Curiosidades
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La historia de los pedales de bicicleta
10 Grandes errores sobre la bici
Principales causas de los accidentes en bici
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Historia de la bicicleta Los testimonios más antiguos sobre este, hoy popular, vehículo se remontan hasta las antiguas civilizaciones de Egipto, China e India. En un apartado de la obra "Codez Atlanticus" de Leonardo da Vinci ya aparecía un dibujo de una bicicleta. Leonardo ya pensó en una transmisión de cadena como en las que se utilizan en la actualidad . Estos dibujos fueron dispersados por el tiempo y quedaron recopilados sin orden ni concierto en la biblioteca Ambrosiana de Milán. |
 Boceto de Leonardo da Vinci hacia 1490 |
Vehículos toscos de dos ruedas propulsados por los pies eran corrientes en los primeros años de la segunda mitad del siglo XVII. En 1690, un francés, el Conde Mede de Sivrac inventó "el celífero" ("la célérifère"), que consistía en un bastidor de madera al que se añadían las ruedas. El vehículo no tenía manillar; el asiento era una almohadilla en el bastidor y se propulsaba y dirigía impulsando los pies contra el suelo.
 "Dandy Horse" 1817 |
En 1816, un noble alemán diseñó el primer vehículo de dos ruedas con dispositivo de dirección. Esta máquina, denominada draisiana (en honor a su inventor), tenía un manillar que pivotaba sobre el cuadro, permitiendo el giro de la rueda delantera. Después, inventores franceses, alemanes y británicos introdujeron mejoras. En Inglaterra, estos primeros modelos se conocieron como balancines; el nombre de dandy horse quedó para el vehículo inventado en 1818. El balancín era más ligero que la draisiana y tenía un asiento ajustable y un apoyo para el codo. Fue patentado en Estados Unidos en 1819, pero suscitó poco interés. |
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En 1839, un herrero escocés, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, añadió las palancas
de conducción y los pedales a una máquina del tipo de la draisiana.
Estas innovaciones permitieron al ciclista impulsar la máquina con los pies
sin tocar el suelo. El mecanismo de impulsión consistía en pedales cortos
fijados al cubo de la rueda de atrás y conectados por barras de palancas
largas, que se encajaban al cuadro en la parte superior de la máquina. Las
barras de conexión se unían a las palancas a casi un tercio de su longitud
desde los pedales. La máquina era impulsada por el empuje de los pies hacia
abajo y hacia adelante La usó para realizar un viaje de ida y vuelta hasta Glasgow de 226 km, cubriendo un tramo de 65 km a una velocidad media de 13 km/h.
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 Primera bicicleta a pedales Macmillan, 1839. |
Se reconoce a Michaux como el precursor directo de la bicicleta aunque se deben citar nombres como Philip Moritx o Galloux que construyeron bicicletas a pedales para uso particular . Hay referencias más antiguas halladas en jeroglíficos egipcios en los que se describe a un hombre montado sobre un aparato formado por dos ruedas unidas a un potro . El inventó de Michaux , la "Michaulina" se empezó a producir en serie atrayendo la atención de las clases populares. Este modelo se hizo muy popular en Francia. El cuadro y las ruedas se fabricaban en madera. Los neumáticos eran de hierro y los pedales estaban colocados en el cubo de la rueda delantera o del conductor, que era un poco más alta que la rueda de atrás.
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El 7 de enero de 1887, el norteamericano Thomas Stevens realiza el primer
viaje en bicicleta alrededor del mundo. Partió de San Francisco y
regresó a la misma ciudad después de pedalear durante más de tres años. El 31 de mayo de 1889 nació oficialmente el ciclismo de competición; los hermanos Olivier , asociados de la fábrica de Michaux , organizaron una carrera en el parque de Saint Cloud de París con 1200 m de recorrido en la que tomaron parte 7 ciclistas . A partir de entonces comenzó la fiebre del ciclismo . En el aspecto técnico se investigaba a marchas forzadas para encontrar nuevas soluciones . La velocidad se convirtió en una obsesión . Las michaulinas eran demasiado lentas ya que en cada vuelta completa de los pedales recorrían 3.14 metros . Con lógica , los fabricantes aumentaron los diámetros de las ruedas delanteras llegándose a construir ruedas motrices de 3 m de diámetro . Todo ello fue en detrimento de la seguridad , del equilibrio y del peso llegando algunos modelos a pesar 40 Kg . Los fabricantes tendieron a homogeneizar sus máquinas. Las descomunales ruedas delanteras se redujeron a un diámetro de 1,2 metros y las traseras a 40 centímetros . Las modificaciones y mejoras en los años siguientes incluyeron el cojinete de bolas y el neumático. .Estos inventos, junto con el uso de tubos de acero soldados y los asientos de muelles, llevaron a la bicicleta a la cumbre de su desarrollo. Sin embargo, la vibración excesiva y la inestabilidad de la bicicleta de rueda alta obligó a los inventores a esforzarse por reducir la altura de la bicicleta.
