photo credit: striatic

Other than a bicycle the only other piece of equipment you MUST have to ride your bike is a helmet. It’s funny how times have changed. When I was a kid they didn’t even HAVE bike helmets. Now they do, and if you’re going to ride a bike you better have a helmet. While it may not be a law where you are to wear a bike helmet, it is the most important thing you can do to stay safe on your bike.

What’s the Best Bike Helmet?

Here’s the deal on bike helmets, like most things in cycling you can pay from $19 to a couple hundred and nineteen dollars for a bike helmet. Some things in cycling spending more money will get you better quality gear, but with helmets, that’s not necessarily the case.

All bike helmets must meet the exact same safety requirements, whether it’s a $19 dollar Walmart helmet or a couple hundred at the bike shop, they all must meet or exceed the national safety standards.

The best bike helmet is really one you can afford. As a beginning cyclist, and even as an endurance cyclist a cheaper helmet is a perfectly acceptable way to go. It can be a great place to save a little money to put toward a better bike or better components.

The best bike helmet is one that fits!

The second thing that makes the best bike helmet is fit. If your helmet doesn’t fit properly it will not do its job properly and protect your head during a crash. Here’s a few things you want to identify to make sure you have a proper fitting bike helmet.

• comfortably touching the head all the way around
• your helmet is level on your head ~ not tipped back
• under chin strap should be comfortably snug
• the rim should be barely visible when you look up
• the side Y straps should meet just below your ear
• when you move the helmet back and forth/side to side the skin around the eyes should move a little
• push up on the front of your helmet with your palm. If it moves more than an inch it needs adjusting
• shake your head, if your helmet comes loose it needs to be adjusted
• remember not all helmets fit all heads, so try another if one doesn’t fit

Those tips should help you find not only an affordable helmet but one that fits properly. Those are the two things that you need to consider when you are looking for the best bike helmet.

photo credit: Shayan (USA)

Yesterday my hubby came in from his bike ride and exclaimed “I’ve encountered my first hostile driver.”  I asked him what happened and he said this lady in a car buzzed by him with only a couple inches between him and the car. He said it scared the crap out of him, which is saying a lot since he isn’t flustered by much.

I have yet to run into a hostile car driver, but they are definitely out there. It doesn’t seem to matter if you live in a cycling friendly city or a cycling hostile city ~ the mad drivers are out there.

Recently in the Wichita Eagle this was posted in the opinion section:

While we’re riding there’s not much we can do to counter such blatant hostility, but once you are home and safe, what can you do to help foster better relationships between cyclists and cars?

Many communities, including Wichita have created groups to help get the word out and let the community know that cyclists really do have a voice, and we are not blocking traffic, we ARE traffic.

A guy in San Francisco was hit by a Prius a couple months ago and decided to take out an ad on Craigslist:

You hit me with your Prius

Me – Bicyclist, heading to jury duty on 10th Street, Friday at 8:50am.
You – Prius driver, crossing over two lanes, hitting me with your car and speeding away.

I was hoping we could catch up for a cup of coffee, so I could get your views on the environment, and strangle you.

Not sure this is the best way to deal with hostile drivers, but he does make his point. It can be very frustrating for cyclists to try to deal with hostile drivers, who not only have bigger vehicles but can very easily kill us with their aggressive behavior and attitudes.

What do you do to deal with or manage aggressive drivers? I’d love to hear your best tips.  Please feel free to leave them in the comments section below.

photo credit: Jule_Berlin

If you find you have to bike after dark there are some significant things you can do to bike safely in a time where it is much harder to see cyclists. Here are some tips that wil help you bike safely after dark.

Ride familiar, well lit paths.

Part of being safe on a bicycle is feeling confident and comfortable on your bike. This is especially true when it comes to riding after dark. A big part of feeling comfortable on your bike comes from being in familiar territory. Stick to rides you are familiar with and are well lit and you will feel more confident from the get go.

Tail lights.

Considering people who really need to see you will be coming at you from behind it is really important to make sure you can be seen from the back. This is where tail lights come in. You can get tail lights in a wide price range, but remember visibility is the key. There are some that are reflector, and there are some strobe rear tail lights. Both offer different benefits and it wouldn’t hurt to have both. You can also use the strobe tail lights for the back of your helmet. It’s always nice to have more than one way to get noticed.

Headlights:

Being able to see where you are going is a huge part of staying safe while riding your bike after dark. This is where headlights come in. You can spend a relatively small amount of money on a headlight, but remember this is what you are going to see with. You want to make sure you get one that is bright. If you get a cheap headlight you will find it’s pretty easy to overdrive the light, which leaves you in a difficult place while you’re trying to get where you’re going.

Reflective Tape:

Reflective tape is the night rider’s best friend. You can put it on just about any and every part of your body creating greater visibility for you and your bike.  A couple must have locations for reflective tape are:

ankles: the movement of your feet will be easy to see and draw attention to you.

