Experiences of Cycle Training

I did cycle training (finally) last week, Will suggested I do a write-up and so I shall.

My trainer was Betty, who was absolutely lovely, really friendly and chatty, immediately put me at my ease. I told her that the reason I'd come along was that I'd been shamed into it through riding with Skydancer, Skully, and Oliver Schick on the Bletchley ride, and seeing how effortlessly they dealt with every road-sharing situation that occurred, or more specifically how effortlessly they prevented any situations from even occurring in the first place.

We did a bike check and I had to sheepishly admit to having not cleaned or lubed my bike since December, not having pumped my tyres up for about a month, and probably a host of other tiny embarrassments that I've conveniently forgotten. We also put my saddle down by what looked like an inch as I was rocking my hips from side-to-side when pedalling (I did put that back up later because my knee wasn't happy about the change - next stop is a proper bike fitting).

A short session in the park threw up a control issue or two - a tendency to indicate around turns as well as before them (probably picked up from driving but not as useful on two wheels); and an inability to stop without coming down off the pedals and standing on the ground (probably an artifact of the combination of the saddle being higher and riding fixed).

We had a chat about dealing with other road users (including pedestrians!), and my own views align in pretty much the same way - just relax, enjoy yourself, and be nice to people. She did have a good story about a persistent undertaking cyclist who was persuaded to pack it in without any hint of confrontation, and a similarly good story about a close pass by a bus driver that ended with a pleasanter outcome than most discussions on the road do.

On the road my experience was similar to Hats' - not much to say. I generally ride in primary and look around a lot, indicate my intentions properly and be nice to other road users. One thing she did highlight was that sometimes I'd indicate perfectly, but crucially not make sure that the indication had been seen. Particular places where that was an offence was waiting at junctions where it's perfectly possible to make eye contact with a following driver if only I turned round and looked at them properly. Another thing she highlighted was dithering between lanes when I wasn't sure where to go - instead of moving into a centre lane properly, just hanging around on the line between the left lane and the centre one instead of making a commitment to changing. When I do make a commitment to changing lane I'll sometimes change multiple lanes at once, instead of one at a time. My driving instructor used to tell me off for both of those, too, so it's a general thing rather than a cycling-specific thing. Since the session I've made a conscious effort to deal with these issues.

So yeah, it was good. I went out with the explicit intention of improving my communication with other road users, and I've got a few more things in my arsenal with which to build that up. Also nice to have somebody impartially confirm that I'm not riding like a complete prick without realising, thank god. We didn't have time for the level 3 bits (due to too much gossiping instead of riding, hem hem) but Betty did say that I can just contact her for a follow-up session to sort those out. I generally avoid gyratories and roundabouts wherever possible because I fucking hate them (I'm looking at you Elephant & Castle. And you, Old Street roundabout) but it'll be nice to see what the 'proper' way of dealing with them is as it's probably not going to be "dither about on the white line between lanes going round and round while wondering wtf your exit is".