Traffic skills offerings for new riders through our shops?
Oh you crazy guys and gals! Here's a quick process point and a then a serious question below.
I appreciate the underlying humor in the bike bickering (The Gross post) here, and now that probably no one is reading this, and that I'm procrastinating more immediate tasks here at Bici Centro (in S.B., California) I'll put in my thoughts.
First off, we are all professionals here whether paid/unpaid, sleeping in abandoned buildings or starting a familly with a morgage, and we should treat people at our shop and on this disscussion list with respect ALWAYS, so I would reccomend that lively disagreement emails begin:
"I can see how (person x) makes this point, but I really disagree. The point I would like to offer is..."
At our shop- and I imagine all of ours, we deal with some real characters, sometimes threatening and belligerent. For this reason in our line of work/volunteerism 'de-escallation' skills are a must. In other words If you can't calmly and politely send out of the shop the mentally ill person who just called one of your volunteers a 'fuck-face' then you probably have no place in a community bike shop, or at least in ours here in Santa Barbara. We should probably illustrate the same interpersonal skills via email.
*The Real POINT:* While Jonathan's point about anything getting more people on bikes is a good one, the conversation doesn't end there. Whether a rider is a fashionista buying a bike from urban outfitters (which by the way, is a pretty cool technology, why not let people buy bikes in the colors they want?) or a struggling day laborer, (or a fashionista day laborer, which we have a lot of, actually), New bicyclists can be dangerous not because of fixed gear risks but because of traffic and the challenge or sharing the road. When people bicycle unsafely in endangers them, and all of us, because road rage is real, and motorists who feel disrespected or can't read riders predictibly, are probably more likely to take risks next to cyclists. We're not in Copenhagen after all, and it is about 10 times more dangerous to ride in the U.S. then Northern Europe. We have a paradox that faces us. More riders does equal greater safety for all riders(eventually), but in the meantime, putting people on bikes without a good concept of 'street skills' is unfair to the cyclists we claim to support. (or do you disagree?)
In short, and perhaps as a different discussion chain: In what ways do your shops try to connect riders to bicycle safety education. (street skills training specifically).
For example in Santa Barbara we partner with our Bicycle Coalition and help fill seats in the League of American Bicyclists Classes, which are paid 10 hour workshops. The format isn't perfect, but we are really working to evolve our education program - going so far as to launch a chicago style 'bicycle ambassadors' program with bike buddies and other non-bike gear resources for aspiring cyclists.
Here's our street skills sign up page for reference: http://www.sbbike.org/CycleSmart/apply.html
I'd love to see some answers and some (hopefully respectful) disagreement!
by the way, My favorite point from the last email chain:
Bikes are poetry, let people read what they like!
-- all the Best, -- Ed France, Bici Centro Director www.bicicentro.org 805 617-3255 .......__o .......\ <, ....( )/ ( )"We may go to the Moon, but that is not very far. The greatest distance we have to cover still lies within us." -Charles de Gaulle
Damn. I totally thought this email was a response from the person I emailed at the San Francisco Bike Coalition. One of our volunteers told me that they offer League classes for free. Or for free to their members, I'm not sure/she's not sure which.
We've got one Traffic Skills 101 class lined up at our shop. It's also paid, but most of the money will go to the instructor, who is not really related to our organization, just a friend and compatriot bike person. We've also got a slew of people who have taken that class, and will be taking the LCI class (League Certified Instructor) in October, so we'll then be able to offer the class internally and at whatever cost we want to pass on.
We were initially thinking it will be a money making endeavor for the shop, but with the knowledge that the SFBC offers it for free, I'm wondering if they get funding somehow from an outside group to be able to offer the classes for free/free to members, and still have it make money.
I will definitely post back when I hear.
I'm also interested in taking this discussion to the next level and talking about how to keep the people on bikes once we've/urban outfitters has gotten them on one. And how do we do it safely and responsibly. Both for their safety and our own.
josh.
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 1:04 PM, Edward G France edfrance@bicicentro.orgwrote:
Oh you crazy guys and gals! Here's a quick process point and a then a serious question below.
I appreciate the underlying humor in the bike bickering (The Gross post) here, and now that probably no one is reading this, and that I'm procrastinating more immediate tasks here at Bici Centro (in S.B., California) I'll put in my thoughts.
First off, we are all professionals here whether paid/unpaid, sleeping in abandoned buildings or starting a familly with a morgage, and we should treat people at our shop and on this disscussion list with respect ALWAYS, so I would reccomend that lively disagreement emails begin:
"I can see how (person x) makes this point, but I really disagree. The point I would like to offer is..."
At our shop- and I imagine all of ours, we deal with some real characters, sometimes threatening and belligerent. For this reason in our line of work/volunteerism 'de-escallation' skills are a must. In other words If you can't calmly and politely send out of the shop the mentally ill person who just called one of your volunteers a 'fuck-face' then you probably have no place in a community bike shop, or at least in ours here in Santa Barbara. We should probably illustrate the same interpersonal skills via email.
*The Real POINT:* While Jonathan's point about anything getting more people on bikes is a good one, the conversation doesn't end there. Whether a rider is a fashionista buying a bike from urban outfitters (which by the way, is a pretty cool technology, why not let people buy bikes in the colors they want?) or a struggling day laborer, (or a fashionista day laborer, which we have a lot of, actually), New bicyclists can be dangerous not because of fixed gear risks but because of traffic and the challenge or sharing the road. When people bicycle unsafely in endangers them, and all of us, because road rage is real, and motorists who feel disrespected or can't read riders predictibly, are probably more likely to take risks next to cyclists. We're not in Copenhagen after all, and it is about 10 times more dangerous to ride in the U.S. then Northern Europe. We have a paradox that faces us. More riders does equal greater safety for all riders(eventually), but in the meantime, putting people on bikes without a good concept of 'street skills' is unfair to the cyclists we claim to support. (or do you disagree?)
In short, and perhaps as a different discussion chain: In what ways do your shops try to connect riders to bicycle safety education. (street skills training specifically).
For example in Santa Barbara we partner with our Bicycle Coalition and help fill seats in the League of American Bicyclists Classes, which are paid 10 hour workshops. The format isn't perfect, but we are really working to evolve our education program - going so far as to launch a chicago style 'bicycle ambassadors' program with bike buddies and other non-bike gear resources for aspiring cyclists.
Here's our street skills sign up page for reference: http://www.sbbike.org/CycleSmart/apply.html
I'd love to see some answers and some (hopefully respectful) disagreement!
by the way, My favorite point from the last email chain:
Bikes are poetry, let people read what they like!
-- all the Best, -- Ed France, Bici Centro Director www.bicicentro.org 805 617-3255 .......__o .......\ <, ....( )/ ( )"We may go to the Moon, but that is not very far. The greatest distance we have to cover still lies within us." -Charles de Gaulle
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Edward G France -
veganboyjosh＠gmail.com