Cycle Training

fixehskiddacyclecraft

Been eating your playdough again?

some top tips from andreas from london cyclist blog following cycle training (and a dodgy picture of me)
**http://tinyurl.com/2v463xz
**

more on cycle training...
The institute for advanced motoring IAM) think cycle training is more important than wearing helmets http://tinyurl.com/2vjam93

now that is interesting.

now that is interesting.

Indeed. I voted in that survey and forgot to check for the results. One to share wider for sure.

it gets even better... the IAM support cycling in the middle of the lane
http://www.iam.org.uk/latest_news/cycliststakeprimepositionsaysiambook.html

RECLAIM THE STREETS
Woohoo!!

for newer readers, weve been doing it for years,
(I just love the manipulating bit........)
lets credit David here a bit :-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/feb/08/fitness

Doesn't EVERYONE cycle in the middle of the lane....????? ;-)

I suggested a while ago to Velocio that LFGSS should have a Training sub forum but didn't get anywhere with it. It would be good, I think, to have one and for LFGSS to be a place that really promotes training and where any info that anyone needs is easily accessible. Maybe if the other trainers, or people who have been trained, want to PM me and we can see if we can put together some ideas that the big V might accept?

Good idea. I'm all for it.

it gets even better... the IAM support cycling in the middle of the lane
http://www.iam.org.uk/latest_news/cycliststakeprimepositionsaysiambook.html

RECLAIM THE STREETS
Woohoo!!

Tsk, tsk. They should of course be promoting riding in the primary position rather than 'in the middle of the lane'. Oh, they do. :P

Any advice on how to deal with cyclists undertaking? I get that sometimes when I'm waiting at a red light and as I get ready to start when the light changes a cyclist undertakes at speed (or do that when the light is red). It freaks me out. I am probably half a metre away from the curb. It also happens when I am planning to turn left. Maybe I am not making my intentions clear enough?

Or my question could be what should cyclists do around other cyclists at junction?

^When you ride away further out in the lane the risk of undertaking cyclists does increase while other risks decrease. Checking over left shoulder become an imprtant tool in being aware of these riders (Just like right shoulder checks helps control drivers wishing to pass on the right).

But is it ok to undertake cyclists? That was not covered at all in my cycle trainings. We covered how to behave with cars etc but not with other cyclists.

Whether you're turning left or not, a strategically timed left-turn signal might have the desired effect - the sinister version of this:

Cycling with apes, may be dangerous.

Especially ginger ones.

But is it ok to undertake cyclists? That was not covered at all in my cycle trainings. We covered how to behave with cars etc but not with other cyclists.

If you are being undertaken by someone rljing, if you catch them up you could politely say "dont fucking undertake and red light jump, twat, you make all cyclists look bad and and its dangerous," just an idea

Excellent advices guys, I knew I could count on the sound advice of my forum friends.
mwah x

Or my question could be what should cyclists do around other cyclists at junction?

chat, flirt, talk about the weather, the velorution, check directions, laugh along with the workplace timetriallers, make suggestive jokes about someones bike, that sort of thing.....

:d

But is it ok to undertake cyclists? That was not covered at all in my cycle trainings. We covered how to behave with cars etc but not with other cyclists.

It's not OK to undertake other cyclists. As skydancer said, the way to deal with it is to check for their presence on your left. When he trained me, he sneakily undertook me on the left round a corner. That was the first time that I'd ever been undertaken by a cyclist--I simply hadn't been aware of the fact that people do this (despite having paid attention to my primary positioning since reading a London Cyclist article on Cyclecraft in 1998 or 1999).

Since then, it's happened to me once--or, rather, twice, by the same person in the space of about five minutes. I was riding along Newgate Street on a lovely sunny afternoon/early evening, when this bloke on a bizarre but expensive-looking hybrid suddenly dived along the inside of me, spinning madly in a really low gear. There was absolutely no need to go down the inside, as there were no cars in the vicinity. I overtook him again and at Holborn Circus made to stop at the kerb next to that Sainsbury's building. I checked back over my shoulder and looked at him and he was too far away to still reach me, or so I thought. As I slowed down, signalled with my hand and put my foot out to stop, he must have accelerated as he lunged past me on the inside again, with inches or centimetres to spare. That was a near-crash and I think that this time he simply wasn't paying attention. He seemed like a new cyclist, didn't know what gear to use, etc.

Seriously, take a deep breath, get 'centred', engage muscle tension, and signal left.

I've got no time for these fuckwits. [/mikec]

And before anyone asks:

I'm all for a training sub forum - good one WW

I suggested a while ago to Velocio that LFGSS should have a Training sub forum but didn't get anywhere with it. It would be good, I think, to have one and for LFGSS to be a place that really promotes training and where any info that anyone needs is easily accessible. Maybe if the other trainers, or people who have been trained, want to PM me and we can see if we can put together some ideas that the big V might accept?

However this isn't to said that the season wasn't a waste of time, far from it. For instance like mounting the bike and joining the traffic from behind a parked car, what I didn't notice that the likeihood of getting notice that I'm about to pull away from behind a parked car is that they couldn't see the bike, solution? mount further onto the road where my presence is more noticable.
The other thing is learning some useful trick, such as what to do with a bus behind you and a bus stop in front of you, usually my way of proceeding is to drop back a little bit to allow the bus ample room and speed to overtake me safety and arrive at the bus stop if required (which is fine if the gap between you and the bus stop is fairly large), however Will taught me a better way to deal with it is to take the lane a bit more not letting the bus overtake you if it given the chance while near a bus stop.

No matter how much we think that we know it all, we really don't.

Nice report Ed and well done!