Tips for beginner commuters

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 27 Apr 2006 09:33:40 GMT

dewatf said:

Scarier than riding along where there is no room to move while cars, whose
drivers seem to have little idea where the far side of their vehicle
actually is, fly past centimetres away and any misjudgement by either party
...?
That was what scared me.

As a motorcyclist, I'm used to it. Although usually it's me doing the
passing!

I remember when I first started riding a motorcycle. Hadn't ridden a
pushbike for some years,and when I did it was on wide roads and not
really much traffic, so getting on the motorcycle and having cars whiz
along by me with the road close, and not protected by a car, that was
scary.

The longer someone's been driving a car, the more scary it will be.

Things like bike buses and BUGs help, but how to get that across to
people? Most people won't really think about joining a club when to
them the bike is a commuter tool - you don't join a car club just cos
you drive your car to work! Bike buses are good, but rigid in timing,
and the ones in Sydney at least are way too damn early 🙂 I don't
need to be in the city by 8am, I need to be there by 9am!

Maybe a mailing list or web page run by BV and publicised via some
press releases and followup good time stories matching up people who
commute from a particular area at a particular time? "If you want to
try cycling to work, put in start and end postcode and the time you
want to get there and see who in your area you can ride with." A
couple of stories in the lifestyle section about someone who found
riding friends so had a pleasant social ride in, and got fitter, would
probably get some attention.

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone said:

The longer someone's been driving a car, the more scary it will be.

Once you start doing something, and you don't get hit people will get used
to it and it seems perfectly natural. We are evolved to figure out what
short term risks to take, not long term statistical risk assessment, so
don't make rational decisions.

Quoted message said:

Things like bike buses and BUGs help, but how to get that across to
people? Most people won't really think about joining a club when to
them the bike is a commuter tool - you don't join a car club just cos
you drive your car to work! Bike buses are good, but rigid in timing,
and the ones in Sydney at least are way too damn early 🙂 I don't
need to be in the city by 8am, I need to be there by 9am!

Maybe a mailing list or web page run by BV and publicised via some
press releases and followup good time stories matching up people who
commute from a particular area at a particular time? "If you want to
try cycling to work, put in start and end postcode and the time you
want to get there and see who in your area you can ride with." A
couple of stories in the lifestyle section about someone who found
riding friends so had a pleasant social ride in, and got fitter, would
probably get some attention.

All done by my local BUG, for that region. They also donate a lot of time
to run rides on the weekends to get people in, demonstrate routes and to
try and improve peoples cycling skills and fitness.

It is to varying degress of success, however. People who ride on cycleways
and quiet streets often have no traffic skills, nor see the need for them
especially when in a group of cyclists.

For the commuting thing they find that these days people tend to travelling
to different locations, at different times and with varying degrees of what
sort route (hills, traffic, speed) etc. they would like. One of the good
things about riding a bicycle over public transport is the indivual
freedom.

dewatf.