La bicicleta de seguridad se extendió rápidamente por todo el mundo industrializado. En 1896, una bicicleta podía costar el salario de 3 meses de un trabajador medio, pero ya en 1909 se había reducido a menos de un mes de trabajo. Esta bicicleta tiene una gran semejanza con la bicicleta que todos conocemos hoy en día. En Francia , los hermanos Michelín crearon un neumático desmontable y en Italia , Giovanni Battista Pirelli hizo lo propio . Con el neumático y unas cuantas cámaras de recambio se podía ir a todas partes. Las bicicletas pesaban entre 18 y 20 kilos. En 1903 se disputó el primer Tour de Francia con 2428 Kilómetros de recorrido ideado por Henri Desgranges. El Tour, que ha ido mejorándose con el paso de los años y se ha convertido hoy en día en banco de pruebas de sofisticadas máquinas que no superan su aprobación si no salen triunfantes de la ronda francesa , ha sido campo de experiencias y ha hecho nacer muchos prototipos.
La importancia dada a la forma física en las décadas de 1970 y 1980 aumentaron su popularidad. Se generalizó la bicicleta de carreras ligera de diez velocidades, con frenos de mano y neumáticos estrechos de alta presión. A principios de la decada de los 70's se inició la moda de utilizar la bicicleta en caminos de tierra. Surgieron entonces varios grupos de ciclistas que practicaban esta nueva modalidad entre ellos los llamados "The Canyon Gang", representados porJohn York, Tom Slifka, Robert y Kim Kraft, que se dedicaban a realizar carreras en la montaña "Tamalpais" en el estado de California, pero las bicicletas que utilizaban eran de bici cross (con llanta muy delgada) que era muy común encontrarlas en Europa en aquella época. Fue entonces que a Joe Breeze, Charlie Kelly, Gary Fisher y Tom Ritchey se les ocurrió colocarle llantas anchas a sus viejas bicis de marca Schwinn Excelsiors que pesaban unos 18 Kg y así obtuvieron más control y fueron los más veloces de la montaña
En 1987 se introdujo comercialmente la primera suspensión delantera por la compañía Trek y con la guerra de tecnología y comercialización Trek también presentó en 1990 la primera bicicleta con doble suspensión con un peso similar a aquella de 1974, unos 20Kg. El ciclista más veloz es considerado John Howard, de Estados Unidos, quien alcanzó en 1985, los 245,08 kilómetros por hora en una bicicleta diseñada especialmente. En la actualidad hay en el mundo unos 800 millones de bicicletas cantidad que duplica el número de coches. |
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La historia de los pedales de bicicleta en un museo online
Speedplay, la marca americana de pedales, dispone en su página web de una interesantísima muestra cronológica de estos elementos de la transmisión de la bicicleta desde el siglo XIX hasta nuestros días.
Speedplay, a través de su
página web, ha abierto una ventana que nos demuestra la rica historia de un
componente fundamental en cualquier bicicleta. A modo de línea cronológica, la
muestra expone fotografías de pedales de todo tipo, clasificados en cuatro
grupos: pedales de plataforma, automáticos para carretera, automáticos para MTB
y de calapié o correa.
El ejemplar más antiguo que podremos ver en el museo online data de 1860, año en
que un pedal recibió por primera vez una patente americana, concretamente el
inventado por el francés Pierre Lallement, fabricado totalmente de cobre con un
contrapeso para mantenerlo en su posición.
Cada pedal mostrado es el sueño de un inventor por mejorar diseños previos.
Algunas de estas innovaciones ofrecieron mejoras modestas sobre las anteriores
mientras otras supusieron importantes avances.
Muchos de los diseños incluidos representan el tope tecnológico de su era.
Algunos pedales fueron éxitos comerciales utilizados durante décadas antes de
quedar anticuados. Otros, sin embargo, desaparecieron del mercado poco después
de su aparición.
Ninguno de los pedales expuestos se produce hoy en día. Todos ellos, sin
embargo, jugaron algún papel en el desarrollo de diseños de los pedales actuales
y su lugar en la historia merece un reconocimiento.
La muestra bien merece una visita de todos aquellos a los que le interese la
historia de los componentes para bicicleta y nos ofrece una curiosa perspectiva
del progreso técnico de nuestra afición favorita.
Enlace de interés:
Bicycle Pedal History.
