Cycle Confidence training

[wildeabandon]

This afternoon I had a session of cycling confidence training, with a nice chap called Rogan. When I booked it said there could be up to three students, but it turned out to be just me. We met in Lordship park, and started off with a conversation about what I was hoping to get out of the session, then did some exercises in the park - checking that I was able to signal and look behind without falling off the bike.

Then we went to some quiet residential streets nearby and did some more exercises - stopping and starting, turning corners both left and right and from main streets onto side streets and vice versa, a u-turn, and using a roundabout. These are all things that I've been doing already, but we talked quite a lot about where to be on the road, and when to signal, and when to look behind, and things like that. One of the main takeaways that I got is that I should be looking behind quite a lot more, which I must admit I'm still not super comfortable doing - I have a tendency to wobble a bit.

After that we went back to the park and practiced staying stable whilst moving very slowly, and turning tight corners, and he suggested that I spend some more time practicing these things in a park by myself.

I'd been getting more confident anyway, just by cycling more on increasingly familiar routes over the last couple of weeks, but this session was definitely still helpful - if nothing else it was a good reminder that I'm allowed to take up the lane if I need to.

I get a second lesson, which will probably be some time in January, and he's suggested that for that we plan a longer route with some tricky bits. He initially suggested my commute, but as that's from bed to computer these days I need to think of something else.

Comments

[lovingboth]

With a bit of practice, frequently looking behind with a quick glance becomes second nature. If you're not comfortable with it, look at getting a mirror - they either fit in the end of the handbars or onastick.

You are absolutely allowed to go in the middle of the lane - you are traffic!

One of the biggest issues for beginners is hugging the pavement. This means a) you might occasionally hit it, especially with a pedal, and fall off; b) you don't have as many options if there's something you need to avoid (and there will probably be more of that); and c) cars go past you rather than around you.

[juliet]

hugging the kerb also = more likely to pick up a puncture, because gutters are grubby and full of crap, sometimes pointy/glass-ish crap.

Glad the session was helpful!

[atreic]

I used to love the KX down to Waterloo run, it was my commute and most of it was in quite wide bus lanes, but it was crazy busy and ended with the glorious cycle over Waterloo bridge.

I never do it any more as they’ve opened Cycleway 6, which is much much safer and lovelier but misses some of the old drama. If you needed to pick a useful longer route with some tricky bits but that wasn’t completely death it might be an interesting one?

[atreic]

(That was a recommendation for cycleway 6, not the original death route, in case it wasn’t clear! 😂)

[ludy]

Yay! for genuinely useful continuing education/support. Wishing you much happy and safe cycling.

[damerell]

Some people swear by mirrors, although I never found one I got on with.