The Day of the Ride

Here are some pictures from Sunday. I will add some comments later!

Rules of the road

To go for a bike ride, we usually drive someplace to start off at a good spot. It seems a little silly that in order to get a good workout, a 30+ minute drive to Virginia may be necessary. A fellow FDA5er bikes to work from Bethesda to Rockville everyday. Living about a mile from work, why couldn’t I bike to the trails? I could!

Rock Creek Trail is not too far from my home… rather Rock Creek is in my backyard but the bike trail does not start until you are little closer to downtown. There are a number of bike trail signs on the road that imply that the roads are biker friendly. I understand that there is a balance of sharing the road or trail with cars or other pedestrians. Cars are sometimes respectful and stay a little behind, and then when it is clear to pass, they drive around. Once going up a big hill, I was teetering from side to side. Fighting to get up and join the others – did a mention it was a BIG hill. I appreciated the driver who stayed behind most likely fearful of driving over me if I fell.

The rules of the road for bikers are not clearly presented to everyone. After looking up some information, I understand why some cars refuse to pass riders until they are coaxed with numerous arm gestures from fellow riders to pass.
So, back to my story… We left from the house and were riding a CLEARLY marked road for bikes (similar sign) when a car honked the horn followed by passing us very closely shouting, “Get the F*** off the road!” With my confidence shattered, I thought we were wrong; there was a sidewalk available. But the sidewalks are for PEDESTRIANS – not bikers.

After some research, I found that I do not need to be hugging the white line on the road all the time (which I thought was a courtesy to allow cars to pass). I am allowed to take up the entire lane (on roads with speed limits <50). link and for a more comprehensive Biking 101, read more from that website.

There are some drivers out there that are down right disrespectful. There have been accidents. I read these two articles on the web that makes me a little more safety conscience. http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/traffic/assertiv.htm
http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/traffic/motorist.htm
Be sure you are familiar with the rules. Perhaps the roads are okay for bikes, just the cars are not at biker friendly.

Lingo of the road

Taking my road bike out on the W & O the first time, I enjoyed moseying on my half of the trail…that was until someone from nowhere proclaimed, “On your left!” I learned very quickly to stay on the right-most side of the right of the trails. That is unless there are a number of roller bladders or joggers, where I try to politely warn people that I am going to pass them without startling them too much. On occasion you may hear “On your right” if someone is close and want to pass on your ??? You guessed it! Your right.

When I started riding with a group, I heard phrases which I was not familiar with shouted every so often. Now when I ride in groups on busier roads, I appreciate the communication between riders. Traveling on narrower streets, the riders in front call out “Car up” to let the others behind them know a car is coming. Usually being at the back of the pack, I holler “Car back!” to inform and in some cases warn of a car behind us. Soon enough the car would pass me and the other riders. When crossing an intersection, a shout of “CLEAR” will indicate that is free to cross (but I would double check anyway).

Some other common calls are you may hear:
Hole
Tracks
Gravel
Glass

When people are in front of you, they sometimes use hand signals to avoid the debris on the road. A simple point with the figure usually suffices and it is much appreciated rather than falling into a pothole or squashing road kill for a second time (not a nice bump – bump experience).

There are more formal hand signals that are known universally (other than that informal point of finger to show where you intend to go). I am not sure how many road bikers use this signaling with the left arm, but I will share it:
Right Turn: Upper arm straight out parallel to the road, forearm and hand straight up and perpendicular to the road (can also use the right arm).
Left Turn: Arm straight out and parallel to the road.
Braking: Upper arm straight out parallel to the road, forearm and hand straight down and perpendicular to the road.

For more on hand signals see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_hand_signals

And for those who are visual learners, enjoy the picture at the left (image from http://www.bikemiamivalley.org/safety1.htm).

After riding for several months, I felt confident on the bike. I could ride well with others, understand and communicate with them. I was happy to ride my bike almost anywhere… that was until one day I discovered my next hurdle – sharing the road (with drivers). More on that next time!