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LOS BENEFICIOS DEL CICLISMO
La
Bicicleta es una medicina sobre dos ruedas, aunque todavía está por descubrir en
España.
Está clínicamente comprobado que es una de las actividades más completas y
universales para prevenir dolores de espalda, proteger articulaciones y mejorar
el sistema circulatorio e inmunológico.
Sin embargo, sólo un 31% de la población española practica esta actividad según
el primer estudio realizado sobre el uso de la bicicleta en España.
Un 69% de la población española admite que no monta en bicicleta, según datos
de la primera encuesta realizada por Demoscopia sobre el uso de la bicicleta en
España.
Del tercio que va en bicicleta, un 48% reconoce coger la bicicleta al menos una
vez al mes y lo hace más bien por diversión para hacer ejercicio moderado. A
diferencia de otros países europeos como Suecia y Alemania donde las condiciones
climáticas no son tan favorables como en España, el uso de la bicicleta es casi
tres veces superior con un porcentaje de uso del 73 y 79 por ciento,
respectivamente. Incluso en España las regiones que tienen un mayor número de
usuarios de bicicleta son los del norte centro (44,3%) – Navarra, La Rioja,
Euskadi y Cantabria - y Asturias y Galicia (35%) a diferencia de Madrid (25,5%)
y Canarias (10,3%) que tienen los niveles más bajos de usuarios.
Más de la mitad (57%) de los españoles encuestados utilizarían más la bicicleta
si supieran que la práctica del ciclismo repercute tan positivamente en el
bienestar de la salud- para perder peso, mantenerse en forma, disminuir los
niveles de colesterol, mantener un corazón sano, incrementar la capacidad de los
pulmones y evitar dolores de espalda y rigidez en las articulaciones.- Sin
embargo cabe destacar que un 80% de la población no es consciente de todos estos
aspectos positivos que hacen de la bicicleta una de las actividades más
completas y universales para conseguir un bienestar físico y psíquico.
Esta encuesta fue elaborada con una muestra representativa de 1.000 españoles a
nivel nacional para Selle Royal, la empresa italiana fabricante de sillines, que
quiere demostrar los múltiples beneficios de ir en bicicleta.
El
informe “Salud y Bicicleta” se ocupa detalladamente de los efectos positivos de
ir en bicicleta sobre las articulaciones, la espalda, así como sobre el sistema
circulatorio e inmunológico y representa el mayor estudio que hasta ahora se ha
llevado a cabo sobre los beneficios de la bicicleta para la salud.
Montar en bicicleta fortalece el cuerpo y el alma. Este ha sido el resultado de
este estudio publicado por el Centro de Salud de la Universidad Alemana del
Deporte (DSHS) de la ciudad de Colonia para la empresa fabricante de sillines
Selle Royal. La Universidad Alemana del Deporte es una de las más reconocidas a
nivel mundial por su labor en la investigación de la medicina deportiva y
estudios fisiológicos del deporte.
“Quién monta en bicicleta regularmente, se ahorra visitas al médico,
medicamentos e, incluso tratamientos muy costosos. Aunque no se empiece a hacer
ejercicio regularmente hasta una edad avanzada, los resultados son palpables.
Las personas que sufren las típicas molestias de dolor de espalda, sobrepeso y
otras enfermedades cardiovasculares, podrían gozar de muchos años de buena
salud, si se decidieran a usar más la bicicleta,” comenta el Dr. Froböse,
presidente del Centro de salud de DSHS y coordinador principal de este nuevo
estudio.
El análisis de estos estudios demuestran que los problemas más comunes de salud
como por ejemplo, las molestias o dolores de espalda y las irregularidades
circulatorias o del corazón se pueden prevenir mediante el uso de la
bicicleta.
Una actividad equilibrada, como es ir en bicicleta, reduce el riesgo de
infarto en más de un 50%. Según explica el Prof. Froböse, “el ritmo cardíaco
aumenta y la presión baja, en pocas palabras: el corazón trabaja economizando.
Practicando este deporte se reduce el colesterol negativo, el cual es
responsable de la calcificación de los vasos sanguíneos. En cambio, la cantidad
de colesterol positivo, el cual es responsable de la protección de los
vasos sanguíneos, aumenta. En consecuencia los vasos sanguíneos aumentan su
flexibilidad, la sedimentación de la placa aparece con menos frecuencia y
disminuye el riesgo de una calcificación de las arterias.
Montar en bicicleta ayuda a prevenir los fallos cardíacos, una de las
principales causas que provocan cada año 150.000 muertes.”
La
espalda también se beneficia de ir en bicicleta. Cuando el ciclista adopta la
postura óptima en el sillín con el torso ligeramente inclinado hacia delante, la
musculatura de la espalda está bajo tensión y estabiliza el tronco. Los
movimientos regulares de piernas fortalecen especialmente la zona lumbar y
previenen la aparición de una hernia discal.
