Adrian Trenholm

1 Oct London bloggers’ bike ride with Jason Womack

GTD coach and Triathlon superstar, Jason Womack , is coming to London at the end of September / start of October. We are planning a bike ride for Saturday 1 October. Riders so far are Jason; polar explorer, Ben Saunders ; IP lawyer and L’etape veteran, Mark Lloyd , and me.

We still need to beg, borrow, rent or steal a bike for Jason, and plan our route. I will post more details as I have them.

Three questions:

1. Do you want to come on the ride?

2. Can Jason borrow your spare bike? Jason measures 5′4″ and rides a frame of between 48 and 50 cm. If you take it to Hyde Park (Jason’s hotel is there) on the 1 October, that’s great, otherwise, comment here and I will work out a way to collect the bike.

3. In case no-one can offer a spare, can you recommend a bike rental place?

Sign up for the ride and offer your steeds and rental suggestions in the comments. Thank you.

2 comments August 30th, 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.

4 comments July 21st, 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

Good luck, Todd Storch!

Todd Storch , of the Business Thoughts blog, is riding this weekend in the FedEx Kinko MS 150 , a two day cycle tour through North Texas and Southern Oklahoma, in aid of those living with multiple sclerosis. He stands to raise over $3,000 for a very worthy cause, so why don’t you nip over to this post and say good luck? And you can even sponsor him .

Of course, you may be thinking: what’s in it for me? If you are, Todd would approve - WIFM features in Todd’s regular Word of the Week slot on his blog. In fact, Word of the Week is just one of the many good things that’s “in it for you” if you visit Business Thoughts. For example, check out:

1. The future of podcasting: Todd’s a radio guy , but he embraces change. When Todd decided he wanted to know more about podcasting, he asked groundbreaking podcasters to share their knowledge with all of us, via his Future of podcasting series. Whether you want to understand the business impact of broadcasting on the long tail , or you need technical tips to record your own podcast, Todd and friends have created an invaluable resource.

2. People you need to meet: When Tom Peters said “you are your Rolodex,” he wasn’t kidding. Today, bloggers might say “you are your blogroll.” Todd reads widely and, in the People you need to meet category, he takes time to introduce us in depth to some fascinating friends and family - business people , music people and people

3. What if? From creative thinking - What if you still saw the world through children’s eyes? - to business continuity planning - What if your best employee quit today? - Todd’s What if? s will give your grey cells a thorough workout.

Todd is generous with his thoughts and with his deeds and he has his eye on the future - but not in some impractical, sci-fi kind of way. With Todd, you learn what’s coming up and what you can do today to get ahead of the game. My advice? Add Business Thoughts to your RSS reader now .

And wish Todd luck for Saturday .

3 comments May 11th, 2005