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A Connecticut Cycling Club
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Rider Safety
Hi Folks, As summer draws to close and we prepare to bid adieu to what has been a truly great riding season let's all try to double our efforts towards the safety of ourselves and our fellow cyclists. This is the time of year when many of us are feeling our fittest and it's easy to forget how vulnerable we are out on the road. Please double your efforts to obey the traffic laws and ride safely. With each passing day we become less visible in the early evening hours. Please ride defensively for your own sake and for the sake of those important to you.
Fall has oddly been a time when we see an upsurge in new memberships. Please welcome new members and assist them with our club's goals and guidelines. Whether you are a newbie or a seasoned cyclist if you see behavior that is putting riders at risk please say something. If you are approached by others riders with constructive criticisms please respect their opinions. The cycling community is often described as a big family. Let's work together to keep our family members safe and out of harm's way.
As you head out on the road please keep the following in mind. EBCCers: - Share the road - Respect and obey all traffic laws - Stop at intersections - Respect right of way - Do not obstruct traffic by riding abreast - Use the shoulder when it is available - Never cross the center line into an oncoming lane - Put a foot down at intersections (track standing is for track racing) - Never 1/2 wheel - Leave Strava segments for solo rides
If you have any questions or concerns you can always approach your ride leaders. Stay safe out there and let's start looking forward to a some great autumn riding.
Pat Cunningham - EBCC President
Thanks for posting this, Pat. Here's a relevant article from NPR:
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/09/02/436662737/as-more-adults-pedal-their-biking-injuries-and-deaths-are-spiking-too?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150902
1/2 wheeling is when you ride with your front wheel overlapping the back wheel of the cyclist in front of you. Tom Wing pointed it out to me recently. I didn't even know it was dangerous!
It's more dangerous to the person doing it because when you rub your front wheel on another rider's rear wheel you are almost guaranteed to go down. The front rider will feel a small bump but that's about it.
Rule of thumb: If you are alongside another rider and your shoulder is behind their saddle they:
a) probably can't see you
b) own that space between you
If for any reason the forward rider moves laterally a wheel rub is likely and the aft rider will lose. The best case is it only causes a ripple effect and everyone stays up. The worst case is you go down and take riders behind you with you.
Always keep enough space for the rider in front of you to move over. Always assume that they cannot see you.
On the 1/2 wheel or overlap,as I call it, you also need to be aware that a rider in front of you that stands up sends his bike back approximately 1/2 a foot or more. So if you are not overlapped before, you could be the instant the person in front of you stands up.
Good point Jeff. "Bike throw" or "throw back" often occurs when rider rises out of the saddle, typically on a climb. The standing is usually accompanied by a hard pedal stroke and as you throw your weight forward the bike can kick back (consult Newton's laws on that one). One way to reduce bike throw is to accelerate while in the saddle and then rise more slowly out of it to make the standing a smoother transition.
But to Jeff's point, if you are right on someone's wheel on a climb, you better be ready for this to occur.
Just because i'm old and have little else to do.... Some of us more "mature" (that is "older") guys will remember a cycling writer named Maynard Hershon who wrote a column for a non defunct cycling magazine named "Winning". His column always appeared on the last page and was appropriately titled "At the Back". (Wayne can chime in here to confirm this.)
One of his more memorable columns was titled "Half Wheel Hell" in which he expounds upon the phenomenon of "half-wheeling". Half-wheeling occurs when two riders are riding side by side and one speeds up slightly, moving a half wheel ahead of his/her partner forcing the partner to accelerate just enough to pull back to even, whereupon rider #1 again moves a half wheel ahead forcing yet another "chase". This goes on repeatedly throughout what is supposed to be a casual, friendly ride to the point where all of the enjoyment of the ostensibly friendly ride is lost for rider #2. I dare say most of us have experienced this at some point in our cycling careers. Unlike overlapping wheels, it's non dangerous per se, simply annoying as hell.
Hershon published a couple of books - compilations of his columns - one of which was titled "Half Wheel Hell and Other Stories"; the other was "Tales from the Bike Shop". Both are excellent and, in my humble opinion, should be required reading for everyone who wants to wants to consider him/herself a cyclist. Aside from being both humorous and informative, they help teach some of the finer points of cycling etiquette.