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".

Lovely. Look forward to the report about Level 3!

Good report bothwell.
Betty is lovely isn't she? and she makes belts
http://www.velo-re.com/

@ Bothwell. Nice report. Put the saddle back down. Your knee will adjust.

Not so sure, tbh - with the saddle down lower my knee clicks and grinds, so it's not just pain. I got doored 3 years ago and twisted it pretty badly and it's never really recovered from that. I've read that increasing the height of the saddle a bit more than usual lessens the maximum flex angle of the knee which sometimes helps for people with joint damage and it's certainly seemed to work for me. There's probably a happy medium between height and stability, though - a bike fitting will probably find it!

Cheers for the info B. Re bike fits. I would recommend the 'world famous' Bike Whisperer over in that there Ealing ( day visa required) or Denva at On Your Bike, Tooley Street. I am biased though :0).

^ How much is a bike fit at On Your Bike? Can't find any info about prices on their website.

^ How much is a bike fit at On Your Bike? Can't find any info about prices on their website.

£120 for the deluxe fit - I had one last weekend, it took about 2.5 hrs and my bike feels very different (in a good way).

Thanks, I don't think I can or need to stretch to that, but that suggests the cleat fit, which I do need, won't be too expensive.

I remember thinking that the cleat fit on its own was pretty cheap but can't remember the actual numbers involved... Not much help, sorry!!

No that's great, 'pretty cheap' is exactly what I want to hear! Thanks

I work with Denver and he is lovely. It should be 50 for basic fit, 100 for deluxe and 25 for cleat fitting. I don't think the prices have gone up, though I haven't been in for about a month :/

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please

Well, I hope the prices have gone up as otherwise that means I was being specially ripped off... :(

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please

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HGV drivers

I had the good fortune to be co-instructor on a couple of CPC courses last week - these are courses that HGV drivers can take as part of their 'continuous professional development'.
The aim is not, as with normal Cycle Training, to produce great, confident and safe cyclists. It's about letting the drivers see the road from our point of view and discussing cyclist behavior, both good and bad, hearing about their experiences and trying to find ways to share the road safely. Their is a second aim, or hope, to promote cycling as a healthy activity and perhaps remind some of them, if they have not ridden in a while, or even in decades, how enjoyable it can be.
We had one group on Thursday and two groups on Saturday. Very few of them cycled regularly but they all proved the truth of the adage that you never forget how to ride a bike. Many of them were more adept at signaling and looking behind than some of the trainees we see who are commuting every day.
The groups on Thursday and Saturday morning were really enjoyable, the drivers open and good humoured. They would all have had no problem passing a CPC course in Constant Bantering.
I had tried not to go in expecting the worst, not wanting to pre-judge them as being stereotypically anti-cyclist. By and large they weren't, though it would be naive not to think that they are, to some degree, on their best behaviour. It was striking that they were able to transfer their driving skills to road cycling in a way that many, non-professional-driver trainees are not able to do without a lot of encouragement. They were generally quick to see the tell-tale signs of a novice or unconfident cyclist and the need to give these cylclists more space and time. These two sessions were encouraging and fun.
The Saturday afternoon group were a little different. It didn't help that it was 30 degrees and they had already had a sweaty morning doing the classroom bit. It only takes one or two people in a group to make teaching difficult and this group had them. Both young men (there was one woman in the group and all the groups were mainly middle-aged men).
I made a fatal mistake in rising to the provocations of one of them when he started to say that cyclists were the least important people on the road, that they don't pay road tax (argghhh!) and that they should get out of everyone's way. After the positive atmosphere in the first two groups it was just disappointing to hear this crap and I should have let it slide. Lesson learned.
In the end my lead instructor managed to win the group back pretty well and they said a lot of the kind of stuff you want to hear. The aim of the course is to make these drivers think about cyclists in a different, more understanding and co-operative, way. It's not as if we are expecting them to have a Damascene conversion and you just have to trust that the course will have an effect however truculent or unresponsive some of them might seem.
After the course I shook hands with the burly troublemaker and he was fine about it. The woman on the course also took me aside to apologise for some of her colleague's behaviour. It had been a hot and tiring afternoon.
Things that all three groups identified as bad cycling; not looking behind, not signaling, changing lanes without warning, not having lights on after dark. And, very strongly, jumping red lights. I think we kid ourselves if we do not acknowledge how bad red light jumping makes cyclists look. The resentment may be irrational and even hypocritical, but it is there. We discussed it and they were willing to see that there might be reasons for it that they had not considered but it's still an obstacle.
Happily no one mentioned not wearing a helmet as an example of dangerous cycling.
I loved doing these courses (even, just about, eventually, the Saturday afternoon one). One of the things that came across was how afraid of hitting a cyclist the HGV drivers are. The bolshy ones might not admit it but it is there. They understand our vulnerability (though they probably wouldn't phrase it like that).
It's trite to say that the more we understand each other the better off we will all be. It's trite, but it's true.

