Most important lessons for beginners

Harrybelafonte

If you were to teach someone to cycle on the road for first time, what do you think your most important points would be?

Would you start by getting them to ensure they could cycle one-handed so they could signal etc and help them grow more confident on the bike? Would you make sure they could look over their shoulder confidently? Would you have any excercises for them to do so as to make them more confident before hitting the road?

Road positioning.

Braking, avoiding slippy surfaces like road markings, man hole covers etc.

When and when not to pass on the inside of traffic.

Things like this.

kenmc

I'd get their bike handling skills up to speed first on something safer - e.g. a local football field or something , get them used to cycling, stopping, controlling a skid, signalling, turning, looking behind them etc. Then and only then think about bringing them out onto a road, and even then I'd pick my time and place, e.g. inside a housing estate first, practising junctions etc.
Adult or child btw?

Cookie_Monster

I would point out to them that's it not the life threatenly dangerous activity the RSA and AGS make it out to be and that with only some common sense it can be made safe and easy.

mcmoustache

Sorry to double post but I posted this earlier in the Hi Vis jackets/arm bands where? thread and I think it would be relevant here. It's mostly about safety. I'll leave it at the bottom of this post.

Your suggestions, by the way, are right on the money. I would go with all of them although I'm not sure what you mean by "excercises for them to do so as to make them more confident before hitting the road?".

If you mean to make them cycle on an industrial estate on a sunday while you push trollies at them from out of nowhere, then that would also be a good idea :pac:. Seriously though, I would encourage a cyclist to practice being quick at accelerating as well as knowing how to shift gears. One you can do this, you can comfortably cycle in the regular lanes with the cars.

/////////EARLIER POST FOLLOWS///////////////

Here's a few safety tips that I consider important. I've been commuting around dublin city centre for the past year so our situations would be similar. If other forum users have any other tips, please add them.

1. Never get yourself into a position where you are cycling along the left hand side of a bus. They won't see you and if they turn left, you'll be mangled under their wheels. Do this by overtaking (not undertaking) buses. Also, to prevent busses from dangerously overtaking you, keep out from the kerb. This forces the bus to overtake you correctly. Buses will still overtake you and pull in all of a sudden but if they do, check behind you and overtake them when it is safe.

2. Before any manouevre, look behind you and indicate. If you can't do it without falling off, get mirrors. The last thing you want is to pull out in front of a car or bike who's driver might not have time to stop. A helmet won't help you if you're knocked off the bike and a car ends up driving over you but checking to see that it's safe will prevent you from falling in the first place.

3. Watch the road near you as well as the road up ahead. You need to check for potholes and bad surfaces which can knock you off or give you a puncture. You need to look ahead to see if someone, a pedestrian or a vehicle is likely to do something stupid. Assume that they will and get yourself into a good position. Pedestrians and other cyslists are the worst for this.

4. Assume that you are invisible. Even with lights and hiviz, drivers will often only look out for other vehicles and fail to see you. You might have the right of way but a car could pull out in front of you at a junction and you could end up going over the bonnet if you can't stop in time. A helmet could help here but it won't prevent broken bones. Looking ahead as per point 3 will help prevent this from happening.

5. Car doors. Cycle lanes are seen as car parks by most people so you'll have to go around them. Go around them as per point 2 but leave at least a meter between you and the car. If the door opens and you are too close, you're going over. The helmet could help here to protect your head which might get planted into concrete. Also avoid undertaking loads of cars if there are also loads of other cars parked to the left of you. Capel St going south would be an example of this kind of road. A door opening there might not leave you enough room to take evasive action.

6. Obey the rules of the road. Not doing so adds to the perception that cyclists don't deserve to be on the road and are a danger to themselves and others. You might think that the traffic lights don't apply to you, especially pedestrian crossings, but every red light means a green light for someone else and they might not expect some muppet to break the light and walk out in front of you. Stay off the footpath. It's not for you, it's for pedestrians. This is advice about manners moreso than safety but safety is still an issue here. Also cycle lanes aren't bi-directional. If the painted bike on the road looks upside down, you're going the wrong way.


