Urban Bike Skills Course

I recently attended the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition's 2-day Urban Bike Skills class and I'm totally blown away by how awesome these guys are! I would definitely recommend this class to anyone who is a beginner cyclist in SF.

To start, the classes are free - all you need to do is go to their website and register. The first day is a 4-hour classroom discussion of street laws and skills necessary to ride safely around the city. They have handouts, slideshows and videos to supplement the lecture.

The second day is an outdoor class --- a chance to practice the skills learned in the classroom. This was my favorite part of the course. The first half was held at Golden Gate Park, where we had different "practice stations." In short, we practiced how to (1) look behind while riding, without swerving to the side (not as easy as it sounds!) (2) making a sudden complete stop without skidding (3) how to quickly avoid something on the road while making a minimal change in your course (4) making a sudden right/left turn to avoid a collision. (I totally sucked at all of them, btw. But practice makes perfect, of course...)

The second part of the day is actually on the road. We had enough instructors so that each instructor had 2 students (and there were probably about 15 of us, more or less). We took a route around the Golden Gate Park area during the afternoon --- first run was led by the instructor, showing us the right way to change lanes, make left turns, stay visible, when to "take the lane" etc. On the second run, it was the students' turn to lead, and a chance for the instructors to see how well we learned.

At the end of the course, the instructor spent time with each student to discuss those things we did well, or on those points where we need to improve. They even have a checklist and a grading system for it!

In short, these guys really know what they're doing and they are serious about educating cyclists. They aren't just "going through the motions" in teaching this class. It is their goal to educate people so that we can be safe on the road and that (through riding responsibly) we can be "ambassadors" for all other cyclists.

Thanks, guys! Keep up the great work!!!