Resumiendo los datos del estudio por el Profesor Froböse “La musculatura
de la espalda se fortalece gracias a este deporte y mantiene la columna
vertebral protegida de vibraciones y golpes.” Por último, ir en bicicleta
también estimula los pequeños músculos de las vértebras dorsales, que a través
de los ejercicios de gimnasia tradicional solo consiguen ser estimulados y
tensados con mucho esfuerzo. Estos beneficios hacen del ciclismo una de las
actividades ideales para las personas que sufren dolor de espalda.
Montar
en bicicleta es muy ventajoso para las articulaciones de las rodillas ya
que el 70-80% del peso del cuerpo es amortiguado por el sillín. Por ese motivo
ir en bicicleta es una buena alternativa al jogging ya que las articulaciones
y los cartílagos no han de soportar esa sobrecarga, según lo ha comprobado
el Profesor Froböse. Los movimientos cíclicos que se realizan al pedalear
representan una carga mínima para las articulaciones y garantizan una situación
de sustento óptima para los cartílagos. Si las articulaciones soportan poca
presión, la energía y las sustancias nutritivas pueden ser difundidas con mayor
facilidad por los cartílagos.
Quienes protegen sus articulaciones montando en bicicleta regularmente,
previenen con ello el riesgo de enfermar de artrosis y también se aseguran de
que andar y correr no suponga un problema con el paso del tiempo.
Practicar el ciclismo regularmente repercute de manera positiva en el
sistema inmunológico. El cuerpo de los ciclistas desprende compuestos químicos
que mejoran el estado de ánimo y hacen que se produzca una situación de
bienestar. Los fagocitos, las células devoradoras de bacterias del cuerpo
humano, son movilizadas de manera inmediata a través del pedaleo, para
aniquilar bacterias y células cancerígenas.
Por ese motivo ir en bicicleta es empleado como terapia para enfermos de cáncer
y SIDA. Pero también saca provecho de ese sencillo medio de locomoción quien
quiere, por prevención, fortalecer su cuerpo contra enfermedades infecciosas.
El estudio muestra con propuestas detalladas como a una persona que
habitualmente monta en bicicleta se le pueden programar ejercicios, para obtener
resultados óptimos en su salud. La duración y la frecuencia de los trayectos
se deben ajustar según la condición física, la edad y los resultados que se
deseen conseguir.
Sólo 10 minutos de pedaleo ya repercuten en la musculatura, el riego sanguíneo y
las articulaciones. A partir de 30 minutos aparecen influencias positivas en las
funciones del corazón, y a partir de 50 minutos es estimulado el metabolismo
graso. Los ciclistas habituales pueden intensificar notablemente esos resultados
si practican este deporte con constancia durante su tiempo libre.
De esta manera una mujer de entre 45 y 60 años puede aumentar tres veces los
beneficios en su sistema inmunológico, si en lugar de 20 minutos, monta en
bicicleta 60 minutos al día. El ciclismo aporta beneficios increíbles para la
salud en muy poco tiempo; este fenómeno debería facilitarnos la decisión de
desempolvar nuestra antigua bicicleta.
El autor del informe, Ingo Froböse, es Doctor en Medicina Deportiva, nacido
en 1957 es Profesor de rehabilitación y prevención en el deporte en el
Politécnico Alemán de Deporte (Deutsche Sporthochschule DSHS) de Colonia, y
Responsable del Instituto de Salud.
Su curriculum vitae se completa con su experiencia como:
· Pro-rector de enseñanza, estudios y reforma de la enseñanza en el Politécnico Alemán del Deporte de Colonia.
· Presidente de la asociación para los deportes para la salud y terapia deportiva (Verein für Gesundheitssport und Sporttherapie VGS) de Colonia.
· Presidente de la sociedad alemana para la isocinética aplicada.
· Miembro de la sociedad para la medicina del deporte ortopédica-traumatológica (Gesellschaft für orthopädisch-traumatologische Sportmedizin GOTS).
· Miembro del consejo de administración editorial de “Sports orthopaedics/Sports traumatology“ (Ortopedia deportiva/Traumatología Deportiva).
· Miembro del consejo consultor científico de la asociación federal alemana de cursos contra el dolor de espalda.
· Autor de numerosas publicaciones y libros de texto nacionales e internacionales.
