A Road1 mini-lesson

Matt, one of my co-workers, has decided to take up bicycle commuting. For the first week, he rode his old mountain bike, but quickly discovered that knobby tires and low gearing aren't a 'go fast' combination. He bought a new Specialized road bike.

And I'm answering lots of questions. It's like teaching Road1 5 minutes at a time.

Yesterday he wanted me to look at his tires. He had questions about proper inflation. I did the spiel about keeping tires at the right pressure in order to prevent pinch flats and have the tires last longer. When I looked at his new bike, a prominent bulge jutted out from his back tire. I pointed it out to him and he took the bike into the shop for a replacement.

This morning, he hit a drainage grate and flatted coming in to work. Of course, he doesn't have a pump, spare tube, tire levers, or patch kit. He called his wife to pick him up and get him to work.

It's a teachable moment.

I told him to see that his tire label lines up with the valve hole. Then, when he has a flat, He can use the punctured tube to determine where to look inside the tire. If the puncture is on the outside of the tube at 2 o'clock relative to the valve, for instance, look inside the tire if nothing is apparent on the outside. Sometimes a tiny glass shard or piece of wire will be found inside the tire though there's no obvious hole on the outside.

I warned him about punctures near a mold line in the tube. Even if you carefully sand it down, most patches won't hold air.

I offered to give him a tire boot for those long cuts through a casing. Simply installing a new tube won't get you home because it pushes out through the cut and punctures immediately. I told him that he could boot a tire with an old piece of another tire, a length of duct tape, or even a dollar bill if it's not wet.

He bought a floor pump, so I ran him through the ABC Quick check. A = air. Check your tire pressure because they leak down quickly, sometimes overnight. B = brakes. There should be a finger's width of space between the brake lever and handlebars when the brakes are fully applied. If it hits the bar, the brakes need to be adjusted. C = chain and cranks. See that the chain is in place, and pedal very gently at first to see that nothing is misaligned. Finally, Q = quick releases. Put them in the same place every time so you can see at a glance that they're still closed.

Gosh, we're having fun!

Tulsa Tough Kids...

Kids1 Presentations

Monday and Tuesday evenings, the Tulsa LCI group did Kids1 presentations at Webster High School and Carver Middle School in Tulsa. Actually, we're offering an amalgam of Kids1 and Kids2 in the League of American Bicyclists curriculum because the kids who attend these events will receive new bicycles through the Tulsa Tough program. We want them to be prepared to ride safely.

The LCI group consists of Ren Barger, Gary Parker, Brian Potter, and me for these events. We followed the Crime Commission's “Safe Escape” program which teaches kids how to avoid abduction. Safe Escape is a free presentation they offer to any interested organizations in the Tulsa area, and to be blunt, it's a tough act to follow. We're bland and boring by comparison.

Watching Gary and Ren work with the kids is always enjoyable. They both have the light touch that develops almost instant rapport. Brian does the 'expert instructor' role, and I provide comedy relief. I'm lucky to have straight guys like these.

We watched 'A Child's Eye View' which is a short video on cycling safety produced by LAB. Gary asks the kids to watch for the mistakes the kids in the video make, and they're on it like hawks. He doesn't tell them what to look for – he merely asks, “What did you see?” The kids don't miss much. They tell us of a kid riding on the wrong side of the road, running stops signs, riding without a helmet, and riding out onto the street without scanning for traffic first. Honestly, they didn't miss a single mistake.

I was lucky to have Jordan along on Monday evening. On the drive to Webster, I told him to expect a question about how taking Road1 and learning the rules of the road helped him when he took his driver's license test. Brian called on him during the lecture and Jordan responded very well. Afterward, six or eight kids gathered around to ask him more questions. The LCIs are impossibly old by kids standards, but Jordan is closer to their age and easily approachable. I think he was a bit surprised by the attention.

Today (Wednesday) we get to assemble those new bikes – all 300 of them. Last year, we had an enormous group of mechanics, box haulers, pizza technicians, and other support people. The team assembled 200 bikes in about 90 minutes. I'm hoping it goes as quickly tonight.

In May, we'll do the skills and drills portion and the kids will get their new bikes and helmets. That will be intense because we'll have 3 classes each day. After that, there's a planning meeting for the tech support staff, and the two-day Tulsa Tough event itself. I've been having short nights and long days already, and I'm only peripherally involved in the Tough. Those more centrally involved must be working their butts off!

So if you participate in any of these big events, whether it's a local charity ride or a big racing weekend, take a moment to thank the volunteers. And don't be surprised if you find one of us fast asleep in a chair during a quiet moment.

