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Looking back — and trying not to swerve

06.14.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

We were on the way back from our club ride this morning (just two of us were in the B group today) when talk turned to the difficulty of checking over your shoulder for traffic.

The discussion was prompted by what I consider the toughest left turn on all of our routes. Traveling northbound on a busy two-lane road, the bike lane runs out. Now, we have to ride the right edge of the road, and hope there’s enough room for cars to get by us. Several blocks before we would hit a stoplight, we make a left turn into a nice subdivision that lets us avoid the busy intersection. It’s this left turn that can be a problem, because the cars are passing us as a steady rate.

We got to the turn. I was still at the right edge of the road. Oncoming traffic was heavy. My riding companion, Bob, was behind me. He called out, “OK!” I glanced over my shoulder and saw that he had already taken the lane. I moved into it, and got as close to the center line as possible as cars zoomed by, now on my right. When a small gap opened in the oncoming traffic, we could make our turns.

Safely in the residential subdivision, we rode slowly. Bob said, “I always have a problem looking back. Your bike goes the direction you look, and I don’t want to swerve into traffic — not on that road.”

We compared notes on how we look back. He’s comfortable with lowering his head and peering back past his left shoulder. I like to do it in two moves — I’ll look left about halfway, then forward again, then complete the look over my shoulder. I find it’s easier for me to get a glimpse of what’s behind if I do it that way.

The key is to avoid swerving the bike. Last year, when I took the Road I biking class, we spent some time practicing that very move (“scanning,” they called it). If you do it often enough, you can keep from pulling your bike left. But we get lazy from time to time, and fall back into bad habits.

We went through a high school parking lot, and approached a busy four-lane east-west road. Normally, the club riders will form a “bus,” riding two-by-two in the right lane, three to four deep. By taking up the same amount of space as a car (or bus), we force motorists to use the left lane to go around us. They’re also less inclined to shout at you when you’re in a big group. But with just two, Bob suggested we ride the sidewalk. That was fine with me. I’ve done that here before, too.

We had gone perhaps a half mile, and another major intersection was coming up. I was about to ask Bob if he wanted to stay on the sidewalk after the intersection, or ride in the road again. I looked over my shoulder, and saw that he was too far back to hear me. Sure enough, my bike swerved — right off the sidewalk and into the narrow strip of grass between it and the road. To my surprise, the grass didn’t cause the bike to tip over. I kept it going straight for a short way, then eased it right to climb back on the sidewalk.

The tire hit the edge of the walk, which protruded about an inch above the grass. It got caught on the edge — and now I went down.

I haven’t fallen from my bike on the sidewalk since I was in grade school, and the lower grades at that. All I could think of was, “Oh no! Not in these shorts!” I was wearing my expensive Sugoi shorts, which I’ve had for only a few months.

No tear in the shorts. Not even any road rash. Bike was okay, too. But it’s obvious to me that on my short rides this coming week, I’ll be practicing my scanning, keeping my bike straight, and I’ll be doing it on something wider than a sidewalk.

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Categories // crash, Safety, Technique Tags // crash, Safety, Technique

Stop signs

05.12.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 10 Comments

stop_signI think we can all agree that it’s bad to run stop lights. I will always stop for a light, and will sit at an intersection waiting for it to change even if there is no cross traffic. For one thing, that’s a good opportunity for me to grab a drink from my water bottle without fumbling around while I’m on the move.

Stop signs, however, are another matter. I will stop for a stop sign, too — under certain conditions. For instance, if it’s by a school, and there’s a crossing guard (not much choice there). Or if I see that there are cars in the intersection. Then I’ll take my turn and stop, too.

When I took the League of American Bicyclists Road 1 course (which is now called Traffic Skills 101), the instructors were adamant about stopping at signs. You had to come out of your seat and put your foot on the ground for it to count as a full stop. In fact, on our check-out ride downtown, I got zinged because I failed to put my foot down at one stop sign, even though there was no other traffic in the intersection.

But 90 percent of the time, I’ll treat a stop sign as a yield sign. I’ll slow, check the intersection for any traffic, and once I’m satisfied there’s no one there, I’ll go. Sometimes, I’ll slow almost to a track stand. Mostly, I’ll shift down a couple of gears and brake to walking speed. But I don’t stop.

There’s legal precedence for bikes to roll through stop signs. Idaho has had a law on the books since 1982 that allows bikes to treat stop signs as yield signs. Montana is considering such a law, and so is Oregon. That doesn’t mean bikers can just run the sign — they have to slow and check traffic conditions first, which is exactly what I see most bikers do anyway.

The tricky part is when cars and bikes do meet at signed intersections. Just the other day, I was returning home from my club ride, and came to a signed intersection two blocks from my house. A car was approaching on my left, and slowing to stop for the sign. I braked, because it was a four-way stop. The car reached the intersection first, which would give it the right of way to proceed first from the sign. But it came to a dead stop, waiting for me to go through the intersection first. Well, that’s very polite and all, but it actually put me in a bit of a jam. I was almost, but not completely, stopped for the sign, and every second she waited made me practice my track stand skills a little longer. Finally, she signaled that I should go first. I shrugged my shoulders to let her see that I was fine with her going first, but then I crossed in front of her.

If she had just followed the rules of the road, she would have stopped first and gone ahead first. I would have just about stopped, but given her the right of way to go first, and still had enough momentum that I wouldn’t be concerned about falling over. It’s that kind of thing that can cause car-bike accidents.

It’s at that same intersection that I have often seen cars blow right through the sign without even pretending to slow for a stop. A former resident of that corner used to chase after cars and yell at them when she saw them do that, but she has since moved away. I’m not saying that because cars do it, we should too — but it appears to be a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black whenever motorists complain about bikes not stopping at signs.

Your thoughts?

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Categories // Safety Tags // stop sign

Skid lids redux

04.01.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

To add to yesterday’s discussion of helmets, I’ll expand on the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute’s notion that a good bike helmet should be “smooth, hard, round, and slick.” The Institute says no one makes the ideal helmet, but one company that you never heard of — Hopus — makes some hard shell models that come close to what the Institute has in mind.

The reason you’ve never heard of Hopus is that it’s a Taiwanese company, and its helmets retail under different brand names.  However, they do have a web site, and you can look up what’s available in biking helmets.

Here’s one example.  It’s the Hopus A-8.

 

The Hopus A-8 from side, top, and back.
The Hopus A-8 from side, top, and back.

Hard shell, rounded, probably safe, definitely dorky.

So far, I’m happy with my modestly-priced lid.  I’ll keep it around until I absolutely must go out and get something with more “wow” quotient.  As long as my helmet meets CPSC standards, I’m content that it will do its job to the best of its ability.

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Categories // Accessories, Safety Tags // helmets

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