Cycling Savvy Course in Orlando

Last night Jason and I attended The Truth and Techniques of Traffic Cycling. This 3-hour classroom session is one part in the Cycling Savvy Course. This course is designed to show students simple strategies to eliminate obstacles and ride with ease and confidence in places they might never have thought possible.

It was great to review the bike laws in our state/city, including how to interpret the new mandatory bike lane use). We also discussed traffic dynamics and problem-solving strategies for safely riding on the road, even at night or in the rain. Keri is a great teacher with plenty of first hand experience and the video footage to prove it. Through a series of flash animations and videos of cyclists riding on our local roads, we could really see how to apply the principles to ride safer in our community.

This weekend we will attend the Bike Handling portion of the course, which involves a set of progressive drills designed to increase control and comfort handling our bikes in various situations. The course culminates next weekend with an experiential Tour of Orlando roads, where will apply our knowledge and skills to real life situations in our community.

If you have been wanting to ride your bike around Orlando more, I highly recommend you take this course. It will help you gain confidence and the skills you need to make cycling safe and enjoyable. Even though we already knew most of the laws and strategies for riding on the road, and we've been doing that for a while, we still learned a lot. Riding on the road is still not 100% comfortable for me. Smart route planning solves the problem most times; I'm hoping this course will do the trick for the rest and I won't be afraid to tackle any road.

Upcoming Class Offerings:

• Train Your Bike — Saturday 7/17 @ 8-11 am
• Train Your Bike — Sunday 7/18 @ 8-11 am
• Tour of Orlando — Saturday 7/24 @ 9 am - noon
• Tour of Orlando — Saturday 7/31 @ 9 am - noon

They will be scheduling more classes soon, so visit CyclingSavvy.org for details on the course and upcoming class offerings, and sign up today! :)

ETA: If you do not live in Orlando but would like to attend something similar, check out the Bike Education page at League of American Bicyclists site for options in your state. They have a lot of information online and you can search for upcoming classes or instructors in your area.