ego.istic.org

Brett Nolan over on something, maybe has recently posted a list of ten tips; rather, a list of ten things it took him a few weeks to learn. I thought I'd expand on this list somewhat. I follow his convention of numbering them in reverse order. (Note that my numbers are not consecutive, because I don't talk about all of his tips.)

10. It is going to rain

We all know what the local climate is like. If you live in Britain, you know there is a reason the stereotypical City clerk always carries an umbrella. Buy a lightweight waterproof jacket and trousers. Learn before you need to use them how to arrange the trousers to not leave a gap at the ankle, as the ankles get hit with all the road spray. From March to May you should never leave home without them. In the Summer, check the weather forecast, but also trust your instincts. In the Winter, either use a thicker coat, or wear something under your lightweight one. If you are prepared, rain won't mean a thing to you.

I think mudguards are a bit wussy, really, but if you don't have them you will end up walking round with a brown or yellow stripe up your back any time the road is wet.

At a previous job, I worked with someone who commuted by car for about an hour each way. Occasionally I'd be caught there without a coat, facing the prospect of a damp ride home. He would taunt me gently about this, whereupon I'd remind him that I could get home, have a hot shower, and change clothes even before his car heater had warmed up.

8. You have brakes.

I can't say anything more useful on the topic of stopping with your feet than the late Sheldon Brown does:

If you put you foot down while the bike is still moving along, here's what happens: You're already slowing down with the brakes, and the brakes are slowing the entire bike/rider unit. If you put a foot down and transfer your weight to it, the brake then only needs to slow the bicycle, which is much lighter than you. The amount of braking force that was slowing the bike and rider at a controllable rate will be sufficient to bring the bicycle alone to an abrupt halt. Meanwhile, your body's momentum keeps you in motion, until you whack a delicate part of your body on the handlebar stem of your suddenly stopped bicycle...ouch!

7. Pass parked cars safely

Cars park at the side of the road, especially outside terraces designed before widespread private car ownership so lacking off-road parking. In the US it's common for zoning regulations to specify a minimum number of garages (usually 2 or 3) new houses must have, to discourage on-road parking. Here, even where there are garages and driveways it's all too common for residents to selfishly use the road as an extension of their property, obstructing it for everyone by habitually parking on the road.

This means that you will often need to pass parked cars.

• Never pass closer than the width of a car door, unless you know by observation that there is nobody in it.

• When cycle lanes run alongside car parking spaces it may be necessary to leave the lane completely to pass far enough.

• Usually, if there are intermittent parked cars, it's better to stay in the middle of the lane, rather than weaving in and out.

• Ensure that any road users behind you, or (on narrow roads) coming the other way, know you intend to pass it. If you're not convinced they have seen the obstruction (if it is something smaller than a car, or at night, you may be blocking their view of it), or if they might think you don't intend to pull out to pass it, clearly signal right.

• Pull out about a car length, or more on faster roads, before the car, to make sure that motorists behind don't try to overtake when they don't have enough room to do so: motorists are on the whole really poor at calculating how much distance they cover while overtaking a bike.

• Be prepared for drivers of parked cars to pull out in front of you without looking or signalling: I've even had a police car do this to me once. With experience, you learn to look at drivers' faces in their wing mirrors, to tell whether they have seen you or not.

5. Assume motorists are trying to kill you

Every so often you have an off day. Maybe you're preoccupied, or you haven't really woken up yet, or you're in a hurry and going slightly faster than is safe. I'll let you into a secret: everyone else does this as well. And when you're on the road, sometimes it seems like they're all doing it at the same time. Pedestrians will cross without looking, cyclists will pull out without looking, so if you take it for granted that everyone else always follows the rules of the road, you'll hit them. Motorists do this as well, but with an added bonus: they will kill you. You can often hit another cyclist with no injury or damage done, but multi-ton lumps of steel moving at 30mph or more will squish you into a paste.

Now, don't get me wrong. Accident statistics clearly show you're safer on a bike than on foot, but you're safer yet if you accept that motorists are trying to kill you, and work out how they're going to do it. The most popular one is the overtake-and-turn-left manoeuvre. Motorists forget that they have to slow down to turn, so they will often overtake a cyclist, think the cyclist is now long behind them, and then be surprised when they slow down to turn and realise that they haven't actually finished overtaking the cyclist yet. This is OK. It's only a problem when they don't realise they haven't finished overtaking the cyclist yet.

So, every time you pass a side road, think carefully about the cars to your right. Do any of them look like they might want to turn here? Be aware of the possibility, and you'll be better able to take evasive action when it happens.

If you're passing a line of cars on the inside (in a cycle lane, I hope) on the approach to a junction, remember that any of them might decide to turn left at that junction. This is just me, but I won't pass moving cars on the inside at all, even if there is an adequate cycle lane. Stationary queues, yes; moving lines, no. Even in stationary queues, moderate your speed, and keep your eyes open for people trying to cross the road between the cars, or for other cars being let out or turning right across the queue.

