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Tuesday, 1 November 2011

VPs Spin - Bunch etiquette and safety

Welcome to the myriad of new members to the club! It's great to see so many more people out riding and enjoying themselves. Which leads me on to a very important topic of discussion, safety.

Most people know I'm a stickler for safety on the bike and it's not without good reason, because I care about your safety as well as mine. As a coach and one of the more experienced riders I have a duty of care towards the new riders who may not know how to ride safely on a bike or the bunch etiquette so I'm going to put it all in writing. Feel free to ask questions in the comments or in person.

Communication - communication is important not just in the bunch but also to cars. Cyclists are notorious for being unpredictable. You need to let all other vehicles know what you are doing and give them good notice. So that might be pointing out that pot hole before you get to it, signalling a turn, calling out 'passing' or 'clear' at intersections. It might also mean yelling out 'slow down a little guys' if you start to drop off the back of the Sunday ride or 'flat' if you need to stop a flat tyre. It also includes passing that message up/down through the bunch, so if the guy at the back does yell out the person at the front who is 'driving' the ride knows what to do and the people at the back know or obstacles that are coming up.

Road rules - seems obvious doesn't it. How many of you ride through red lights? Ride more than 2 abreast? Ride in the lane instead of the bike lane? Do you even know what the rules relating to bikes are? Check them out here: www.bv.com.au/general/bikes-and-riding/10366/

Have a look at this short video. Seems overly harsh or a fair interpretation of the road rules? http://media.theage.com.au/news/national-news/timelapse-australias-busiest-bicycle-intersection-2674095.html

Bike handling - if you can't take one hand off the handlebars to signal I'd suggest coming out to practise on the criterium track before riding on the road. Ditto if you feel uncomfortable riding closely with other riders. Skills are things that can be improved and practised. As I tell the people who are learning to be CycleSkill coaches and AustCycle teachers they are the very foundation of what we do. They can be practised daily and they can be fun to do!

Friends of mine wrote these articles on bunch riding and cornering, while they are aimed at the beginner racer they are equally applicable to someone who just wants to do a coffee ride:
www.vikingscycling.org.au/resources/?IntCatId=28

I urge each and every rider who reads this to think when they're riding whether they're doing it in the safest way that they can. Yeah it would be great to be like a kid again and ride around like you don't have a care in the world and you're bulletproof but did you know the majority of cyclist fatalities in city/town areas are in fact boys in their early teens who do just that? Often they have no helmets, no lights and are wearing low visibility clothing but the fact is they just rode out in front of a vehicle weight 1.5 tonnes. I've witnessed cycling fatalities and I have friends who've had a car plough right through their bunch, please don't let that happen to you because you were behaving in a way you could have done something about. Furthermore I don't want to cop another rock or piece of fruit or bottle thrown at me because another cyclist did something they shouldn't.

Not convinced by my badly composed prose? Check these out:
http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2009/06/group-ride-etiquette/
http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2011/09/the-lost-art-of-the-group-ride-2/
http://thejennymckennafoundation.com.au/jenny.html

Stay safe and keep pedalling,
Tash.


Posted by Melton Cycling Club at 11:19 AM
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2 comments:

  1. Very good post, new to riding but have already had Easter eggs and an empty VB bottle hurled at me on Centenary Ave. Not due to anything I have done mind you, it's just the bad reputation cyclists have (or the idiots living in Melton, take your pick).
    From someone who was not riding just 3 weeks ago I will say that people need to be far more aware of cars behind them, too often I see cyclists taking up too much room on the road. It's all fine on quiet streets but in 60-80km zones it's time to wake up, this is the main gripe I have towards riders.

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  2. Great post Natasha, it reads well and spells out what to do and not to do. All the articles and video attached are good and get the point home. Perhaps we need something like this printed out and circulated to new members when they join.
    Your article certainly gave me an insight into the message you have been trying to send and the urgency with wich you have been communicating the safety message given the ramifications of poor cycling behavior.
    I for one will be more mindful of my own behavoir on rides so as to avoid collisions and try and set a better example.
    On another note the cycling lane on some of our areas roads are not swept by council and this makes it hazerdous for bikes to ride in (Punctures) so I have some empathy for riders who at time ride outside the bike lanes, still a puncture is fixable and a fatality is not.

    Phil M

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