Tripleshot Cycling

On a dark, rainy TTT this morning, we had a few instances where walkers crossed the street without looking, causing us to lock-up the brakes. Last week, I heard a maintenance truck was stopped at the stop sign and eventually led to a crash, and the week before that, someone was monitoring the cyclists going thru the Stop sign.

Suffice to say, we all need to be extra-vigilant and law-abiding before (at best) complaints get filed and we get asked to leave or (at worst) there's a MORE serious accident with a pedestrian or vehicle.

I don't have the best answers, but some things to consider:

1. Its fair to say most people don't have a feel for how fast cyclists are going (especially in the dark!). Even if they were looking up, its hard to gauge our speed from a distance, even more so when all they see are lights at this time of year.

2. The person in the lead and the person who has just pulled off have to keep an eye out, but its fair to say "Easier said than done"; I think we were all alert at the front today and we still had some close calls - I was doing my best and still didn't see someone in a black coat and pants until they were halfway across the road. Any help from behind is appreciated (tho its just as likely the person behind you could be staring at your wheel trying to hang on). In the dark, this is really hard for one person since (a) "Black is the new Black" in rain gear color, (b) people cross from either direction, and (c) people could be walking on the sidewalk then suddenly turn into the crosswalk without warning (probably assuming that because they don't hear a vehicle, they're OK).

3. It may be prudent to ride an extra 1-2m further from the curb as a buffer when approaching crosswalks or passing people on the sidewalk.

4. If in doubt, ease up (with a loud announcement and hand-motion so those behind you don't drive into your wheel) then let the group ease back up to speed once past the area. This is important near the stop sign when cars/trucks may be.

I know some people may suggest going back to BHP, but I thought that was worse (unless you don't care how many birds you run over.... ). The TTT is a good, hard workout and I'd hate to see it leave the UVic circle but if we're not careful, we may run into conflict soon.

TTT's are great for honing skills that apply in a more standard pack riding setting.

One of the the key rules is "don't stare at the wheel in front of you." Look up instead. Anticipate what the wheel in front will do by looking down the road. Riders on the back during TTTs should be looking for "walkers up" as much as the riders on the front. Walkers really don't realize that we move as fast as cars...I've been told by some of them that I know on campus how startled they are by our speed.

Thanks for the post, Greg. Important to keep all rides safe. Thursday's been a bit challenged lately, especially with the difficult maintenance person last week. My advice is stay back, take a license plate, be polite, and call it in to Campus Security. Catch it on film if it's safe and feasible.

The guy filming us was curious, a bit worried, but overall cool with us being there. I should note thanks to Mikael Jansson for having coffee with him and keeping good positive lines of communication open. Anytime people can do stuff to make the community feel good about Tripleshot and cyclists generally, seize the opportunity like Mikael did. Patrick made clear to Mikael that we're welcome on campus, subject to usual rules of the road which can be enforced by local police as on any public roads.

Ciao!
Martin