So Many Things To Keep Track of . . .
Today was Day 3 of the BikeAbility instructors’ course I’m on. We did lots of practical stuff, planning lessons, role-playing teaching of the various road manoeuvres for level 2, etc on some quiet roads near North Shields.
Then for the last half hour of the day, we headed out for a group ride, with everyone on their absolute bestest behaviour - as instructors, we have an example to set!
It was kinda strange riding in a group of 12, with everyone well and truly hi-viz’d up. This was especially true when we went down Rose Hill on the A193. As part of my regular commuting route, I know all about this:
- It’s a steep, but short hill that’s about 400 yards down . . . and then up the other side.
- There are two lanes for up-hill traffic, and one for down-hill, segregated by double white lines. Vehicles must not cross these, unless it is to overtake a bicycle, horse, or road maintenance vehicle that is traveling at less than 10mph.
- It’s a steep hill, so a bike goes down with the brakes on to keep it under the 30mph speed limit. But cars overtake anyway. Because as we know, they’re in a hurry, and unlike cyclists, they do pay road tax after all.
- At the bottom, it gets better - there are central refuges to make pedestrian’s life easier when they want to cross. So the road narrows to the point that it’s not safe for a car to overtake the bikes.
- If you ride anything other than 110% assertively, they will try to squeeze past anyway. So basically, from near the top of the hill, you have to take the primary position (i.e. the centre of the lane)
- At the bottom, there’s a junction on the left, approaching at an oblique angle, and drivers find it hard to see bikes coming / fail completely to appreciate their speed.
- And after the junction, there’s another pedestrian refuge narrowing the road.
It’s odd, but usually all this stuff’s just automatic in my head. It’s only when you get to the point that you’ll have to teach it / see people riding it who aren’t familiar with the road’s features that you suddenly realise exactly how much there is to try and keep track of when you’re riding. All this stuff needs to be processed, all the potential hazards evaluated, and the appropriate action decided upon, all in real time.
In part, I want to say that this is just a really grotty road to ride on. For bike friendliness, I’d give it somewhere around three out of ten.. But the other part of me gets a thrill from the mental workout that’s required to ride it safely.
Twisted logic, huh?