Racing Bicycle Parts for Classroom Use

This post is designed for classroom use in teaching children about the different parts of a racing (or road) bike.  Note that here the primary distinction to identify a "road" or "racing" bike is if it has "drop bars" (though not all bikes with drop bars are racing or road bikes).

A "road bike frame:

A complete road bike.

Detail of a quick release for the wheel on a racing bike:

Front and rear quick release:  note that the rear quick release is longer to accommodate the cassette for the gears:

Note the position of the quick release handle when it is closed and open.

Seat post quick release.  This quick release operates just like a quick release on a wheel but it has a shorter "skewer."

Bicycle Program Priorities for 536 Fort Collins Citizens, January 2012

When asked to identify the bicycle programs that they would like to see funded in Fort Collins during the 2013-2014 budget cycle 536 respondents to the Bicycle Program Priorities survey ranked existing programs as shown below.

Scroll down to the next post to click through to view the entire survey results.

Bicycle Program Priorities in Fort Collins

Results for the Bicycle Priorities Survey are available at this link:     http://tinyurl.com/FoCoBikeSurvey

Survey results also allow you to click through to view an "other" comments made by respondents.

Watch for Built in Conflict Zones to Avoid Crashes

First published in the Fort Collins Coloradoan, Oct. 3, 2011

Also published on Bob Mionske's blog, bicyclelaw.com. 

Wearing a helmet and staying in the bike lane won’t protect you from crashes.  Even in a bicycle friendly community there are plenty of built in potential conflicts.  So cyclists need to learn to recognize them so they can avoid the crashes.

You may recall the three primary rules of safe cycling: 1) don’t fall off your bike; 2) don’t let anyone knock you off your bike; and 3) don’t you knock anyone else off their bike.  The first rule applies since half of all bike crashes involve only the cyclist.  A third of crashes involve another cyclist, a dog, or a pedestrian and only seventeen percent of bike crashes involve an automobile.  Most of these latter crashes can be avoided if you anticipate the conflict.  Unfortunately the place where you think you are safest, namely the bike lane, is often a major conflict zone. 

Parked cars along bike lanes can be dangerous.  So watch for opening car doors.  I ride the white line on most bike lanes in town.  I’m more visible to oncoming cars there and I am far enough from opening doors - about six feet - to be safe.  Some people will tell you that they watch for opening car doors and are able to avoid them.  But by focusing on that hazard they sometimes ignore other possible hazards around them.  In a narrow bike lane, as on Howes Street, I will ride just outside the white line in the travel lane. 

Where bike lanes cross intersections is another conflict zone.  The right turning motorist across a bike lane is the primary source of conflict here.  Our transportation planners have begun to consider this where possible, creating right turn lanes while bringing the through bike lane to the left of the turn lane.  The do-si-do dance step that ensues creates a safer intersection than the one in which right turning cars find themselves to the left of a line of cyclists. 

Unfortunately we have many intersections in town where the above treatment doesn’t work.  The cyclist’s rule of thumb that I would apply at all intersections is the following:  if you are continuing straight through the intersection, get out of the bike lane and take the primary travel lane.  This tells motorists your intent and makes room for right turning motorists to take the bike lane to execute their turn. 

Parked cars are a hazard anywhere, whether along a bike lane or not.  Diagonally parked cars are even more of a hazard.  So stay as far from them as you can.  This means that on Old Town streets such as Magnolia, Olive, Oak, all the streets surrounding Library Park, and on residential streets approaching CSU campus you should ride in the center of the travel lane well away from diagonally parked cars. You are more visible there and won’t be hit by a car backing out of a parking space.

Drive your bike carefully out there.

You Think you are Safe on the Sidewalk? Think Again

This story of a cyclist hit by a semi-trailer while waiting on the sidewalk is further proof that being visible to car and truck drivers is the most important aspect of safe cycling!

First published in the Coloradoan, Nov. 5, 2011

By Trevor Hughes

A semi-trailer driver who clipped a Fort Collins bicyclist on the sidewalk as he turned a corner and then kept going knocked off a fire hydrant a few blocks away as a driver chased him down.

The cyclist, 28, was waiting to cross at the intersection of LaPorte Avenue and Shields Street shortly before 5 p.m. Friday when the truck driver turned south from LaPorte onto Shields.

"His wheels ended up hitting the bicyclist who was on the sidewalk," police Sgt. Jackie Pearson said. "He didn't realize he had hit her."

Pearson said the truck driver, 24, continued south for several blocks until another driver chased him down. Startled at being pursued, the driver turned onto Oak Street.

"He ended up clipping the fire hydrant because he was being chased down by someone who was not a cop," Pearson said.

Pearson said the cyclist was not seriously injured, although her feet were hurt because her she had been clipped into the pedals when the truck hit her and her bike.

The truck driver, who was pulling a lowboy loaded with a hydraulic lift, was cited by officers.

Safe Cycling at Night - Being Seen is YOUR Problem

You need to be as visible as possible when riding at night.  Even the bare minimum of legally required lights or reflectors won't necessarily protect you at night.

Imagine a car load of teenagers driving down the road at night.  If you are on that road on your bike you are dependent on the driver of that vehicle going through five complex steps of "seeing" in order to avoid hitting you.  Those steps are:

1) Scanning and searching (requires constant attention both forward and to the sides);
2) Detection (requires focus on the object detected - that would be you!);
3) Evaluation (requires recognition and judgement);
4) Decision (requires the driver to think about what they see and what to do about it);
5) Action (applying the brakes, changing lanes, etc. to avoid a crash).

The problem with all of this is demonstrated in the following drawings:

Teaching Kids Safe Cycling - The Example from the Netherlands

The Netherlands provides an excellent example of both the need for teaching children safe cycling skills and the Dutch solution to that problem.

In Fort Collins, City Council has adopted the "Bicycle Safety Education Plan."   The plan has a goal of reaching 11,000 school children in the community every year.

The following videos suggest both a rationale for doing this and a means to achieving that goal.

This first video shows a bit of the history behind Dutch bike paths and bike culture.

The second video describes the education program that teaches Dutch children how to ride safely. At age 12 200,000 kids per year take a safe cycling exam that allows them to bicycle to school once they get into middle school.
How the Dutch got their cycle paths 

Bicycle training in the Netherlands