I was doing CPC training today, my experience was similar to yours. Some of the group were open minded, but we had a couple of slightly belligerent trainees. By the time we looked at traffic lights with a cycle lane filtering cyclists up the inside things started to change. Even the most vocal objector who had been saying cyclists should always use cycle lanes, but who hates it when people filter on the inside had a bit of a penny drop moment.

Again the RLJ issue really gets up other road users noses, not helped by over half the cyclists jumping through the set of lights we were looking at.

No one mentioned helmets except the one guy who pointed out how ridiculous it is that people seem to think they become invincible when they were a helmet, and how little protection they offer.

Also the standard of cycling they demonstrated was good, and once things like the door zone were explained they took it on board and incorporated it into their riding.

One of the drivers did confound me by agreeing that he could see that cyclists swerving in and out of parked cars is more dangerous for them and other road users, "but they should do it anyway". He was adamant about this, until the end of the course when it became apparent he had been told years ago in his cycling proficiency that he was meant to hug the curb where possible and was still hanging on to this notion. He then acknowledged that this belief had been the barrier.

Good descriptions DJ and WW.
Having done quite a few of these courses and seeing the effect you both described (ie getting many myths about cycling busted, understanding the effect of fear on peoples' riding technique, and often seeing very good riding skills from the drivers) has lead me to think that training drivers on bikes is more important to minimising road danger than training cyclists. I suppose another outcome is getting them to agree that it is their responsibility to look after others on the road, especially when around those using benign means of transport to get around.

Because the drivers forced to do this course for their CPC are professional drivers they really do understand these points and the fear of hitting a cyclists goes deeper in them as their livelihood is a stake, not just the 'convenience' of having a motor. Despite the headlines the majority of KSIs on the road are commited by private car drivers who really ought to get such training before getting their driver's licence.

great thread, to learn of peoples experiences on the courses. well done.

http://helpmychaincameoff.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/my-cycle-training-session.html

My two boys, 10 & 8, did two hours training today with Patrick from CTUK. We met on a cold and windy basketball court on Clapham Common, ill-prepared and under-nourished. The clocks changing back should have helped, but didn't in this case. I'm a crap dad. I managed to get their visibility bibs, gloves, snacks and water to them before they set off round the mean streets of SW4.

Both of them have been riding on the road for a few years, under the watchful eye of either parent. But kids never listen to parents when sound advice is required, which is why the lesson was necessary. Patrick taught them many things I won't learn about, because they were his for the duration, while I drank coffee and smoked cigarettes. But the journey back home was a bit of a result; much better road positioning from both of them, signalling, over the shoulder glances, and a much greater understanding of how to keep safe and aware on the road. They both enjoyed it, and felt that they had learnt a lot, so well worth the outlay, and to be repeated in six months time after a winter of getting to school and back. Thank you, you training people.

Fantastic

Will you get training too?

Fuck off, I'm perfect...

Or perhaps that should be, no, I don't go fast enough, and spend most of my time on the pavement...

And when you're in the area DJ, my coffee machine still works.

This is so nice to hear 36x18.

Out of curiosity, at what age do think you'll feel able to let the boys ride without parental supervision?

Richard

I am around tomorrow afternoon, any chance of a coffee around 4.30ish?