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Principales causas de los accidentes en bici
Aun que esta ingles lo consideramos interesante para que le des una ojeada y si sirve solo para evitar uno de estos nos sentiremos dichosos
This page shows you real ways you can get
hit and real ways to avoid them. This is a
far cry from normal bicycle safety guides, which usually tell you little
more than to wear your helmet and to follow the law. But consider this for a
moment: Wearing a helmet will do absolutely nothing to prevent you from
getting hit by a car! Sure, helmets might help you if you get
hit, an d
it's a good idea to wear one, but your #1 goal should be to avoid getting
hit in the first place. Plenty of cyclists are killed by cars even
though they were wearing helmets. Ironically, if they had ridden
without helmets, yet followed the guidelines listed below, they might
still be alive today. Don't confuse wearing a helmet with biking safely. An
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It's better to not get hit.
That's what real bicycle safety is about.
As
for following the law, most people are already aware that it's stupid to
race through a red light when there's cross traffic, so the "follow the law"
advice isn't that helpful because it's too obvious. What you'll find here
are several scenarios that maybe AREN'T that obvious.
The other problem with the "follow the law" message is that people may think that's all they need to do. But following the law is not enough to keep you safe, not by a long shot. Here's an example: The law tells you to ride as far to the right as is practicable. But if you ride too far to the right, someone exiting a parked car could open their
door right in front of you, you'll be less visible to motorists pulling out of driveways and parking lots, and motorists coming from behind may pass you way too closely in the same lane because you didn't make them change lanes. In each of these cases you could have been following the law, but could still have been hit.
Obviously, cruising through a stop sign when there's no cross traffic isn't necessarily dangerous, but we can't recommend that you do so, because it's against the law, not because it's unsafe. You should understand the difference. By all means follow the law, but understand why you're doing so. This page doesn't focus on the law, it focuses on how to not get hit by cars. Now let's see how to do so.
How to avoid this collision: 1. Get a headlight. If you're riding at night, you should absolutely use a front headlight. It's required by law, anyway. Even for daytime riding, a bright white light that has a flashing mode can make you more visible to motorists who might otherwise Right Cross you. Look for the new LED headlights which last ten times as long on a set of batteries as old-style lights. 2. Honk. Get a loud horn and USE IT whenever you see a car approaching (or waiting) ahead of you and to the right. If you don't have a horn, then yell "Hey!" You may feel awkward honking or yelling, but it's better to be embarrassed than to get hit. Incidentally, the UK requires bells on bicycles. 3. Slow down. If you can't make eye contact with the driver (especially at night), slow down so much that you're able to completely stop if you have to. Sure, it's inconvenient, but it beats getting hit. Doing this has saved my life on too many occasions to count. 4. Move left. Notice the two blue lines "A" and "B" in the diagram. You're probably used to riding in "A", very close to the curb, because you're worried about being hit from behind. But take a look at the car. When that motorist is looking down the road for traffic, he's not looking in the bike lane or the area closest to the curb; he's looking in the MIDDLE of the lane, for other cars. The farther left you are (such as in "B"), the more likely the driver will see you. There's an added bonus here: if the motorist doesn't see you and starts pulling out, you may be able to go even FARTHER left, or may be able to speed up and get out of the way before impact, or roll onto their hood as they slam on their brakes. In short, it gives you some options. Because if you stay all the way to the right and they pull out, your only "option" may be to run right into the driver's side door. Using this method has saved me on three occasions in which a motorist ran into me and I wasn't hurt, and in which I definitely would have slammed into the driver's side door had I not moved left. Of course, there's a tradeoff. Riding to the far right makes you invisible to the motorists ahead of you at intersections, but riding to the left makes you more vulnerable to the cars behind you. Your actual lane position may vary depending on how wide the street is, how many cars there are, how fast and how close they pass you, and how far you are from the next intersection. On fast roadways with few cross streets, you'll ride farther to the right, and on slow roads with many cross streets, you'll ride farther left.
How to avoid this collision: Ride to the left. Ride far enough to the left that you won't run into any door that's opened unexpectedly. You may be wary about riding so far into the lane that cars can't pass you easily, but you're MUCH more likely to get doored by a parked car if you ride too close to it than you are to get hit from behind by a car which can clearly see you.
How to avoid this collision: Don't stop in the blind spot. Simply stop BEHIND a car, instead of to the right of it, as per the diagram below. This makes you very visible to traffic on all sides. It's impossible for the car behind you to avoid seeing you when you're right in front of it.
