A PRIMER ON CYCLIST SAFETY WRITTEN BY PAUL HURDLOW (AVID CYCLIST AND PARTNER WITH DLA PIPER)

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Nathaniel Houston
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1 A PRIMER ON CYCLIST SAFETY WRITTEN BY PAUL HURDLOW (AVID CYCLIST AND PARTNER WITH DLA PIPER)

2 Have fun and ride safe. We at DLA Piper are so pleased to support Mamma Jamma s organizers and participants in their efforts to contribute to the fight against breast cancer, and we are fortunate that we can do so much for this cause while riding bicycles through the gorgeous Texas hill country. Many of our cyclists are experienced riders who are comfortable on their bikes while riding in a crowd over the gently rolling terrain, but many others are newer to cycling and may never have ridden their bicycles in a mass start charity ride before. We share with the organizers of the Mamma Jamma ride the priority goal that all our riders finish up safe and sound, with the rubber side down, as cyclists say. I ve been riding and racing actively for nearly a decade, and made my share of mistakes on the bike, learning my safety rules in the school of hard knocks on occasion. In the interest of keeping you upright and pedaling strong throughout the Mamma Jamma ride, I thought I d share some safety thoughts and basic bike skills with you. I hope these are helpful hints, and I join the Mamma Jamma organizers in thanking you and wishing you a safe and fun day on the Mamma Jamma Ride!

3 1. RIDE RELAXED I believe the most common cause of accidents in a charity ride is anxiety. There are lots of people rolling out at the start, and some may weave a bit as they try to clip into their pedals or get their bicycle moving; maybe we re not feeling very confident about our own skills as well. Our concerns about ourselves and fellow riders can make us anxious, which in turn can cause us to become rigid and tight on the bicycles, with clenched hands on the bars and tension in our arms and upper bodies. When we re tense, two things happen, neither of them good. First, we don t control our bicycles nearly as well, and second, if we happen to gently bump into someone there is no give in our Paul s Tip: At the start, before you start rolling, take several very deep breaths and consciously relax your upper body. Wiggle your fingers on the bars, shake your arms, and give yourself positive self-talk ( This will be fine I ll go slow and easy, taking my time. It s a long ride and there s no need to rush - I ll get started at my own pace ). If you happen to bump into someone, stay relaxed, keep pedaling and react gently. Repeat the deep breathing and finger/hand/upper body relaxing every so often during the early parts of the ride when you may be most nervous. encounter and we re more likely to lose our balance or be knocked over. You would be surprised at how the physics of a bicycle make it want to stay upright you can actually give or receive a pretty good bump without coming close to going down, if you just stay relaxed and calm (I know, easier said than done!). Racing cyclists actually practice bumping each other and touching their wheels to help them stay relaxed in race conditions. 01

4 2. LOOK UP THE ROAD When there are lots of cyclists around, the most natural temptation is to focus on the wheel in front of you. It s a good idea to know where that wheel is, but try to see it with your peripheral vision while looking further up the road. Looking up Paul s Tip: Eyes up the road, good posture, pay attention to what s 10 to 20 yards, or even further, in front of you. the road will keep your head up and improve your posture on the bike. You will see any issues arising ahead with plenty of time to react to them, and your improved posture will put you in a position for some gentle evasive maneuvers if that s what s required. If you re new to this, just like when you learned to drive a car, you will need to constantly remind yourself to bring your vision up and look up the road. 3. DON T OVERLAP WHEELS This may seem a bit contradictory to looking up the road, but with your peripheral vision, pay attention that your front wheel does not overlap the rear wheel of the cyclist in front of you. When this happens, you are a bit at the mercy of what that rider decides to do. Paul s Tip: Don t overlap your front wheel with the rear wheel of a cyclist in front of you. If that rider makes a sudden lateral move and his rear wheel sweeps your front wheel, you may go down. (Important note, however: you will not necessarily go down, so stay relaxed. If you stay relaxed and it s only a slight bump, you can remain upright by simply continuing to pedal, keeping good posture, and easing your bike away from wheel touch.) The only time it is safe to overlap wheels is when the cyclist in front of you is so penned in she cannot move across your wheel; this happens often in racing packs, but it is not advisable to ever overlap wheels on group rides. 02 A Primer on Cyclist Safety

5 4. BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY! This one s very important. There may be a place or two on the Mamma Jamma ride where you cross a road or highway after coming to a stop sign or at an intersection. Group ride heroes love to call back to the riders behind them CLEAR!! or CAR RIGHT! or some other communication about the conditions that cyclist is experiencing as he crosses the road. Ignore these communications!! This is a bad habit Paul s Tip: Don t be pressured by a pack mentality. Ignore helpful guidance from riders in front of you as you prepare to cross a road. Look for yourself, use your own judgment. Do not be at all hesitant to stop, put a foot down, and take a good long look at conditions before crossing. Take your time, and enjoy the ride. handed down from cyclist to cyclist, and it really should be stopped. Each cyclist must be responsible for her own safety as she crosses the road. I would never put my life (and that s what s at stake when you re crossing a highway) in the hands of someone else s judgment. If I m behind CLEAR! guy, the conditions he sees may be different than what I ll see when I come to the intersection. Plus, he doesn t know how fast I ride, my comfort crossing in front of cars that are a ways down the road, and he may not accurately judge the speed of any cars he does see. 03

6 5. CORNER VERY SLOWLY IF IT S WET You will not believe how slippery roads get when they re wet, especially after a new rain Paul s Tip: Slow, easy, with no following a dry period. The water raises up leaning in corners in the wet. the oil on the road and it can be slick as ice. Be particularly careful of road paint (white lines, etc.), as water on top of the paint also creates a very slick surface. The key is to avoid any rapid maneuvering on slick surfaces; so, corner very slowly, with your weight on your outside foot. Don t lean in the turn, slow down so that you can turn by turning the wheel of the bike and keep your weight centered over the bicycle (instead of leaning on the inside to turn, the way you would if it were dry). MISCELLANEOUS TIPS Wear cycling gloves if you do tip over, they will prevent a trivial mishap from creating a nasty scrape or burn that would be annoying and can take awhile to heal. Let s not let this happen, but if you do crash heavily, resist the urge to try to get up immediately. Lay still, breathe calmly, and slowly check yourself out if there is significant pain in your neck or back, stay still until help arrives. Broken collarbones are a fairly common injury if you have pain in the front of your shoulder or chest, avoid moving that arm. The Mamma Jamma ride is well supported and well attended wait for help, it will arrive quickly. Avoid sudden movements on the bicycle. With cyclists around you, it s important you try not to brake suddenly or swerve sharply to either side. 04 A Primer on Cyclist Safety

7 Please me with any questions: 05

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Group Riding Techniques

Group Riding Techniques Revised: 2017 01 26 A. Group Riding Terminology Thanks to the Ottawa Bicycle Club for allowing us to use content from their website! A.1 Groups and Packs A group is several cyclists