she/you can find routes she likes and isn't bound to either the big obvious roads or the specific signed quiet routes. But as others have also said - it could be that she just isn't into that. I like hanging around London and I don't mind getting lost for my troubles, but plenty of people don't see the point of that and don't enjoy it.
  
• A decent folder would give her the choice to cycle part way, or to cycle one way and not the other. eg. being able to go into work in daylight and get public transport home at night.
  
• remember that 15 miles is a long way for most people (including me!). My folks (my dad still cycles most days to get around town - in his mid-70s) think up to 5 miles is normal, 5-10 miles is a long way, more than 10 miles is the kind of Cycling Day Out they phone to tell me about proudly and happens maybe twice a year.