Cycling is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation or sport. This topic will give you information on how to cycle safely, tips on how to improve your performance and plans that will enable you to log your training.

1. http://www.fitango.com/categories.php?id=574
Fitango Education
Health Topics
Biking

2. 1
Overview
Cycling is the use of bicycles for
transport, recreation or sport. This topic will give
you information on how to cycle safely, tips on
how to improve your performance and plans that
will enable you to log your training.

3. 2
Biking to work
While there are many advantages to biking
to work, what about the logistics? How do bikers
carry their “stuff,”
factor in the extra time needed to shower and
change clothes at work, run

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Biking to work
errands after work (like grocery shopping), let
alone manage to pick up a child
from school? For many people, biking to work is
simply not feasible. But for
those who really want to, there are creative ways
around these challenges.
Schubauer-Berigan lives seven miles from

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Biking to work
work, and it takes her about 35 minutes to bike to
Hamilton. She is grateful
that CDC has health and fitness facilities, enabling
her to take a shower and
change clothes after biking to work in the morning.
She doesn’t bike to work

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Biking to work
every day because she needs at least one day a
week to “haul in the heavy
stuff.” Two packs on the rear of her bike can
accommodate her groceries (when she
makes a stop after work) and also carry a change
of clothes and other items.

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Biking to work
She keeps toiletries and a pair of work shoes in a
locker at work. Encrypted
flash drives on the Citgo network enable her to
minimize the paperwork that she
needs to carry home on the one day a week when
she teleworks.

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Biking to work
**Avoiding the Pitfalls**
Perhaps the greatest challenges that bikers
face—are drivers on the road. Bikers generally
categorize three major areas of
difficulty: When a driver sideswipes a biker while
trying to pass; “dooring”—when

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Biking to work
**Avoiding the Pitfalls**
someone who’s parallel parked on the street opens
their driver side door; and
when a driver coming from the opposite direction
wrongly makes a turn directly
in front of a cyclist, causing the biker to swerve and
possibly lose control.

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Biking to work
**Avoiding the Pitfalls**
Cyclists are advised to protect themselves
by not hugging the curb. When bikers ride close to
the curb, drivers tend to
squeeze in between the center line and the cyclist,
and that can cause a
collision.

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Biking to work
**Avoiding the Pitfalls**
Some drivers don’t know how to react to a
cyclist on the road or how to drive around them.
Most cyclists would advise
auto drivers to slow down and be patient. Wait for
an opportunity to pass a
biker and allow plenty of room. Treat the bike as if
it were a slow-moving

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Biking to work
**Avoiding the Pitfalls**
vehicle, and don’t honk the horn, as that can be
distracting.
Cyclists are often their own worst enemy,
says Schubauer-Berigan, when they don’t adhere
to the traffic laws or when they
drive recklessly, such as weaving in between cars.
“When I ride with other

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Biking to work
**Avoiding the Pitfalls**
people, we’re sticklers about following all the
traffic rules, stopping behind
a car at an intersection, just as if we were another
car. Now, that also means
that we’re dependent on drivers behind us to treat
us kindly, as it takes a
little while for us to get going.”

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Safety tips
**Safety Tips:**
-- Ride in a straight line, obey traffic signs
and signals, and do not weave in and out of traffic.
Riding predictably reduces
your chances of a crash with a motor vehicle.

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Safety tips
**Safety Tips:**
-- Look, signal and look again before
changing lanes or making a turn. Establish eye
contact with drivers. Seeing a
driver is often not enough. Make sure drivers see
you before executing a turn
or riding in front of a turning car.

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Safety tips
**Safety Tips:**
-- Watch out for car doors. Be prepared for
the possibility that a car door may be opened in
your path. When possible,
leave room between yourself and parked cars (3
feet is generally recommended)
so that you can avoid a door that opens
unexpectedly.

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Safety tips
**Safety Tips:**
-- Stay visible. Wear brightly colored
clothing for daytime riding. At night, use reflective
materials and lights.
-- Use Your bell. Your bell alerts drivers,
pedestrians and other cyclists to your presence, it
is required by law.

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Safety tips
**Safety Tips:**
-- Don't wear earphones. By law you may wear
one earbud, but keeping your ears clear is a much
safer choice.
-- Wear a helmet. Helmets are required by law
for children age 13 or younger and working
cyclists, helmets are a good idea

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Safety tips
**Safety Tips:**
for cyclists of all ages.