If you chose spot A, then ride quickly to cross the street as soon as the light turns green. Don't look at the motorist to see if they want to go ahead and turn. If you're in spot A and they want to turn, then you're in their way. Why did you take spot A if you weren't eager to cross the street when you could? When the light turns green, just go, and go quickly. (But make sure cars aren't running the red light on the cross street, of course.) If you chose spot B, then when the light turns green, DON'T pass the car in front of you -- stay behind it, because it might turn right at any second. If it doesn't make a right turn right away, it may turn right into a driveway or parking lot unexpectedly at any point. Don't count on drivers to signal! They don't. Assume that a car can turn right at any time. (NEVER pass a car on the right!) But try to stay ahead of the car behind you until you're through the intersection, because otherwise they might try to cut you off as they turn right. While we're not advocating running red lights, notice it is in fact safer to run the red light if there's no cross traffic, than it is to wait legally at the red light directly to the right of a car, only to have it make a right turn right into you when the light turns green. The moral here is not that you should break the law, but that you can easily get hurt even if you follow the law. By the way, be very careful when passing stopped cars on the right as you approach a red light. You run the risk of getting doored by a passenger exiting the car on the right side, or hit by a car that unexpectedly decides to pull into a parking space on the right side of the street.
How to avoid this collision: 1. Don't ride on the sidewalk. When you come off the sidewalk to cross the street you're invisible to motorists. You're just begging to be hit if you do this. Keith Vick was killed this way in Austin, TX in Dec. 2002. 2. Ride to the left. Taking up the whole lane makes it harder for drivers to pass you to cut you off or turn into you. Don't feel bad about taking the lane: if motorists didn't threaten your life by turning in front of or into you or passing you too closely, then you wouldn't have to. If the lane you're in isn't wide enough for cars to pass you safely, then you should be taking the whole lane anyway. Lane position is discussed in more detail below. 3. Glance in your mirror before approaching an intersection. (If you don't have a mirror, get one now.) Be sure to look in your mirror well before you get to the intersection. When you're actually going through an intersection, you'll need to be paying very close attention to what's in front of you.
How to avoid this collision: 1. Don't pass on the right. This collision is very easy to avoid. Just don't pass any vehicle on the right. If a car ahead of you is going only 10 mph, then you slow down, too, behind it. It will eventually start moving faster. If it doesn't, pass on the left when it's safe to do so. When passing cyclists on the left, announce "on your left" before you start passing, so they don't suddenly move left into you. (Of course, they're much less likely to suddenly move left without looking, where they could be hit by traffic, then to suddenly move right, into a destination.) If they're riding too far to the left for you to pass safely on the left, then announce "on your right" before passing on the right. If several cars are stopped at a light, then you can try passing on the right cautiously. Remember that someone can fling open the passenger door unexpectedly as they exit the car. Also remember that if you pass on the right and traffic starts moving again unexpectedly, you may suffer #3, the Red Light of Death. Note that when you're tailing a slow-moving vehicle, ride behind it, not in its blind spot immediately to the right of it. Even if you're not passing a car on the right, you could still run into it if it turns right while you're right next to it. Give yourself enough room to brake if it turns. 2. Look behind you before turning right. Here's your opportunity to avoid hitting cyclists who violate tip #1 above and try to pass you on the right. Look behind you before making a right-hand turn to make sure a bike isn't trying to pass you. (Also remember that they could be coming up from behind you on the sidewalk while you're on the street.) Even if it's the other cyclist's fault for trying to pass you on the right when you make a right turn and have them slam into you, it won't hurt any less when they hit you.
How to avoid this collision: 1. Don't ride on the sidewalk. When you come off the sidewalk to cross the street, you're invisible to turning motorists. 2. Get a headlight. If you're riding at night, you should absolutely use a front headlight. It's required by law, anyway. 3. Wear something bright, even during the day. It may seem silly, but bikes are small and easy to see through even during the day. Yellow or orange reflective vests really make a big difference. I had a friend ride away from me while wearing one during the day, and when she was about a quarter mile away, I couldn't see her or her bike at all, but the vest was clearly visible. Reflective leg bands are also easy and inexpensive. 4. Slow down.
If you can't make eye contact with the driver (especially at night), slow
down so much that you're able to completely stop if you have to. Sure, it's
inconvenient, but it beats getting hit.
How to avoid this collision: 1. Never, ever move left without checking your mirror or looking behind you first. Some motorists like to pass cyclists within mere inches, so moving even a tiny bit to the left unexpectedly could put you in the path of a car. 2. Don't swerve in and out of the parking lane if it contains any parked cars. You might be tempted to ride in the parking lane where there are no parked cars, dipping back into the traffic lane when you encounter a parked car. This puts you at risk for getting nailed from behind. Instead, ride a steady, straight line in the traffic lane. 3. Use a handlebar mirror.
If you don't have one, go to a bike shop and get one.
