Cycling Etiquette
WRITTEN 12 June 2008
As I've written before the sport of cycling is booming. Local club racing attracts nearly 200 riders a week and the Lake Taupo cycle challenge now attracts upwards of 12,000 riders every November. �Riding a bike is now a very cool thing to be doing, for many reasons. To save petrol, to get fit or to avoid the bore of the gym.
When I first started riding in 1995 cycling was a minority sport and it was a tight knit community. �While riding the common cycling strip of Tamaki Drive you would always wave at your fellow cyclist, they'd be the guy you would see at your local club race who would chew you out if you did not wave back. Now if someone waved at me I think my gut reaction would be "do I know you?". �Scarcely anyone waves these days. But beyond a simple wave nobody knows how to ride anymore, or that there is cycling etiquette that should be followed. When I started out I rode with a school team and I joined a club. �Through both of these networks I learnt from older riders the do's and dont's of cycling etiquette.
�I find my frustration levels on most local bunch rides now reach levels of near internal combustion. �The last time I rode the Mechanics Bay bunch I had to peel off due to my levels of annoyance. �As nearly 200 of us swarmed along Tamaki drive we had only got as far as St. Heliers when I had nearly been doored. The difference is that in the old days people raced to race and any bunch ride was merely for training (perhaps with the occasional crossing sprint). �As most "cyclists" now do not race, these bunch rides have become their weekly hammer session, and in that process all etiquette has been lost.
- DO:
- Point out potholes/car doors
- Call out when slowing for lights
- If in a massive bunch stop for red lights
- WAVE back if a cyclist waves at you
- Wait for people at the top of climbs, or if they puncture
- DO NOT:
- Wear underwear under your shorts
(very important lesson learnt as a 12 year old
from older, male club member who shall go nameless) - Half wheel (ultimate in rudeness unless you really dislike the person riding with you)
- Smack about in the big ring all day every day (to ride fast you need to learn to pedal fast)
- Hammer up on the inside of a bunch whilst racing and expect people to move for you
I learnt all the above and more from older, grumpier, wiser riders in both the club and school teams I rode with. �But your average cyclist (a wealthy professional 30-50 year old male) generally does not belong to a club and has not learnt any of these lessons. �Anything they do learn they gain from their other �non club member mates and from the Mechanics Bay world champs and other similar shambolic bunch rides that permeate roads all over the country. There are now so few "old school" grumpy racing cyclists to correct these bad habits. �Now the critical mass think it is ok to half wheel, to smack about in the big ring, to jump red lights and to let pot holes go unpointed. To try and correct these ever-spreading bad cycling manners would be near impossible but I would argue it is worth a try. I recommend that those of you who are out there who know what I mean go on the Mechanics Bay group ride and scream whenever�a set of lights get jumped or a pot hole goes unpointed. Unless we speak out I fear any etiquette will be lost forever in a swarm of 2xU cycle shorts and carbon fibre.
