Seriously lacking confidence in ANY traffic

[Weegie]

Hi all,

I've been back on a bike for a little over a week. (Last time I rode regularly was back in 1984). I've done 16 miles tentative cycling in off-peak traffic, on quiet residential roads, in clear weather. So far, I've narrowly missed one dooring, two left-hooks (both times wvm on a mission) and have been squeezed into the gutter three or four times. I feel like I'm bloody invisible.

Needless to say, this has dented my confidence in getting back onto the road. It's a real disappointment - I had hoped that 25 years driving experience would help me, since I understand how drivers behave and can read the dangers of the road pretty well. However, it seems that on the bike, this experience turns into fear. I never felt this worried back in 1984.

I've also been doing a lot of reading about cycling and safety. On the one hand, sites like this encourage me to believe that cycling is an inherently safe passtime. OTOH, Magnatom's YouTube videos (which are to be applauded for improving driver education, and educating cyclists as to the real dangers of the open road) did little to boost my confidence. Magnatom mate, you've had more near-misses in 3 years than I've had in 25 years of driving!

So, anyone got any tips for how I should go about improve my confidence on the road while remaining safe ? I really don't want to limit myself to pavements & country parks

Cheers!

 

[Cathy]

I found the best way to get my confidence back when I started cycling again was by cycling with someone else. I started cycling to work when I moved to London 18 months ago and was terrified of the sheer weight of the traffic. Fortunately my boyfriend had been cycling in London for about two years so I just went out with him and learned from him.

Do you have any friends/a partner/any colleagues/family members who cycle? Getting an experienced cyclist to come out with you a few times will do you the world of good.

If there's no-one in your immediate circle who can help perhaps post on here looking for a cycling buddy, or go through CTC and look for a local club you can join? www.ctc.org.uk

If you really can't find anyone to cycle with then next time you are out pick an experienced-looking cyclist and simply observe. Watch how they handle traffic - I learned a lot from watching other cyclists. Mind you, beware bad habits - just because they nip through traffic/hop red lights/go up on pavements doesn't mean you have to!

Good luck!

 

[Jonathan M]

Some people on here swear by the advice contained within the book Cyclecraft http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/ . I can't remember reading it, but I'm sure I have in the dim & distant past. Having said that I don't come across situations and think "what would Cyclecraft say about this?"

Some things to consider that may help with the situations that you describe, for doorings pass parked cars at a distance that means a dooring is less likely to happen, or at least you will gte more chance to avoid the situation - this may mean going wider than you feel comfy withpast parked cars. Also if there is several parked cars with some gaps between consider passing them all in one go, rather than weaving in & out.

Regarding being squeezed into the gutter, Cyclecraft talks about the "primary" position, which is again riding slightly further into the carriageway than you may wish to, but the principle is to make passing vehicles have to move out past you, rather than to try & squeeze past & push you to the kerb.

As for WVM, well, they think they are a law unto themselves, but again, the "primary" can mean they have to hold back before turning after you have gone past the junction.

Confidence will increase with time, but as per Cathy, who rides in one of the most inhospitable places for cyclists in the UK, if you can get some riding time with a more experienced rider and follow their lead, that would be useful.

Your lack of confidence places you at more risk, as you will yield more in situations that an experienced rider wouldn't. You have rights to be on the road, and some of the confidence comes from just being sure of those rights, it is almost like an arrogance on the bike, although that is not the right word, that motorised users cannot force you to yield or treat you as a none road user. Around my way it is those traffic calming measures where traffic is supposed to giveway to oncoming, and they see a bike and never do. Sort of like playing chicken on a bike when they don't stop for you initially, but then do when they see you are not going to stop!

Maybe try & cross post in commuting section, those guys ride traffic daily, often in the big cities, and could pass on years worth of advice.

 

[Coco]

+1 cyclecraft. It gives advice on what position to take for particular manouvers.

The best advice I got from a cycling colleague at work is to be assertive. Make sure people know you are on the road and know what you are doing. I've only just started taking primary position on some narrow roads and junction. While you'll get the occasional hoot of the horn or revving behind you, its a lot better than getting a close shave as they go past you.
One other thing that surprised me is for every bad driver there are probably 10 good drivers who will happily wait for you to go where you want to.

Where abouts in the Dear Green Place are you cycling?

 

[Joe24]

Whats the worst that can happen? You may die if your not confident, or you can try and be confident.
Whats the worst that can happen if you try and be confident and you get it wrong? You may die, although unlikely if you do it right because you will be seen and will probably just annoy someone and have them honk at you.

