Bicycle Education: So Much More than Safety

Published November 16, 2009 by C.I.C.L.E.
By Shay Sanchez

C.I.C.L.E.’s latest workshop, Creating Great Places to Bike!, marks the first in a series of workshops that will take a look at the bicycle facilities and policies that make our cities pleasant (and safe) places to live and ride.

C.I.C.L.E. has targeted education programming as one of our primary strategies to boost the rate of city bicycling in the Los Angeles area. There’s a good reason for this too. In our many outreach efforts, we’ve learned that many of the barriers that keep people from getting on their bikes are easily addressed through hands-on and personalized instruction and education.  

Now when we say “bicycle education”, we’re not just talking about quick stops and smart lane positioning. For some reason, bicycle education has been limited (for the most part) to the realm of safety. It’s not that we don’t value safety. If you’ve come through one of our workshops, you know that we emphasize it at every turn. But, in our minds, the domain of bicycle education extends beyond safety and riding technique. Which is why we’ve tailored our Bikes in the City education program to include workshops that cover lifestyle issues, utilitarian gear and accessories, motivational strategies, etc. And over the years we have successfully transformed many beginning bicyclists into confident and competent city bicyclists.

Living a Bicyclist Lifestyle consists of so much more than knowing how to ride safely on our streets, and bicycle education should touch upon the many interests and issues that we’re all so passionate about. Bicyclists are interested in environmental and social issues, increasing the quality of life in our cities, strengthening our advocacy and activism, bettering our health–the list goes on.  And, C.I.C.L.E. is excited about broadening our education program to explore this longer list of issues that we, as bicyclists (or would-be bicyclists), care about.

Our latest new workshop, Creating Great Places to Bike!, marks the first in a series of workshops that will take a look at the bicycle facilities and policies that make our cities pleasant (and safe) places to live and ride. As Los Angeles area residents continue the push toward creating bicycle-friendly communities, it’s important that we possess a clear and sensible vision for our cities. And in order to create this vision, it’s important to know what possibilities exist.  

Join us this Thursday as Joe Linton takes you on a tour of the exciting world of bicycle facilities. You’ll enjoy a basic introduction to bike facilities and get an up-close look at progressive and successful solutions that have worked to create people-friendly and livable communities around the nation and the world.

Workshop Details:

Creating Great Places To Bike!
Presented by C.I.C.L.E.’s Joe Linton
Thursday, November 19th : 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Location: Los Angeles Eco-Village, 117 Bimini Place, LA 90004

From bicycle lanes to bike boulevards, chicanes to road diets–get immersed in the world of hot bicycle and walking facilities that are creating great places to live and bike.

Learn what facilities can make streets safer and more convenient for bicycling (and walking.) Enjoy a tantalizing talk, a sexy slide show, short-n-sassy films, and handy-dandy handouts. Plus, as a special offer, we’ll even throw in a Q & A segment absolutely free!

Here’s just a sampling:
What the heck is a road diet, and will it help me lose weight?
What's the difference between a bike path, a bike trail, a bike route and a bike lane?
What are cycletracks? sharrows?
Why is traffic calming all the rage, and how does it work?
And, OH SO MUCH MORE!

Free to C.I.C.L.E. members
Suggested Donation $5 (no one turned away for lack of funds)

Write info@cicle.org or call 323.478.0060 for more info.