My wife and I attended the
CyclingSavvy course in St. Louis this past Friday and Saturday, something I've been wanting to do ever since I heard about the course over 2 years ago. We did the classroom session on Friday evening, and then the parking lot drills Saturday morning, and the Tour of St. Louis ride in the afternoon. Weather couldn't have been better, with a mix of sun and clouds and temps in the upper 70's. In June!
I thoroughly enjoyed the course. I was definitely the most experienced cyclist in attendance. Pretty much everyone else (all women other than one woman's 15 y.o. son) were beginners of some level or another. Even though I've been putting CS principles into practice for a couple of years now, there was still more to learn.
For those who think CS teaches dogmatic vehicular cycling, you are absolutely mistaken. CS is geared towards transportation cycling (which is why I'm posting in the Commuting forum), but the principles can be used by anyone and everyone who rides on public roads, for any reason. What CS does is try to identify and convey what the hazards are on public roads, and then teach principles that can be used to avoid those hazards, avoid crashes, as much as possible. You may prefer bike lanes, or quiet side streets, and that's just fine. But sometimes you might have to use part of a larger, busier road to connect the smaller roads you want to be on. CS teaches you how to safely and EASILY traverse those larger roads without any problems from motorists or anyone else. Maybe you even prefer to use the sidewalk for a short distance. With CS you're better equipped to recognize the hazards of sidewalk riding, so that you can still make it safely to your destination.
For example, we went from the mall parking lot on the right here, through 3 traffic lights under this massive interchange, and turned left onto another side street (Eager Road).
https://goo.gl/maps/n2DYH Using CS principles it was quite easy. One of the ladies who goes through this area in her car every day even said it was LESS stressful on her bike than it is in her car. And there was just as much traffic with the mall as there is on a weekday rush hour.
I learned some new techniques such as "right on green", meaning waiting to turn right until the light turns green (move left in the lane to let right on red motorists by you, if you want). This gives you an almost empty road which is useful if you have a left turn coming right up. Much easier than turning right into the right lane and then having to negotiate through adjacent lanes with passing traffic.
I would highly recommend CyclingSavvy to anyone who uses their bike for transportation, or for any purpose really. It can and does change people's lives.