I don't want to make it seem like cycling in an urban environment is dangerous. It isn't if you keep your whits about you. I just want to show that awareness is the most important aspect of road safety. A helmet will only help a little in the grander scheme of things.

Everyday I see cyclists doing stupid and dangerous things and helmets aren't what they need. It's new brains.

Harrybelafonte

kenmc wrote: »

Adult or child btw?

I'm not actually teaching anyone at the moment, but in light of summer coming about again and more people hitting the roads, some people may be giving others instructions or beginners may check the board and I figured getting all the points in one thread might help.

mcmoustache

I'd say that teaching someone to take a fall would be a good idea too. I'm not sure what the best way to do this would be - maybe a crappy bike on grass as you lob watermelons at them or something. I don't know.

I haven't fallen at speed (I did fall at low speed during the icy period last winter) in a long time and I don't wear a helmet so I dread the day when I have to come off the bike. Knowing how to fall as a kid was really handy but I'm a lot older and heavier now. I wouldn't want to rely on by brain trying to make my older body do something that my younger body could do.

Does anybody with falling experience have any advice on this? For example, if a car door opens and there is no time to go around it, what would be the best course of action. I understand that there won't be much time to decide what to do but theoretically, is there a way to minimise the potential damage? How best to avoid planting one's head in the asphalt.

mcmoustache

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

I'm not actually teaching anyone at the moment, but in light of summer coming about again and more people hitting the roads, some people may be giving others instructions or beginners may check the board and I figured getting all the points in one thread might help.

+1
Good idea. Even in the past week there have been a few newbie threads.

tomasrojo

mcmoustache wrote: »

Does anybody with falling experience have any advice on this? For example, if a car door opens and there is no time to go around it, what would be the best course of action. I understand that there won't be much time to decide what to do but theoretically, is there a way to minimise the potential damage? How best to avoid planting one's head in the asphalt.

Wear gloves or mitts. In most falls, your natural and quite correct reaction is to put out your hands to protect your face and head. If you fall and have any advance warning at all, you are unlikely to hit your head, but very likely to cut up your hands, so I almost always wear mitts or gloves.

I don't want to turn this into the dreaded Mitt Thread though

Some falls, such as sliding on oil or gravel coming around a corner, are hard to avoid, but keeping your speed moderate (20km/h or slower) at nearly all times means you're very unlikely to be harmed badly by the fall itself (though you might find going at that speed a bit boring). Being hit by a car or, God forbid, a HGV is another matter, but keeping yourself as much as possible in a state of calm alertness is the best way to prevent that.

Harrybelafonte

Re falls: If you put your hands out you'll more than likely graze them and hurt your wrists a bit, that's what happened me last year anyway, it's not too bad. I've had some sideways falls too, one on the cargo bike, but in those situations getting the bike away from you helps I think otherwise you end up entangled in it or parts of it dig into you. Not much else I know about falling, I did go over the handle bars awhile back, but somehow landed on my feet. I have no idea how, was strapped in too.

Harrybelafonte

Actually, if you're a good, alert driver, many of the rules for driving apply for cycling. Know the rules of the road, but don't expect others to know or abide by them.

cipo

Assume, at all times, that you're invisible... Don't assume that people see you from cars, sidewalk, paths etc!

Use hand signals always

Positioning is a huge one!!! Confident positioning is very important!!

Be courteous.

smacl

mcmoustache wrote: »

Does anybody with falling experience have any advice on this?

Haven't fallen off the bike at speed yet, but I've done quite a few years of competitive martial arts involving being thrown around the place. I'd guess that tomasrojo's advice of staying calm (keeping the body relaxed), would significantly reduce the risk of injury, but it's easier said than done. Personally, I'd try to avoid sticking out my hands so they make contact with the ground first, better to use them to protect the face & ribs and roll with the fall (i.e. in the direction of forward momentum). Sticking an arm out when getting thrown is a great way to get a broken wrist or elbow.