Be confident, im sure nothing will go wrong.

 

[magnatom]

It's not that bad, honestly! Look closely at my videos. Yes, some of the overtakes etc look scary, but the truth is, on almost every occasion I had an escape route. That is what cycling al la Cyclecraft is all about. I can only think of probably 2 occasions over the last 4 year (it's 4 years now!) that I have felt shocked by what happened.

What you also need to remember is that I hardly ever have incidents. Honestly, I don't! I worked out that I probably have an incident of any significant kind on 3% of my commutes. Even then, they are more of an annoyance than a real danger.

Also the more I ride the less incidents I have. Notice the lack of videos recently. I've been riding, but have had hardly any incidents recently.

As your a weegie, maybe we should meet up some time and we could do some urban riding together. I could show you the sights and sounds of my commute.

 

[Joe24]

It's not that bad, honestly! Look closely at my videos. Yes, some of the overtakes etc look scary, but the truth is, on almost every occasion I had an escape route. That is what cycling al la Cyclecraft is all about. I can only think of probably 2 occasions over the last 4 year (it's 4 years now!) that I have felt shocked by what happened.

What you also need to remember is that I hardly ever have incidents. Honestly, I don't! I worked out that I probably have an incident of any significant kind on 3% of my commutes. Even then, they are more of an annoyance than a real danger.

Also the more I ride the less incidents I have. Notice the lack of videos recently. I've been riding, but have had hardly any incidents recently.

As your a weegie, maybe we should meet up some time and we could do some urban riding together. I could show you the sights and sounds of my commute.

Dont listen to this man, he just goes out to cause an annoyance to cars.
Hes like a critical mass, but hes on his own and going a tad faster, but still causing an annoyance!

 

[Rollon]

Weegie,
It seems you and I have a lot in common. One thing I am finding particularly hard to master is the simple 'Looking behind'. I know this probably takes some getting used to, but at the moment the speed and degree of my rear view observations, leave me not getting a proper message the first time so I find I am having to look behind several times, and the inevitable wobble sets in. I had read Cyclecraft and thoroughly reccommend it.
Dave.

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

Wotcha and welcome. I'm a relatively inexperienced (18 months) commuter, and don't have any particularly heavy traffic to deal with, but here's my experiences ..

Assertiveness (bordering on arrogance) as Coco and Jonathan said is a key thing. I've found that as my experience / confidence has increased, I've got more assertive which has led to fewer incidents, increasing confidence and assertiveness in turn, and so on. It's a vicious circle, only in reverse .. a kind circle?

Where to start gaining that assertiveness? A read of Cyclecraft is a good starting point, plus plenty of practice. Start in a quiet location and build up. Being able to reliably look behind is vital: not least so you know what's behind you, but also making eye contact with the driver who's about to squeeze past you (sometimes) reminds them that you're a person and not just a mobile chicane!!

So practice somewhere really quiet until you can look behind and signal without wobbling. Then take that skill onto slightly busier roads.

I've also found that as I've got faster I've got more assertive, possibly because I'm not "holding people up" as much. This is all probably just in my head, because "faster" means maybe 20mph instead of 10mph so I'm still slower than a car in most situations, but it feels better to me: confidence boost again.

I'm now happy to hold primary* when I need to and that eliminates lots of incidents at a stroke, though not all: nutty lady in rattly car tried to "nip" past me on the way into a small roundabout the other day, despite me being in primary. She had to abort the overtake as she suddenly realised she was heading straight for the ped crossing island just before the roundabout and wasn't gonig to get past me. She did actually slow right back down and drop in behind me: others just brake and swing across when they're halfway past, but at least if you're in primary you've got an escape route to your left - you just need to be ready to use it.

And be nice to people, especially those who are nice to you: if commuting, you'll tend to see lots of the same people day in day out. If they come to recognise you as that "nice cyclist" rather than the "b*****d who gets in the way" it generally makes life easier. This is very true on my quiet-ish commute, but may also still apply to busier commutes: especially close to home / work, I guess.

Another example: a few hundred yards after nutter lady the other day had made it past me, I was approaching another pinch point. I knew there was an Audi behind me, and then nothing, so as I was still a way from the obstruction I stayed in secondary and slowed down a bit so as to let them pass: there's a second roundabout a coupla hundred yards beyond the pinch point so I tend to stay in primary as there's not really time for a car to pass between the two. Given that, I'll normally let anything that's quite close go past before moving out so as not to hold too many people up. Even if I have to slow down a bit. This is on a housing estate near to home, so I'm trying to stock up some goodwill ..

