Archive for July, 2005

All clear

The Guardian reports that today’s bomb attacks were probably intended to kill, but that the bombers failed .

Thank God for that.

Add comment July 21st, 2005

10 tips for safe cycling

Four things have converged to spur me to write this post: I got on my bike after a long hiatus; Todd Storch urged me to be careful, during a discussion we had about motorists who abuse cyclists; Mike Little came a cropper on his bike . Finally, following the attacks in London a few weeks ago, with the resulting disruption on public transport, I hear there has been a surge in bike sales in London.

So I face a catch-22 with this post. I want to encourage others to cycle, but I want to talk about the risks involved. I don’t know if I am pitching my advice correctly, but the context for my advice is this: I love cycling. I have been a cyclist for as long as I can remember, commuting through central London for years and, for over a year, working as a bike messenger. It’s a great way to get around, it’s environmentally friendly, it’s healthy and fun and I have made great friends with other cyclists. I have also hit the deck half a dozen times. Thankfully, I have never had an accident involving a motor vehicle.

All the good stuff far outweighs the risk for me and I hope that it does for you too. Cycling can be dangerous. That doesn’t mean don’t ride. It does mean take care. Here are my ten tips for cycling safely (mainly for UK cyclists, but as international as I can make them):

  1. Wear a helmet . When people talk with me about cycling in London, they invariably ask do I wear a pollution mask. I always reply “No, but I wear a helmet, because that’s the bit of me that I is in most immediate danger.”

  2. Know the rules of the road and stick to them - but don’t rely on others to do the same. It’s no good saying “I had the right of way” when they are scraping you off the road and putting you in an ambulance. What I mean here is: don’t you be the one who causes an accident because you break the rules.

  3. Concentrate. It’s easy to drop your head when you are tired or you are having gear trouble. Don’t. You have to know what is going on around you. You can develop the concentration habit by keeping up a commentary in your head of what you see and your responses (left turn coming up… green Audi turning in front of me… no… he is giving way… lights are red… there’s a queue… I’m going up the left hand side… I’m watching for car doors… etc etc).

  4. Be a mind reader. You can’t see into the future, but you can develop good instincts. For example: big traffic jam? Then motorists will be impatient and erratic. They might U-turn or duck into a side road without signalling. If a bus stops, watch out for pedestrians stepping out from behind the bus and watch the other side of the road for peds running to catch it. Be aware of the time of day, too: if you pass a school, for example, is it “home time?”

  5. Look behind you. Look behind whenever you turn or change lanes and whenever you approach a junction or piece of traffic furniture, whether you intend to turn or not. This will literally save your life.

  6. Signal your intentions clearly. People give you more space if they know where you are going. If you can, identify the danger man or woman (the motorist who is on your shoulder, the pedestrian who is day dreaming) and make eye contact. Be ready to shout too (go for assertive, not rude), to make your intentions clear.

  7. Use bus lanes - but keep looking behind, however, for motorists who use bus lanes illegally. These guys will squeeze past you. It’s safest just to get to the kerb and let them go past. Bus drivers are generally patient because they know a stop is coming up anyway, but occasionally a bus driver will be an idiot. Avoid the centre of bus lanes, that’s where buses drop diesel fuel and it’s like riding on ice, especially in the wet.

  8. Use cycle lanes - but remember you are not obliged to use them. Many are designed more for the convenience of the motorist than the safety of the cyclist. If the cycle lane is tricky and dangerous, use the regular road instead, then rejoin the cycle lane when it is safe to do so.

  9. Speed is your friend. Counter intuitive, I know, but if you ride briskly, it is easier to keep your balance and you are less likely to annoy motorists. If you keep up with the traffic, instead of holding it up, motorists generally treat you with more respect and give you more room to manoeuvre.

  10. If necessary, drop your bike. Mike knew he wasn’t going to stop in time, so he put the bike on it’s side and slid to a stop. If you have the choice between laying the bike down and getting some gravel rash or going head first into a solid object, go with the gravel rash every time. Cuts and scrapes heal far faster than broken bones and internal injuries.

All of that deals with the business of staying safe in the face of everyday hazards. There is one final thing I want to share:

Never, ever get into a fight with a “bike-hater.” This is the motorists who is angry with you, or who is angry with his spouse/boss/kids/world and you are the nearest target. The warning signs are erratic or aggressive driving, rude hand gestures, verbal abuse. This is the person who deliberately blocks bicycle lanes, or who passes you with only a hair’s breadth between his wing mirror and your handlebars, then shouts abuse if you complain. Very rarely, it can escalate to objects being thrown at you, car doors being opened in your path, sometimes even to full on ramming. Don’t let it get that far.

