Login / Register2 things. Yesterday an old man called me over, i thought i knew him and gave him a big hug. Then too slowly it dawned on me i didnt know him at all.
VACC Streetwise Course breeds confident road cyclists
The separated bike lanes are great, but at some point, you'll probably have to ride on the road.
Stephen Hui
I bought a bike off of Craigslist a few weeks ago. It's a red, vintage Apollo Capri five-speed cruiser, and I have named her Sheila. While I had bicycled since I was a kid, I had never really biked on the road and the thought of doing it sort of made me nervous. It was just my luck when a fellow Georgia Straight writer and avid all-weather road cyclist directed me towards the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition website and their Streetwise Course. Since I was planning on riding to work this summer, I decided that getting comfortable on the road and learning all of the rules was probably worth $45 and four hours of my time.
The Streetwise Course is currently held on most weekends. They move to different locations all around Vancouver, North Vancouver, and Richmond, so I went this Saturday to their course offered downtown. There were five of us taking the course (a smaller number most likely due to the morning rain) and one instructor. We started off with the classroom component, looking at slides of different road scenarios and learning how to deal with each of them, including four-way stops, changing lanes, and tricky left-hand turns in busy intersections. Then, we learned about what to look for when inspecting our bikes before a ride, and how to temporarily fix things, like a hole in a tire.
About an hour and a half into the course, we started on the road component, and biked down to the Coal Harbour Community Centre to practice some skills, like signaling, shoulder checking, and dodging rocks. Then, we embarked on our near-two-hour ride, meandering through the West End, going over the Burrard Street Bridge, weaving down to Granville Island, and taking the bike lane back to our downtown location. Our instructor let each of us take turns leading the pack, and by the end, I was surprised by how comfortable I felt biking on the road.
Later on when I rode my bike home, I felt so much more confident cycling on the road. I was able to use all of the skills I had learned, like signaling and shoulder checking, and felt like I could handle most road situations. I would definitely recommend this course to anyone wanting to learn how to ride on the road, or for those who just want to brush up on their cycling skills. There are still two more courses offered in May—just in time for Bike to Work week.
Visit the VACC website for more details and to register for a Streetwise Course.
You can follow Michelle da Silva on Twitter at twitter.com/michdas.
I have an idea, every time you're about to post something idiotic, remove your head from you know where and bite your tongue. That taste is how your comments always read. You are the lowest form of troll, posting nothing of worth.
Everyone pays taxes of one form or another. That you worship the dead church of the automobile does not make you special or give your asinine ideas credence.
ken e.
So who's subsidizing whom?
And licensing cyclists? Its a solution in search of a problem.
Education for cyclists and motorists is a great idea.
Downtown Vancouver would have plenty of room for bike lanes if they would just get rid of on-street parking. Streets should be for moving people, not for private auto storage.
Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute has published a research paper which contradicts the common view that cyclists do not pay their way since motorists pay gasoline tax but cyclists don't. See:
http://www.vtpi.org/whoserd.pdf
Also, the BC provincial government did a study which showed that automobile travel in the Lower Mainland was subsidized by $6.6 billion per year. See:
http://bc.transport2000.ca/learning/background/transport_2021/cost_repor...
So who is is that is not paying their way?
Think of it like cooking, we've invented the food processor and it's a great thing when you have to chop lots of vegetables but if all you want is to chop a single carrot into three pieces then it's a lot of overhead and cleanup when you could just grab a knife and make two cuts. Same thing with getting around. If you're going one block to the corner store, walking makes sense, if you're going five blocks, skateboarding makes sense, if you're going 3 km, then biking makes sense, if you're going 10 km then the Skytrain makes sense and if you're going across the province, then driving a car makes sense and if you're going across the continent then flying (or high speed rail if you are lucky to have it) makes sense. All these modes aren't in competition. They all have the same motive.
I predict that in a few years the idea that cars and bikes are somehow enemies will be laughed at. They'll be considered to be in the same category of things.
I guess enforcement of laws might be something but if the infrastructure is what is forcing people to do unsafe, dangerous or inconsiderate things just to get around then it's the infrastructure that needs improving. Forcing people into outlaw status (which is what our inadequate infrastructure has been doing) is no way to go. We've seen that with any minority. When not included they have no incentive to be part of things.
Proper cycling education is schools is something they do in the Netherlands and it really works well for them. I don't know if it's done here but they should. When I was growing up, learning to ride a bike meant learning how to balance it, nothing else. Nothing about how streets work or traffic etiquette or any of that.