Why do cyclists ride in the middle of the lane?

http://www.facebook.com/BicyclistsBelongInTheTrafficLane

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.

-- George Washington Carver

As you may have already heard, Orange County Wheelmen is offering Traffic Skills 101 training free of charge for all members. The class is offered four times a year. It consists of an evening lecture and a weekend on-the-bike portion to put into practice “on the road” what was learned in the lecture as well as to learn advanced bike handling skills. To sign up go to the ocwheelmen.org website and click on “Traffic Skills 101” under the “Training” tab.

If the dates that OCW offers the class does not fit your schedule there are other TS101 classes you can attend in Southern California. You can find a schedule and sign up for them on the League of American Bicyclists website: bikeleague.org.

One of the resources that Stacy and I like to use in the lecture portion of our classes is video that demonstrates what safe cycling looks like. We show slides and graphs that explain how and why to ride according to TS101 principles, but the videos that show how well these principles work in the real world really seem to resonate with our students.  I’ve included links to the videos we use below so that those who have taken our classes can review them, and those who have not can get an idea of what we will be covering.

There is a wealth of useful and well-presented information on the cyclingsavvy.org  website. Be sure to check out  the FAQ: Why do you ride like that? page and the video Bicycling in traffic is a dance you lead.

Bicycling in traffic is a dance you lead from Keri Caffrey on Vimeo.

League Cycling Instructor Chris Quint demonstrates the principles of vehicular cycling in his three part video “Cyclists Eye View”.  Chris is an excellent instructor, and the videos show what safe and effective cycling looks like on local (Long Beach) streets.

Finally we like to stress the importance of not riding in the “Door Zone” of parked cars. This first video show the how & why you should never ride in the door zone:

The second video shows actual footage of several dooring accidents: 

Hopefully these videos will inspire you to attend a TS101 class if you have not already done so.

Until next time, keep your head up and your wheels down...