The Audi didn't seem to be coming past: a further look behind showed that the nice lady was waiting for me. So I accelerated^, going as quick as I could, thanking her as I moved out. She could see I was doing my best to keep moving, and I'd thanked her, so didn't hassle me at all past that obstruction and all the way into the second roundabout. As I left the roundabout, I moved back into secondary, thanked her again and waved her past - a bit redundant that last bit I know. As she went past - nice and wide - I saluted her and smiled. She smiled back, acknowledge me, and went on her way.

* sort of middle of the lane: approx halfway from kerb to white line if there's no parked cars or other obstructions, though Cyclecraft gives a more complete definition. It stops deters drivers from trying to squeeze past.

^ All measures of speed are relative, of course. I am LAZY, after all.

 

[HJ]

Dont listen to this man, he just goes out to cause an annoyance to cars.
Hes like a critical mass, but hes on his own and going a tad faster, but still causing an annoyance!

Joe, Grow Up, stop behaving like a teenager! Oh I forgot you are a teenager...

To get back to a serious discussion of the issue, Cyclecraft is a worth reading, riding in the primary position (about 1m out from the kerb) is a lot safer than cycling closer to the kerb. If you have 25 year driving experience, then position your self on the road as you would if you were driving, don't think that you have to behave differently because you are on a bike. You have the same right to use the road on a bike as you do in a car (the same proportion of the tax you pay goes on road maintenance), you do not have to behave as a second class citizen, ride proud.

Confidence will come with practice, don't give in to the bullies...

You could also try contacting Cycling Scotland to see if there is a qualified Cycle Trainer near you and getting a few lesson.

 

[Globalti]

I rode motorbikes for 14 years, mostly in London and never had an accident, have been cycling now for 20 and never had an accident or even a bad incident. I believe it's all about body language, hierarchy and the way you control other road users. The IAM teaches drivers to control and to dominate other road users and cyclists need to do the same. If a driver sees a cyclist dithering in the gutter radiating nervousness, he will just pass or cut the cyclist up. If he sees a cyclist taking up his rightful place on the road he will see another road user and will respect the cyclist. It doesn't take much to work out that it's all about what drivers think they can get away with in the competitive daily rat race.

Added later: rightly or wrongly I think your look has a lot to do with it as well; if you look doddery and ill-equipped with a badly fitted helmet and clothes flapping in the breeze you are going to get bullied much more than the fit, assertive looking cyclist with loud clothing and a purposeful body posture.

 

[Virtual DBP]

<<It's a vicious circle, only in reverse .. a kind circle?>>

"virtuous circle" is the definition you were looking for.

p.s. edited to say i agree with RR's post above

 

[upsidedown]

What Rigid Raider said.

It will come with time, but for now concentrate on riding a sensible distance out from the kerb, imagine where a car's left wheel would be.
Ride at a steady pace, avoid sudden movements, anticipate gear selection when coming to a stop to avoid the beginner's wobble away from the lights.

Try to view your ride as a series of sections and ride each one of them carefully and delibarately until you know them off by heart, when you do you can string them all together and you're done.

Good luck and keep safe.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

I've only been commuting about 3 months now, but that's from almost complete novice. The confidence comes with time - once you're more comfortable with the bike, and fitter, you'll be pedalling faster than now and that does make it easier to handle traffic.

However, one thing which may be a bit counter-intuitive (depending of course on the precise roads you're travelling on) - sometimes travelling in off-peak is worse than in peak as the cars are going faster as they're not stuck in traffic. In peak hours it's easier sometimes (and less WMVs about...). Same thing goes for the residential areas - people have just arrived home, go "great, I'm home", and immediately turn off their 'alertness' that was on while they drove home. I've only had people try to open doors once or twice, and that was driving home in traffic in a residential-ish area, where the passenger was getting out after being given a lift home. Not a batted eyelid to check if there was anything in the cycle lane. I saw them coming though so no problems.

However, until you're feeling less scared, I'd strongly suggest avoiding all bus routes... for the minute.

I have to second (third, fourth?) what Rigid Raider said, move more towards the centre of the road. That'll get you out the door zone and should make it harder for people to left hook you with the 'I didn't see you' excuse, and also will keep you out the gutter.

 

[Spinney]

WMV ??

I'm not a commuter, but my 2p anyway.

Have you got a mirror? Using a mirror is no substitute for actually looking over your shoulder before you pull out, but it does help you to keep an eye on the situation behind you without having to keep turning your head. Might help.