The only way to tackle a bike-hater is not to tackle him at all. Simply get off the road to a place of safety as quickly as you can. If you feel threatened, get help. If that means walking up to the nearest building and ringing the bell, or walking into a shop to ask for help, do it. As soon as it is safe to do so, ring the police with your location and the car’s number plate.

You will want to fight back, your pride will be hurt, but never let that tempt you into escalating a confrontation. Let’s be clear about this: you might be in the right, but your antagonist has over a ton of metal at his disposal. When a cyclist mixes it up with a motorist, the cyclist will always lose. Just let the motorist go.

Like I said at the beginning, please don’t let any of this put you off. These tips are not to frighten you, but to help you have a safe and enjoyable time on your bike. Keep riding. Your confidence and fitness will improve quickly. Get together with other riders, informally, or through the London Cycling Campaign or the CTC or any other cycling club. Encourage others to get on their bikes, because the more of us who cycle, the safer it gets for everyone. And if you are in East London or Essex, look me up and we can go cycling together.

Above all, ride safely.

6 comments July 21st, 2005

SpeakersBank

The esteemable Dale Rees-Bevan asked recently if I wanted to become an associate with SpeakersBank . SpeakersBank is a social enterprise which provides public speaking training for those who would not normally have access to it. At the moment they are putting trainers into schools. To get a feel for how SpeakersBank works, Dale invited me to an inter school speaking competition last Thursday - all the children had done three workshops and this was the culmination of their efforts.

I particpated in a short workshop session with some of the regular trainers, then I was chief judge for the competition. Afterwards I handed out certificates of participation, made a short motivational speech (I talked about John Glen, the astronaut - a big analogy for the importance of preparation and rehearsal), then handed out the prizes.

The standard of the children who spoke (all in their teens) was really very good, and the SpeakersBank trainers were keen to tell me just how each child had improved. The boy who stood on stage with his head down reading from a piece of paper, for example, had refused to say anything at all at his first workshop, so to stand on the stage and speak in a competition was obviously a huge breakthrough. There was little to choose between the top five speakers, who all delivered intelligent, well structured speeches with confidence and enthusiasm.

I didn’t think that I would want to work with teenagers, but after this afternoon, all my misgivings melted away. I signed up for the associates’ induction day and one of the existing trainers asked me to work with her on a series of workshops at schools in Greenwich in January.

SpeakersBank often works with children whose home lives would make your hair stand on end, but the sessions clearly help them gain confidence in themselves. I am looking forward to getting involved.

If you have time and experience, of if your employer runs an employee volunteer scheme, get in touch with SpeakersBank and find out if they could use your help .

Add comment July 20th, 2005

Bike fixed; still working on the rider

Inspired by the efforts of Todd Storch and Mark Lloyd , I have been saying for weeks that I wanted to get my bike roadworthy again and cycle my way back to fitness. Then Le Tour started. Then my daughter turned two year’s old on 1 July. Then it really hit me: the last time I rode seriously was before Hannah was born, and my bike had been, to borrow a phrase, “rode hard and put away wet.” I finally got busy with the allen keys last week.

I did some long overdue cable replacement ( Black Snakes are great), serviced the hubs, tensioned and trued the wheels, and tuned up the brakes and gears. My six year old Klein Stage rides like new again. As with so many things, “little and often” would have precluded the need for such a big service, so I am determined not to let my bike get into that state again.

With the bike fixed, it’s time to work on the rider. I did my first ride - 12 miles - on Saturday, then got in 16 miles on Monday. The human body is an amazing thing, isn’t it? After only two rides, I am feeling those incremental changes which indicate that my fitness is improving. Today, I will be aiming for 20.

If you want to read a truly inspiring post about cycling, don’t waste any more time here; go straight to Mark’s post about his ride in this year’s Etape du Tour .

Coincidentally, Rosa Say’s July ho’ohana is “Here’s to good health” . If you are getting fit at the moment, then why not leave a comment or a trackback on Rosa’s blog? I find the knowledge that others are working on their health and fitness right now to be an extra incentive to stay the course. And my bum hurts, too .

3 comments July 20th, 2005

Server sorted

You may know this blog has been down for a while. Hopefully all the problems are now fixed and it will be smooth sailing from now on. My aplogies for the broken links this created over the last few days.

Add comment July 20th, 2005