Helmet: put a strip around the back of your helmet, this will be eye level to the driver and easy to see.

Clothing: put it on your clothing in a way that will be easy to see.

Reflective Clothing:

This is another option that will help people see you. Choosing reflective clothing, both for day and night time riding can be a great way to make yourself more visible on the road.  You can get high visibility yellow for your jerseys and other riding clothes. This is like the color from a yellow highlighter and will be highly visible in the night.

Being alert:

One of the most important things you can do to stay safe while biking at night is to stay alert. You have to be aware of your surroundings, alert to the road conditions in front of you, as well as highly aware of what is coming up behind you. Whether riding in the day or night, being alert will be your greatest weapon to stay safe on a ride.

Follow the rules of the road:

As a cyclist you are considered a vehicle, and being a vehicle you need to make sure you follow the rules of the road. This is never more true than at night. When you are less visible it is more important to follow traffic laws, like stopping for lights and stop signs  and riding with traffic. Cars will have even more trouble seeing you than during daylight hours so following the rules of the road will help you stay safe.

Biking at night can be a fun adventure, in fact, there are rides available that take place completely after dark, the key to staying safe is making sure you do everything in your power to make sure everyone else can see you, and you can see the road.

I immediately slowed down ~ I guess thinking I didn’t want to get ripped off my bike by this dog. Not sure what I thought I was gonna do about it once my bike stopped and I was faced with this dog, but that’s what I did instinctively. Turns out I know this dog ~ but this dog doesn’t know me on a bike. The owner yelled for the dog to get back in the yard and he turned around and went back in his yard.  I then went back on my merry way, with my heart rate slightly elavated.

This situation turned out fine but there are tons of riders whose stories end much differently.  From being attacked and bitten to a friendly dog turning unexpectedly and knocking them off their bikes and causing serious injury. At some point, no matter where you ride ~ whether it’s in the middle of nowhere like me, or in the suburbs or the city you will run into dogs, and it is a good idea to have a mental strategy mapped out before it happens to you.

What do you do when you run into a dog?

Seems there are about as many strategies for dealing with dogs as there are riders. But there seems to be a couple different strategies that abound when it comes to dealing with a crazy dog.These strategies seem to have almost as much to do with YOU as they do with the dog in question so let’s answer a few questions first.

1. Are you comfortable with dogs?

2. Are you willing to cause bodily harm to a dog if it comes to that?

3. Are you phobic of dogs?

Let’s break down each strategy now.

Remember that every single interaction with a dog is different and one plan will probably NOT work for all of them, but being prepared mentally, I think, is half the battle.

If you are comfortable with dogs:

1.  Stop your bike, and get off.

2. Position your bike between you and the dog

3. Yell LOUDLY at the dog to stop, sit, go home or whatever else comes out of your mouth ~ just watch for little kids if it turns ugly.

This strategy works pretty well for a few reasons.

When you stop your bike you are no longer something to chase ~ you have to be moving to be chaseable. That takes half the game out of it right there.

Positioning your bike between you and the dog gives you something like the lion tamers chair ~ you can use your bike as a weapon if it comes to that, but it probably won’t

By yelling you become the “big dog”, if you seem tough the dog will usually listen to you.

Physical Deterrants

The next strategies may involve some injury (minor) to the dog, but can help you get away from a dog that is attacking or chasing you.

1. Keep some pebbles on you, throw them at the dog in a spray when it comes near you. (Golf balls have also been recommended for this purpose if you can get them for free)

2. Spray the dog in the face with your water bottle ~ if it has gatorade it in ~ all the better.

3. Pepper spray. There are different kinds of pepper spray designed specifically for bike riders ~ they have clips to be easily accessible. Just be aware that not all dogs will respond to pepper spray, so don’t let it make you feel invincible.

Phobic of Dogs?

If you are seriously afraid of dogs the chances of you slowing down and getting off your bike are probably slim to none, so I would suggest you employ some of the techniques from the physical deterrent section as well as standing up and pedalling fast. It’s pretty hard to out run a dog ~ they can run really fast ~ but if you throw something at them it may give you a few seconds to get your move on.

I will say if you decide to bike away as fast as possible make sure anyone riding in front of you is using the same strategy to deal with the dog.  I recently read a story of a dog phobic biker running into the back of her biking partner because he employed the stop and yell method. She ended up hurt pretty badly, so it’s a good idea to talk with your riding partners about what they would do and plan accordingly.

These are the things it seems most bikers are using depending on how they feel about dogs. I recently read a suggestion to throw biscuits at the dog, but this really isn’t a great idea. You will teach the dog to hang out in the road, where he could get hit. This will also teach the dog to look for treats from riders/runners and not everyone may be as generous or friendly as you.

I’d love to hear your strategy for what to do when you’re chased by a dog while riding your bike, so please ~ leave your stories, both good and horror in the comment section below.