How to avoid this collision: 1. Get a rear light. If you're riding at night, you absolutely should use a flashing red rear light. Bruce Mackey (formerly of Florida, now head of bike safety in Nevada) says that 60% of bike collisions in Florida are caused by cyclists riding at night without lights. In 1999, 39% of deaths on bicycles nationwide occurred between 6 p.m. and midnight. [USA Today, 10-22-01, attributed to the Insurance Institute for highway safety] Bike shops have red rear blinkies for $15 or less. These kind of lights typically take two AA batteries, which last for months (something like 200 hours). I can't stress this item enough: If you ride at night, get a rear light! 2. Choose wide streets. Ride on streets whose outside lane is so wide that it can easily fit a car and a bike side by side. That way a car may zoom by you and avoid hitting you, even if they didn't see you! 3. Choose slow streets. The slower a car is going, the more time the driver has to see you. I navigate the city by going through neighborhoods. Learn how to do this. 4. Use back streets on weekends. The risk of riding on Friday or Saturday night is much greater than riding on other nights because all the drunks are out driving around. If you do ride on a weekend night, make sure to take neighborhood streets rather than arterials. 5. Get a mirror. Get a mirror and use it. If it looks like a car doesn't see you, hop off your bike and onto the sidewalk. Mirrors cost $5-15. Trust me, once you've ridden a mirror for a while, you'll wonder how you got along without it. My paranoia went down 80% after I got a mirror. If you're not convinced, after you've used your mirror for a month, take it off your bike and ride around and notice how you keep glancing down to where your mirror was, and notice how unsafe you feel without it. 6. Don't hug the curb. This is counter-intuitive, but give yourself a little space between yourself and the curb. That gives you some room to move into in case you see a large vehicle in your mirror approaching without moving over far enough to avoid you. Also, when you hug the curb tightly you're more likely to suffer a right cross from motorists who can't see you.
How to avoid this collision: 1. Get a headlight. If you're riding at night, you should absolutely use a front headlight. It's required by law, anyway. 2. Slow down. Slow down enough that you're able to completely stop if necessary. 3. Don't ride on the sidewalk in the first place. Crossing between sidewalks can be a fairly dangerous maneuver. If you do it on the left-hand side of the street, you risk getting slammed as per the diagram. If you do it on the right-hand side of the street, you risk getting slammed by a car behind you that's turning right. You also risk getting hit by cars pulling out of parking lots or driveways. These kinds of accidents are hard to avoid, which is a compelling reason to not ride on the sidewalk in the first place. And another reason not to ride on the sidewalk is that you're threatening to pedestrians. Your bike is as threatening to a pedestrian as a car is threatening to you. Finally, riding on the sidewalk is illegal in some places. (In Austin, those places are the Drag, and downtown on 6th St. and on Congress). If you do plan on riding on sidewalks, do it slowly and EXTRA carefully, ESPECIALLY when crossing the street between two sidewalks.
Even worse, you could be hit by a car on the same road coming at you from straight ahead of you. They had less time to see you and take evasive action because they're approaching you faster than normal (because you're going towards them rather than away from them). And if they hit you, it's going to be much more forceful impact, for the same reason. (Both your and their velocities are combined.) How to avoid this collision: Don't ride against traffic. Ride with traffic, in the same direction. Riding against traffic may seem like a good idea because you can see the cars that are passing you, but it's not. Here's why:
There's one possible exception to riding the wrong way. When you're riding in the country on narrow, high-speed roads, it may be helpful to ride against traffic so you can see what you're up against. Compared to city traffic, country traffic is likely to have less roadspace for bikes and cars to share. That being the case, riding the wrong way allows you to bail into the shoulder if a car doesn't see you. You don't have problem #1 above because side traffic is rare, and #2 is avoided because you're riding primarily along one road and not turning right. Country traffic is more likely to be sparse, which means that you may have the ability to switch to the "correct" side of the road when a car approaches you from ahead. I did a 100-mile ride with a friend once, continually switching from the left-hand side of the road to the right-hand side depending on whether traffic was approaching us from ahead or behind, since a vehicle passed us only once every several minutes -- but when it passed us, it was doing 70mph+, and we wanted to be as far away from it as we could. But remember that vehicles will still approach you faster when you ride the wrong way, and it's still illegal. It's your choice. |
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Avoid busy streets.
