even more cycling (this time with a teacher)

[baratron]

Had cycling lesson. The instructor was a lovely bearded man, who could be Richard in 20 years time. I love wuzzielike people :)

Anyway, he talked me through the mechanisms of the trike, and I actually know how some of it works now, which will be useful in maintenance. More importantly, he showed me how to fix my gears. It turns out that adjusting them is a fairly trivial process which requires no tools. We also changed the seat position a bit, to make it more comfortable - seems to be ok so far.

We went to New Malden, which involved a toucan crossing over the main road, a contraflow cycle lane, a semi-main road, a big hill, an extremely busy set of traffic lights (but it's outside the hospital!), three or four mini-roundabouts, a level crossing, and a narrow bridge. I think I'm now fairly well-equipped to handle most normal roads ;) Still a bit afraid of Kingston one-way system even with all the cycle contraflows, but I'll have another lesson in a few weeks to learn my way round that.

I do highly recommend cycling lessons to anyone who wants to learn to ride a bike safely on the roads. The instructors deal with people from complete beginners right up to experienced cyclists who want help with things like the Hanger Lane Gyratory system (put it this way - I know people who have been driving for 10 years who won't go near it in their car, and not just because of the inevitable tailbacks). No matter how bad you are, they've probably seen worse. If you have no confidence to ride on the road, they'll meet you in a park where you practise your balance without any traffic. They're not going to laugh at you for being crap and wobbling all over the place, because it's their job to help you. Also, if you book lessons through your local council's Road Safety department, it'll be heavily subsidised - maybe £12 for an hour of one-to-one tuition for an adult, or £20 for 6 hours of group lessons.

Comments

[bob]

>Still a bit afraid of Kingston one-way system

its scary enough in a car. the aldershot one way system was always fun as well.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Heh - I don't remember Aldershot being that bad, but I haven't been there in ~10 years. Plus I'm comparing it to Reading, which is utterly utterly awful, with lanes only marked on the road itself (lovely, in heavy traffic) and roads going up onto bridges or disappearing under overpasses. Kingston one way system, in comparison, has clear road signs and lane markings - the only complication is that if you're going all the way round it (as you have to if you want to go from Richmond side to Hampton Court side), you have to change lane about 3 times.

On a bike, you go round the outside of the one-way system and cut most of it out. Some of the cycle lane is on a dedicated bridge, so it's completely safe - some of the rest is cycles and buses only.

[rowan-leigh.livejournal.com]

Useful information, thank you! (I bought a bike recently but haven't used it much due to fear of the roads....)

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I imagine also that the council would reduce the price even further for people on benefits.

Seriously, it's in their interests to encourage safe cycling. It makes more people take to cycling rather than driving, which is better for the environment, and reduces the number of accidents in the Borough, which is something the council would get blamed for (as many accidents are due at least partly to bad road layout). The £12 & £20 I quoted were for Kingston, which is a fairly affluent Borough. I think it's about £6 for the first 2 hours in Waltham Forest.

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Hm. I must look into this.