In honor of Bike Month and the Group Health Commute Challenge, we’re putting together a series of videos that follow first-time bike commuter Stacey (weird, she looks a little bit like me) as she prepares for and starts riding her bike to work. Here’s the first installment to get things started:
[...] for advice to get ready for their first commutes by bike. For one take on how to be prepared, here’s a good video from the folks at Cascade Bicycle [...]
Is this supposed to speak to the 60% of potential riders who are “interested but concerned” about riding? This is not the advice I’d give.
First of all – choosing a bike. Does someone who hasn’t cycled recently have two perfectly-maintained bikes to choose from? More likely one neglected bike with a dry chain and two flat tires sitting in the basement. It doesn’t matter what kind of bike it is – just drag it out and take it to a shop to get it inspected and cleaned up.
Do you really think most commuters will be riding on nice smooth pavement? My 2-mile route to work is peppered with potholes. Riders need to anticipate a few bumps and rough spots. And I would advise first-time riders to check out their proposed route on a weekend before committing to ride to work. Route-finding tools don’t distinguish well between separated paths, bike lanes, sharrows and just plain streets. The “interested but concerned” folks I know are terrified of riding in traffic, and may need to (horrors!) ride on the sidewalk or just get off and walk on scarey stretches of road.
Does a first-time rider really need a spare inner tube? Do you have to be able to change a tube in order to ride?
and I’m sorry, your Mrs. Montgomery character is unnecessarily weird and offensive.
This video seems aimed more at recreational cyclists considering a new use of the bike than at reluctant new riders.
I beg to differ — Mrs. Montgomery is the highlight of the video (sorry Stacey)!
What kind of bag do you have, Stacey?
Wow – hard to know just where to begin. Just how did you manage to fit so much fail into one video?
I carry less gear and wear more relaxed clothes for a 3hr off-road MTB ride. Can I suggest you visit a few places where LOTS of people commute by bike – namely, anywhere in Europe apart from the UK – and see how you need only the following:
A cheap bike. Preferably 30 years old, battered and more or less theft-proof, with fully enclosed chain and full mudguards.
Normal clothes.
That’s it.
This video does nothing to dispel the image of cycling as something only for people rich enough to afford all that stuff and weird enough to be seen in public wearing it.
(Sorry Stacey, I’m sure you are a lovely person, but the director(s) really do need to be shot. Or at least taken out the back and beaten with a flourescent vest).
@Jake: The bag is an Ortlieb Flight
.
@Meriln and @Mike Stead: We’ve got a Video, Photo and Story contest going on (http://blog.cascade.org/2011/04/contest/) …make a video and show us how you’d do it! Seriously. We’re having fun with these Bike Month videos and warmly welcome good-hearted efforts to show other ways of getting a bike commute going.
(And btw—we never said both of those bikes were perfectly maintained. You should have seen the tires on that mountain bike!)
It’s a fun video, but is she touring France or just going to work? The costume and all the gear & supplies might be off-putting. A bike with a full chain cover and a briefcase should do the trick.
I want to echo Stacey’s call for people to make their own video and submit it to the contest. It’s obvious biking around Seattle that cyclists have distinct styles. The video is simply one way to prepare for a ride, and for some people, especially less-experienced and first-time commuters, the extra gear and preparation is really helpful. Yes, you can hop on a bike in a skirt and carry all the gear you need in a purse, cycle chic-style, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to. If someone is more comfortable and more likely to ride if they wear bike specific gear and carry tools, then thats great, right?
For example, this winter I started wearing waterproof pants for the first time, and it’s been awesome. I now ride when otherwise I would have taken the bus. Do you need waterproof pants to bike to work? No.
Maybe the messaging needs to be tweaked, but there’s a lot of great advice to take from the video and it directly address many of the apprehensions a new commuter might face. Make a video for new commuters showing how you get ready to ride or how to address some common barriers to biking.
what do we think fat people should wear when pedaling – knicks seem like a turn off for me
Hi Stacey,
How far is your commute, in both distance and time it takes you?
How about you remake the video, showing yourself in your normal work clothes, getting onto a proper commuter bike – one with an enclosed chainguard, nice upright handlebars and a carrier/basket.
If I filmed my commute, it would be me in jeans, collared shirt and Tweed jacket, no helmet, no tools, riding out my drive to the train, then from the train to my work in London. Maybe 3 miles of cycling all-up, but if you doubled or tripled that all it would mean was another 15 minutes ride. I wouldn’t change clothes or require a toolkit.
I argue that no-one has to cycle so far and up so many hills that they *need* professional cycling gear. People cycletour hundreds of miles a day in ‘normal’ clothes. There’s a massive industry and vested interests from your local bike shop to sell you all this cack. It’s off-putting. No-one’s going to lay out $300 to buy all this stuff just to try cycle commuting for a week.
Cheers
Mike
Mike:
I concur with everything in your statement – no you do not need to look like you are riding the Tour de France….. – respectfully with the exception of: no helmet
Perhaps if you are riding on flat terrain, not likely around here, you MAY not need one. However – as its not likely that you will be riding flat – its more likely that you will be at least some decents, and you will be riding in traffic. If you crash and burn with no helmet, chances are very good that you are going to suffer cranial injury. I have been riding (commuting) for a number of years now – when I started, I felt like you do – no helmet necessary, they look doofy, they smoosh your hair, etc. Until – I met a person that I work with, that had the unpleasant experience while commuting, of having a thoughtless (and brainless) individual open their car door without looking. My friend was launched like a human projectile, and hit so hard that his helmet split in two. He was OK, his helmet was not. If he had not been wearing the helmet, it would have been his skull that was split asunder. he is a very careful rider, was riding in accordance with the law, and has been riding for many years. IF you are riding in traffic as you should be, and not on the sidewalk, for your commute, the helmet is not optional equipmnent – (and its the law).
[...] it is — the second in Cascade’s very own Bike Month video series. Please note: These videos are not meant to be a comprehensive overview of everything a first-time [...]
[...] case you missed them, here’s where to catch video #1 and video #2 in the [...]
Riding with groups of people is good to start with. Helps to boost courage while your out there navigating with vehicles.