Bike Control Drills - Bike Ed Road I Course

Scenes from Bike Ed Road I Bike Control skill drills training of Orange County Wheelmen by League of American Bicyclist Certified Instructors in Irvine, CA, on February 16th, 2008

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Bike
• Ed
• Road
• Instant
• Turn
• Quick
• Stop
• Rock
• Dodge

[brucewayne909]

hopefully someone is training the wheelmen to not run reds lights. about 5 years ago ( late 2004 ) I was cycling solo down to mission viejo from santa ana / tustin & was passed by a large group of OC wheelmen & I decided to try & keep up with them & only one problem with that is that they do not stop at red lights at busy intersections no less ( the old pack mentality ( or lack of mentality ) I guess & the main reason that I ride alone ) unlike some people I obey that traffic laws

[CyclistLorax]

@brucewayne909 - The board of the OCW (I know a board member) is in the process of adopting a pledge for members to take that would have them agree to follow traffic rules and teach and encourage others to do so. Sadly, many cyclists (not you) are hypocrites who get mad when motorists violate traffic rules, yet flagrantly violate the same rules when they bicycle.

[lgalicki]

Hello! Nice work! I was wondering how would the figure-8 be done if the student was riding a recumbent bike. I've got a compact long wheel base recumbent and the figure-8 is not possible due to its distance between wheels. Even so, I can ride it safely in the streets.

Regards!

[CyclistLorax]

Sorry I didn't respond sooner; I missed this comment. The point of the exercise is to teach students how tightly they can turn on their own bicycle. For upright bikes, good bike handlers should be able to do a figure-8 in a parking stall. For LWB bikes, such as many recumbent types, the tightest circle will naturally be larger.

[mokuzumi]

Also it seems to me you only need one LCI for the combined signaling/scanning drill, the one who gives the arm signal. Is there a particular need for 2 LCI's to administer the drill?

[CyclistLorax]

I think you need two at a minimum. It is too much of a burden to expect one LCI to signal and watch the reply from the student, since he must also change his signals at random for the next student. I suppose one instructor could dod this, but the time between students would have to be increased, and the single instructor also has to signal and carefully watch the student's line of travel. IMHO, this is too much for one LCI to do...

[cyclenut]

I think I have good cycling skills, with over 25,000 miles.. but I would like to take this class. To me the two most important cycling skills, looking back while traveling straight and the panic stop, from 30 mph.

I have had to use that one more than several times. I also live riding in walking groups of people. People brushing against my handlebars and all while riding steady at 2.5 mph.

[mokuzumi]

Thanks Dan, I'm glad to know that. I think all of what you've described is an improvement on the drills that LAB has published. In the last class I helped teach, I had a student who expressed she really didn't like being yelled at during the exercise, found it stressful. Your method is less stressful for all, including the LCI's vocal cords. :) What instruction do you give as you introduce the Serpentine drill?

[CyclistLorax]

Regarding the timing for the head-turn rear scan, we told the students to look when they passed the pole, and had Serge (the LCI in the peach colored shirt) signal to one side or the other before the students reach the pole. They then have to copy his signal, so that I (at the far end of the parking lot) can see that they both saw Serge, and can make a good arm signal. There is no yelling involved...

[CyclistLorax]

Margaret,

We have the students start-ride a straight-line and stop as the first drill (not shown in this YouTube video), then we do the head-turn rear scan combined with signaling drill. Next is tight circles, with the figure-8 as an optional challenge for those that can turn really thightly, then we do serpentine to tech the students how to lean. So I view all of these maneuvers as "basic bike control" maneuvers.

- Dan -