Note the above is all supposition based on being thrown around the place by people, as opposed to being hit by vehicles. That said, I've seen a friend who is a good wrestler get hit by a car while cycling, roll over the bonnet and land neatly without injury. The bike was not so good. Me, I'll keep wearing my helmet and high viz as well.

mcmoustache

Slightly off-topic but I would like to see a televised cycling awareness campaign. I travel a lot around the city centre everyday and the amount of bad cycling I see is ridiculous.

Some dopey cyclists have no awareness about what's coming behind them or in front even, others think that red lights are optional. There are even ones who think that you can go both directions on a cycle lane. Loads of them don't understand Dublin's one-way system. And the ones who use the footpath really bug me. If you're too scared to use a bike on the road, you should be walking. It's not like you can go fast on a footpath anyway. Sorry for the anti-cyclist rant but what I see everyday on my bike makes me hate incompetent cyclists more and more.

Dublin Bikers are the worst. Sorry to generalise but it's true. I wish I could force them all to do some kind of safe biking test or at least make them read every thread in this forum from start to finish. I can't do that, unfortunately, so a television-based educational campaign might help. I think that there are a lot of cyclists out there who really need to be sent for "re-education".

mcmoustache

smacl wrote: »

Personally, I'd try to avoid sticking out my hands so they make contact with the ground first, better to use them to protect the face & ribs and roll with the fall (i.e. in the direction of forward momentum). Sticking an arm out when getting thrown is a great way to get a broken wrist or elbow.

This would be close to my thinking too. Protect the head, leave no flailing limbs and roll with the fall. But as you said, that's easier said than done. I used to fall an awful lot as a kid so hopefully, if I go into a car door or over a bonnet that I'll take the fall as described above..... hopefully

seamus

smacl wrote: »

Note the above is all supposition based on being thrown around the place by people, as opposed to being hit by vehicles.

No, it's generally sound. Most people don't get enough experience of hitting the ground to build up a reflex or strategy for it. I'm sure someone with a lot of falling experience such as judo or wrestling would probably do well.

There's rarely enough time to think "what do I need to do", but you rarely end up getting caught up in the bike, even with clipless pedals on.

You will usually come off sideways, either because you've slid on ice/gravel, or because you've been glanced by a vehicle or another rider. Although most people's instincts are to turn their upper body towards the ground and put out both arms, what works for me is to fight that urge and turn slightly away from the ground, letting my forearm, shoulder and hip/arse take the impact. This then naturally allows you to flow into rolling with the impact (because you're effectively lying on the ground at the time of impact, rather than holding your body up with your arms) so that you end up facing the opposite direction.

I've seen pictures of pro racers with the reflexes to actually roll their body forward so that if they fall left (for example), they land on their right shoulder with their head tucked underneath, ready to roll straight out of it.

YMMV. I don't know if a broken hand/wrist is preferable to a fractured hip. And this method has a tendency to cause bruised ribs, as I now have them for the second time this year.

Head-on stuff is harder to call, but for God's sake let go of the handlebars at the time of impact.

Harrybelafonte

Let's not concentrate too much on the falling maybe, more how to do your best to avoid those situations.

tomasrojo

mcmoustache wrote: »

Does anybody with falling experience have any advice on this? For example, if a car door opens and there is no time to go around it, what would be the best course of action.

Also, if you find yourself in the "door zone" and can't get out, slow right down. That way you have time to brake.

CramCycle

mcmoustache wrote: »

Does anybody with falling experience have any advice on this? For example, if a car door opens and there is no time to go around it, what would be the best course of action. I understand that there won't be much time to decide what to do but theoretically, is there a way to minimise the potential damage? How best to avoid planting one's head in the asphalt.

On the few times it has happened to me (sometimes my fault, sometimes others), I fond the best (for me and the situation at the time), was to turn my shoulder into it, turn my head away and cover my head with my arms and hands.

Recently with age, I have found a better solution which is alot easier and less troublesome than preparing for a crash, ie avoiding them.