Rider road awareness training

lennymc

My background is in motorbikes, where I have done some advanced training, and that training has highlighted a lot of things that can be used when cycling. I know the Gardai also offer an assessment of bike riding and suggest areas for improvement.

I was wondering if there is any advanced cycling training available in Dublin. I would imagine that it would be something that would help highlight issues like blindspots, road furniture, how the road surface changes when its wet etc.

Just curious is all.

ciotog

lennymc wrote: »

My background is in motorbikes, where I have done some advanced training, and that training has highlighted a lot of things that can be used when cycling. I know the Gardai also offer an assessment of bike riding and suggest areas for improvement.

I was wondering if there is any advanced cycling training available in Dublin. I would imagine that it would be something that would help highlight issues like blindspots, road furniture, how the road surface changes when its wet etc.

Just curious is all.

I believe this is a complex area and it would be down to Galwaycyclist or similar folk (as a UK qualified cycling instructor) to correct me: As I understand it there is no public liability insurance available to a cycling instructor in Ireland which means there isn't any cycling training like this available (outside of what is organised through state bodies e.g. An Taisce at Green Schools, Gardai, etc.) in general. However, there have been some ad hoc arrangements made to provide cycle training (in Galway it was provided in co-operation with the chamber of commerce) and I know some of the Dublin Cycling Campaign folk have UK cycling instructor qualifications.

buffalo

I've definitely seen an article in the Irish Times that saw the author undergo some basic urban cycling lessons in Dublin.

smacl

It would certainly be beneficial. I guess I'm not alone in being someone who's taken up cycling again in middle age, after a few decades off the bike since childhood. The engine's not too bad, but skills are lacking for sure, and some training would do no harm.

dited

buffalo wrote: »

I've definitely seen an article in the Irish Times that saw the author undergo some basic urban cycling lessons in Dublin.

Vague memory of that article; I think the training may have been with Anne Bedos of Rothar.

morana

ciotog wrote: »

I believe this is a complex area and it would be down to Galwaycyclist or similar folk (as a UK qualified cycling instructor) to correct me: As I understand it there is no public liability insurance available to a cycling instructor in Ireland which means there isn't any cycling training like this available (outside of what is organised through state bodies e.g. An Taisce at Green Schools, Gardai, etc.) in general. However, there have been some ad hoc arrangements made to provide cycle training (in Galway it was provided in co-operation with the chamber of commerce) and I know some of the Dublin Cycling Campaign folk have UK cycling instructor qualifications.

if you were coaching people in any sense of the word in cycling and were doing it with the approval of Cycling Ireland its possible that you would be covered by us. I know if I have a group on the road and we are training under my guidance I am covered.

galwaycyclist

ciotog wrote: »

I believe this is a complex area and it would be down to Galwaycyclist or similar folk (as a UK qualified cycling instructor) to correct me: As I understand it there is no public liability insurance available to a cycling instructor in Ireland which means there isn't any cycling training like this available (outside of what is organised through state bodies e.g. An Taisce at Green Schools, Gardai, etc.) in general. However, there have been some ad hoc arrangements made to provide cycle training (in Galway it was provided in co-operation with the chamber of commerce) and I know some of the Dublin Cycling Campaign folk have UK cycling instructor qualifications.

Its less stark than that but still awkward. In the UK, naitional standard instructors can get Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance via the Cyclists' Touring Club for something like £100 a year.

In Ireland there is no equivalent scheme which leaves people going to the open market looking for quotes. Some of the figures being quoted to people are shocking. At this stage in the market, most people offering training will be doing it as a sideline - I am not aware of anyone on the island of Ireland who could actually survive off what they make. So things like prohibitive insurance costs make it difficult to get off the ground.