One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they start biking is to take the exact same routes they used when they were driving. It's usually better to take the streets with fewer and slower cars. Sure, cyclists have a right to the road, but that's a small consolation when you're dead. Consider how far you can take this strategy: If you learn your routes well, you'll find that in many cities you can travel through neighborhoods to get to most places, only crossing the busiest streets rather than traveling on them. Light up. Too obvious? Well, if it's so obvious, then why do most night-time cyclists ride without lights? Bike shops have rear red blinkies for $15 or less. Headlights are just as important as rear lights. Look for the new kind with LED's since they last ten times as long on a set of batteries as old-style lights. Ride as if you were invisible. Assume that motorists don't know you're there and ride in such a way that they won't hit you even if they don't see you. You're not trying to BE invisible, you're trying to make it irrelevant whether cars see you or not. If you ride in such a way that a car has to see you to take action to avoid hitting you (e.g., by their slowing down or changing lanes), then that means they will definitely hit you if they don't see you. But if you stay out of their way, then you won't get hit even if they didn't notice you were there. On very fast roads cars have less time to see you because they're approaching so fast. Of course, you should avoid fast roads in the first place if at all possible, unless there's plenty of room for a car and a bike side by side. And if there IS such room, then on fast roadways, you can practice invisibility by riding to the extreme right. If you're far enough right that you're not in the part of the lane the cars are in, then they'll zoom by and won't hit you, even if they never saw you. (exceptions to riding on the extreme right are noted below) Here's another example: It's a good idea to signal a left turn, but it's a better idea to make your left turn at a time or place where there aren't cars behind you that could hit you while you're stopped and waiting to make that turn. You can hang out in the middle of the street, stopped, with your left arm out, waiting to make your turn, but you're counting on cars behind you to see you and stop. If they don't see you, you're in trouble. Naturally we don't advocate running red lights, but if you're the kind of person who does, then apply the invisibility principle when deciding on whether to run a particular light: Could any cross traffic possibly hit me if I were invisible? If yes, then absolutely don't do it. Never make a car have to slow down to avoid hitting you (red light or not). Remember, the more you rely on cars to see you to avoid hitting you, the more chances they'll have to actually do so. Remember, you're not trying to BE invisible, you're just riding with the assumption that cars can't see you. Of course, you certainly want them to see you, and you should help them with that. That's why you'll wave to motorists whom you think might be about to pull out in front of you, and why you'll be lit up like a Christmas tree at night (front and rear lights). There are exceptions to riding as though you were invisible. For example, often you'll need to command a whole lane of traffic instead of riding to the extreme right, for the reasons mentioned in the next section. |
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This
is one of the most common ways to get hit (or almost get hit). A car is
pulling out of a side street, parking lot, or driveway on the right.
Notice that there are actually two possible kinds of collisions here: Either
you're in front of the car and the car hits you, or the car pulls out in
front of you and you slam into it.
A
driver opens his door right in front of you. You run right into it if you
can't stop in time. If you're lucky, the motorist will exit the car
before you hit the door, so you'll at least have the pleasure of smashing
them too when you crash, and their soft flesh will cushion your impact.
You
stop to the right of a car that's already waiting at a red light or stop
sign. They can't see you. When the light turns green, you move forward, and
then they turn right, right into you. Even small cars can do you in this
way, but this scenario is especially dangerous when it's a bus or a semi
that you're stopping next to. An Austin cyclist was killed in 1994 when he
stopped to the right of a semi, and then it turned right. He was crushed
under its wheels.
Another
option is to stop at either point A in the diagram above (where the first
driver can see you), or at point B, behind the first car so it can't turn
into you, and far enough ahead of the second car so that the second driver
can see you clearly. It does no good to avoid stopping to the right of the
first car if you're going to make the mistake of stopping to the right of
the second car. EITHER car can do you in.
A
car passes you and then tries to make a right turn directly in front of you,
or right into you. They think you're not going very fast just because
you're on a bicycle, so it never occurs to them that they can't pass you in
time. Even if you have to slam on your brakes to avoid hitting them, they
often won't feel they've done anything wrong. This kind of collision is very
hard to avoid because you typically don't see it until the last second, and
because there's nowhere for you to go when it happens.
A
car coming towards you makes a left turn right in front of you, or right
into you. This is similar to #1, above. Austin cyclists hit this way
include
You
innocently move a little to the left to go around a parked car or some other
obstruction in the road, and you get nailed by a car coming up from behind.
A
car runs into you from behind. This is what many cyclists fear the most, but
it's not the most common kind of accident (except maybe at night, or on
long-distance rides outside the city). However, it's one of the hardest
collisions to avoid, since you're not usually looking behind you. The
best way to avoid this one is to ride on very wide roads or in bike lanes,
or on roads where the traffic moves slowly. Austin cyclists
You're
riding on the sidewalk and cross the street at a crosswalk, and a car makes
a right turn, right into you. Cars aren't expecting bikes in the
crosswalk, so you have to be VERY careful to avoid this one.
You're
riding the wrong way (against traffic, on the left-hand side of the street).
A car makes a right turn from a side street, driveway, or parking lot, right
into you. They didn't see you because they were looking for traffic only on
their left, not on their right. They had no reason to expect that someone
would be coming at them from the wrong direction.