Recently I've witnessed several close calls with bikes in traffic, mostly related to bikes not going fast enough and people trying to get around them in their vehicles. It frustrates me and scares me.
I have a beautiful bike that I love, but it has sat in my basement for almost the entire time I've been in Edmonton because the drivers here scare me (as a driver myself sometimes the cyclist's scare me too). The roads are not bike friendly, yet it is against the law to ride on the sidewalks. To me it almost seems like a battle between rider and driver.
Today on twitter I saw Michael Janz pass along a link for the Canadian Cycling Association CanBike 2 Course being held in Edmonton in September. CanBike 2 is an 18 hour, on-road cycling course that covers both theory of on-road cycling and practical riding techniques. Worth the time for anyone who commutes to work by bike. Click on the link for more info or to register. And stay safe out there.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Biking in Edmonton?
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2 comments:
Great post. I hope people take advantage of the course, but I feel like the people that really need it wont be the ones in the class.
I'm definitely afraid of going on the road with my bike, I try to avoid most of the traffic and get on a bike trail as soon as possible.
Gone are my biking days. Now I just try to avoid actually taking anyone out with my car, particularly the kamakaze types who feel they can totally ignore the rules of the road.
The other day, I was travelling down a through road when I saw a couple of bikers coming from my right. They totally ignored the stop sign as they did a fast left turn to cross the street they had just come down (riding illegally in the crosswalk), did another fast right, and jumped off their bikes to turn into pedestrians. By that time, I was already at the pedestrian crossing so I kept going. They were annoyed, obviously thinking I should have come up all standing to reward them for their virtue (never mind the chance of getting hit from behind because of my unexpected manoevre). With that attitude being shown to them, it's no wonder some motorists are less than polite. I'm more into avoidance, m'self.
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