Motorists turning right often forget that they should give way to oncoming cyclists, too, so keep your eyes open, again, regardless of whether the car is signalling.

4. Look back in anger

If you want to start cycling, and you can't look all the way over your shoulder without wobbling all over the place, go to a park, or somewhere else you're unlikely to hurt yourself or anyone else, and practice until you can. Then do it, all the time. Motorists, cocooned in their cages of steel and Triplex, forget how noisy their infernal machines are, but once you're liberated, you too will be able to tell by listening how many vehicles are behind you, how large they are, how fast they're going, whether they're slowing down for a turn, and most crucially, how far from you they are. But relying on just one sense is living on the edge somewhat, and it'll take you a year or two of cycling on the roads to hone your senses, so you still need to look behind you all the time.

• Every ten or twenty seconds, make a quick check.
• If a car sounds like it's approaching too fast or too close, check whether you will need to throw yourself off the carriageway.
• If a parked car or a car at a side road looks like it might pull out in front of you, or if a pedestrian might cross the road without looking, check whether it is safe for you to swerve if necessary.
• When you want to overtake or turn right, or leave a cycle lane, or even stop, check to see whether anyone's overtaking you, or if another cyclist is close behind you. Mirror—signal—manoeuvre applies just as much to cyclists as pedestrians.
• When you're stopped at traffic lights, check to see how long the queue behind you is.

On a bike, you have much more information about the state of the road than motorists. Unless you're on a low-down road bike or a recumbent, you can see over the tops of most cars. Without the squishy suspension of a car, you know exactly what the tarmac is like and how slippery it is. As I mentioned, you can hear everything. Having this information in your head makes it much easier to decide what you need to do should an emergency arise, so keep it topped up.

3. Go alone

Sorry to disagree with Mr. Nolan on this point, but IME other people always ride too fast or too slow, or they fail to take cut-throughs that you think are more than wide enough, or they get off and walk at junctions that you are confident of your ability to navigate safely by bike, or they zip alongside queues of cars that you don't think there is really enough room to pass safely.

Yes, your cycling buddy will make you look at riding differently. This is a good thing. You'll also both annoy each other considerably. This can strain even (perhaps especially) the closest friendship.

2. Take and keep the moral high ground.

Some motorists have an attitude that treats cyclists as invaders on their roads. “Cyclists are uninsured,” they trumpet. Well, yes. That's because, out of the more than 30,000 people killed or seriously injured (KSI) on the roads a year, no more than two of those will have been in an accident where a cyclist was at fault. Third-party liability insurance is only for people who cause liabilities. You're more likely to be killed by lightning than by a cyclist.

“Cyclists don't pay road tax,” they go on to say. This is just untrue. Cyclists pay the same vehicle excise duty (to give it its proper name) as any other band A low-emissions vehicle: zero. If your vehicle attracts more VED than this, it's because it is too big and too polluting.

Our roads have been around a lot longer than motor-cars. It is they who are the invaders, and next time someone accuses you of slowing down the traffic, or of being unworthy to use “their” road, be sure to remember that. If you're on a narrow road, and motor vehicles are stacking up behind you, it's not your fault for being too slow: it's their fault for being too wide. Be considerate to other road users, but don't feel obliged to stop using the road, or to do anything dangerous, for their benefit. Don't ride in the gutter when the road is narrow: if it's not safe for cars to pass, make sure they don't try, by taking lane-central position. Don't forget that you have more to lose, so you're the one who gets to decide when it's safe.

That said, you can only keep the high ground by behaving properly. It may be silly for that road near you to be one-way when there is more than enough room for a contraflow cycle lane, but don't take the law into your own hands in this way. You can only expect courtesy when you also give it.

1. Just do it

Cycling advice, by its nature, focuses on the negative aspects: the dangerous occurrences, the aches and pains before you get used to the physical exertion, the arriving at your destination sweaty or soaked because you've misjudged the weather.

But there are nicer aspects. Cycling is much more civilised than driving: it's friendly, and fun. I've met people on my way to work by bike and arranged to meet them for lunch, while stopped at traffic lights. It gets you some fresh air in the morning on your way to work, and gets you exercise at the same time. You can hear the birds singing, and can see the sky—not the tiny strip at the top of the windscreen, but the whole, fen-wide sky from horizon to zenith. You can avoid congestion, and avoid causing congestion. There's a great tolerance among cyclists for variations in cruising speed, so one day you can tear up the road, and the next gently amble, and no one will call you a Sunday driver.

Sure, there are some inconveniences: I've mentioned them above. But I've also mentioned the ways you can minimise these inconveniences. Cycling might be great fun when you're a beginner, but as you gain experience in avoiding problems, and get fitter and able to go further and faster without tiring yourself out, it just keeps getting better.