Tulsa Tough Kids Events

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The first of the Tulsa Tough Kids Challenge events will kick off on Monday, April 21st.


Tulsa Tough Children’s Hospital Tough Kid’s Challenge

The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis has once again provided the opportunity for kids to win a free bike, helmet and t-shirt through Tulsa Tough. This year 3rd, 4th and 5th grade-aged children are eligible for the program. To receive the bike children must complete a Safe-Escape class conducted by the Crime Commission along with a bicycle handling skills class conducted by the League of American Bicyclists. Kids will then pick up their bikes at the Skills and Drills class and are required to participate in a Tulsa Townie ride on Sunday June 1st at Tulsa Tough. All kids events are free. Parents are encouraged to ride with their kids by signing up for the Townie ride.


Register online at www.tulsatough.com or call the Crime Commission at (918) 585-5209.

Tulsa Tough Kid's Challenge Registration

Registration for the Tulsa Tough Kid's Challenge opens tomorrow, April 7th. Children in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade can receive a free bicycle, helmet, T-shirt, and instruction by completing the Tulsa Tough events. Please note that registration is on a first come, first served basis, and that children registered after the initial 300 will be added to a waiting list.

(From the website)
http://www.tulsatough.com/site/tulsatough/section/19


The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis has once again provided the opportunity for kids to win a free bike, helmet and t-shirt through Tulsa Tough. This year 3rd, 4th and 5th grade-aged children are eligible for the program. To receive the bike children must complete a Safe-Escape class conducted by the Crime Commission along with a bicycle handling skills class conducted by the League of American Bicyclists. Similar to last year, kids will then pick up their bikes on Saturday and participate in a Tulsa Townie ride on Sunday June 1st at Tulsa Tough. All kids events are free. Parents are encouraged to ride with their kids by signing up for the Townie ride.

1. Register on this website.

2. Attend one of three Safe Escape/Bike Ed trainings

Join KJRH anchor Russ McCaskey, Sports Anchor Jason Shackleford and the team from the Crime Commission at one of these presentations:

April 21st 7:00-8:30pm Webster High School 1919 W. 40th St. Tulsa
April 22nd 7:00-8:30pm Carver Middle School 624 E. Oklahoma Pl. Tulsa
April 28th 7:00-8:30pm Memorial High School 5840 S. Hudson Ave Tulsa
Parents are encouraged to attend with their children.

3. Attend one of the Skills and Drills Classes!

Certified instructors will be on hand to teach children bicycle riding skills. Classes are available as follows:

Saturday, May 10th at the Space Center III,
8:30AM Helmet Fitting, Bike Fit/Check, 9:00-11:00AM Skills and Drills Class 1
10:45AM Helmet Fitting, Bike Fit/Check, 11:15-1:15PM Skills and Drills Class 2
1:00PM Registration, Helmet Fitting, Bike Fit/Check, 1:30-3:30PM Skills and Drills Class 3

Sunday May 18 at the Space Center III,
12:00PM Helmet Fitting, Bike Fit/Check, 12:30-2:30PM Skills and Drills Class 4
2:15PM Helmet Fitting, Bike Fit/Check, 2:45-4:45PM Skills and Drills Class 5
4:30PM Helmet Fitting, Bike Fit/Check, 5:00-7:00PM Skills and Drills Class 6

4. Participate in the 8-mile Tulsa Tough Tulsa Townie ride on Sunday June 1 at 1PM!

The Tough Kids Challenge, presented by The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis, is designed to encourage physical fitness and introduce youth to lifelong health activities.

Registration is on a first come, first served basis. Children registering after the initial 300 will be added to a waiting list. The actual bike each child receives will be based on their height and availability, bikes will be available at the Skills and Drills class.

Registration opens Monday, April 7th.

Braze and Bracket at the Tulsa Bicycle Club

The Tulsa Bicycle Club graciously hosted Brian and me as “Braze and Bracket” with Mike Schooling as the ringmaster of our improvised circus. We talked about a program called “Go by Bike” designed to encourage people to use their bicycles for utility and commuting, rather than just recreation. This was all loosely based on the ideas in the Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge.

In all seriousness (seriosity?) we know that speaking to a bike club is preaching to the choir. They're already experienced and knowledgeable cyclists, but we want them to be a resource for others who are less knowledgeable. Rising fuel costs always put more people onto their bikes in an effort to save money. We want those knowledgeable club cyclists to be informed enough to answer simple questions, yet aware of other resources like the LCI group where they can find information in depth.

All in all, it was an interesting hour that went by too quickly. We used a who-what-when-where format that encouraged questions. Ringmaster Mike kept us on track, because otherwise we would have rambled on far longer.

