Dance, don't quake.

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

'Tis a gift.

For those unclear of the concept.

Cycling Savvy USA

If you're a cyclist, how do you answer these questions?

• You're approaching a set of steel trolley car tracks that cross the street at an acute angle. How do you cross them on a bike? Is there more than one way?
• You're riding on a road that squeezes from two lanes down to one. You're in the right lane and traffic is passing on the left. How do you react when the lane merges? How do you react when the road goes BACK to two lanes?
• You are making a right hand turn, but within 1/4 of a mile, you need to make a left-hand turn. This may sound like a simple question, but it's got some complexities, like 3 thru lanes and two dedicated left-turn lanes. What will you do? How do you handle this?

These questions, conditions, and more are just a few of the issues that we've been learning how to handle at the Cycling Savvy Instructor's course this weekend in Orlando, FL. The focus is on practical approaches with common bicycle driving themes. And you have to remember - you ARE a driver. Cyclists MUST be responsible, and they MUST ride in a predictable way. I've been cycling seriously since 1993, but I really have only been bicycling like the driver of a vehicle since about 2007. The entire world of cycling and road riding changed for me in a few brief hours of lecture and experience. Traffic flowed around me or waited for me to complete my actions. I became a part of the entire flow. I began to choose routes that were actually MORE busy, yet less congested. Multi-lane roads went from becoming an obstacle to an option. Life changed. Life got EASIER.

Think about how you ride, where you ride, what you ride, and what determines the routes you choose. Think about lights, think about intersections, think about routes and lanes and timed lights and flow. And if you have ANY questions, seriously - don't jump to a berate of the system and demand change. Be the change you want to see - become the driver of a bicycle. Train your bike to follow your commands. Pedal where you want, and see the world in which you live open up. Come sign up for classes, or give us a call. We DO know better, and we DO want to help you, help yourself.

More later. And don't hesitate to post your questions in the comment sections, or send us a link of your favorite challenging piece of road via Google Maps or ridewithgps.com. We'll post our answers on CycleDallas, and maybe we can even video the perceived problem, and the solution, via helmetcam.

CycleDallas in Orlando? Sometimes you have to head East in order to better ride West!

Hey gang, we're here at CommuteOrlando.com's "CyclingSavvy" Instructors course, learning all the skills, drills, animations, applications, and descriptions to help any and every cyclist in the Dallas figure out how to navigate the roads of our great city. Because Dallas IS a great place to ride your bike!

The CSI course is an intensive, 3-day program, designed to go over all of the 'what-if's' you may have, and how a 'Savvy Cyclist' will drive their bike in that situation. We hosted a course in September, with Waco Moore (already a Cycling Savvy Instructor), and we'll be tripling our numbers after this weekend, when Coach Wharton and Eliott Landrum will be certified. So think of your toughest traffic cycling situations, think about all those perceived obstacles that may be preventing you from riding to more places, more frequently, for more reasons, and keep checking in here for our 2012 Savvy Cycling Schedule for Dallas. We're doing this to give Dallasites the opportunity to learn greater Confidence, Competence, and Communication in traffic. Stay tuned for a summary of this weekend's lessons, and we'll start a great conversation in the comments.

Thanks again, and we are really looking forward to helping you, help yourself, in the upcoming year!

-Richard Wharton & Elliott Landrum (in Orlando, FL).

This is the reality, not the expensive fantasy.

Reality of Delay - Preston Road at Rush Hour

You Are Here.

A paradigm map from Dan Gutierrez.

Reason breaks out in California.

The California version of the so-called "safe passing" 3-foot law, SB 910, did not pass. Here is right-wing Gov. Brown's rejection text:

To members of the California State Senate:

The intent of this bill is to improve bicycle safety, a goal I wholeheartedly support.

This bill changes the longstanding law for how motor vehicles should pass a bicycle travelling in the same direction. Current law requires drivers to pass at a safe distance; this Bill would specify that the distance must be at least 3 feet or at a speed not exceeding 15mph.

This bill offers some needed and clear improvements to the law such as specifying a minimum buffer of 3 feet. However, Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol have raised legitimate concerns about other provisions such as the 15mph requirement. On streets with speed limits of 35 or 40mph, slowing to 15pmph to pass a bicycle could cause rear end collisions. On other roads, a bicycle may travel at or near 15mph creating a long line of cars behind the cyclist.

I encourage the author, proponents, and opponents to send me a bill next year that solves these problems.

I am returning Senate Bill 910 without my signature.

Sincerely,

Edmund G. Brown Jr.

Oh wait. Gov. Brown is a liberal Democrat.

Now for some humor from the paradigm.

Professional Advocay in practice.

“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.” 

  -- Noam Chomsky

Advocacy: This is how you do it.

BWCF Works with UCF PD to keep Bike Bus rolling

Cyclist empowerment, not victimhood enabling.