We also talked about the Tulsa Tough and the kids BikeEd events associated with it, and upcoming Road1 classes on April 26^th and June 6^th.

There was some discussion of the construction at the Haikey Creek bridge (the locally infamous 'FEMA' bridge) and I used that as a springboard to solicit information for the INCOG bicycling advisory group. It's simply not possible for the committee members to be aware of details on every trail and roadway cyclists use throughout the INCOG service area, so we rely on individual cyclists and clubs to provide us with that information.

Tulsa Tough Bikes and Kids

(Forwarded from Adam with his permission to use contact information)

The Crime Commission and Tulsa Tough has secured a location at the Space Center at 38th/Memorial. The facility is a large 10,000 + square foot warehouse with plenty of room, electricity, and restrooms. It will provide enough room for bicycle storage, an assembly party, and skills and drills class. The warehouse location is a secured and safe environment for many young kids that will be eager to learn about bicycle safety and proper riding! The skills & drills Kids 1 is scheduled for Saturday Mary 10th and Sunday May 18th. We will need all the help we can recruit from LCI's and any experienced volunteers that would like to assist. I anticipate we will need around 25 adults.
Please contact me ASAP.

Adam Vanderburg

NIMO61(at)SBCGLOBAL.NET

Take the lane (Revised)

By Brian P and Ed W...

One of the primary concepts in BikeEd is lane-positioning. A cyclist should always maintain a safe distance from the gutter pan or parked cars, a minimum of 3 to 4 feet. And motorists in Oklahoma are required to provide at least 3' passing distance when overtaking a cyclist. A little math tells us that if we add 3 feet from the gutter pan, 2 feet for the cyclist, and 3 feet for the minimum safe passing distance, we get 8 feet. Most cars are at least 6 feet wide. Therefore, a shareable lane can be no narrower than 14 feet. Keep in mind that in Oklahoma, lanes are rarely wider than 12 feet. That's where defensive lane-positioning comes in.

(Image from Bicycling is Better, with an excellent discussion of lane positioning.)

"Taking the lane" increases safety and visibility. Both new and experienced cyclists are often reluctant to try this. It seems counter-intuitive that by moving further to the left, one decreases the risk of collision, but when cyclists try the technique, they're astonished to discover how effective it is. Lane positioning communicates whether it's safe to pass or not. When a cyclist is in the middle of a narrow lane, he's telling drivers behind him that there isn't sufficient space to share the lane side-by-side, and that they'll have to yield to traffic in the adjacent lane before overtaking. When the cyclist moves further to the right, he's indicating it's safe to overtake. A cyclist should NEVER ride too far right (i.e., hugging the fog line, the curb, or even the gutter pan) because it invites motorists to 'sgueeze by' in the lane regardless of safety. On a 2-lane road, the passing motorist might be forced to choose between a head-on collision or running over a cyclist. In short, improper lane-position is a good way to get squeezed off the road.

Earlier today I read a comment by 'Siouxgeonz" on "Commute by Bike" about her introduction to lane-positioning. (Her own blog is "Urbana-Champaign Bicycle Commute".) Here's what she had to say:

I was reluctant to claim the lane at first, in a huge part because so many of the people who wrote to say it was the right thing to do seemed to emphasize "making a statement," and I so much don't want to make a statement that people can talk about in my eulogy...Now, I cringe whenever I hear somebody say "but I worry about the one who doesn't see me" and hugs the line, because so many more people *don't* see you when you're doing that. It's a perceptual thingŠ

I, too, learned to take my lane with a baptism in fire on a busy road...Two of us were riding and my friend noted that the drivers were buzzing by awfully closelyŠ which (my silly verbal mind; it takes words to make anything happen) made me think "oh, yea! I've read that if we move outŠ" so we did.

Danged if suddenly the drivers didn't get a whole lot better at giving us room! Instant education! And we weren't dead center; just crossing into that "you're in the car part" threshold.

We stopped for a bite to eat, and when we started riding again, the drivers forgot how to pass us again. Oops, make that we were too far to the right, because as soon as we nudged out againŠ the drivers got better. Amazing how educable they are! (Used by permission of Siouxgenoz.)

Some cyclists think that it's rude or arrogant to take the lane. Some think the practice antagonizes motorists unnecessarily. My response to that it is simple. Safety always trumps convenience. Nothing in the law requires anyone on the road to do something they know is unsafe, and hugging the fog line or gutter is definitely not safe. Yes, overtaking motorists may have to slow down and wait to pass. The law requires them to do so. A cyclist who asserts his lane position increases everyone's safety. Stop worrying about impeding traffic and realize that you have a right to use the road in safety and comfort the same as any other road user.

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