Keri Caffrey is an active spokesperson for cycling in Orlando. Along with her numerous appearances and her website, she was a member of our Pedestrians and Cycling in Orlando Panel back in March 2010. She also had a table at Saturday's One Less Car event. She spoke with me briefly about the cycling courses she offers that show cyclists how to ride properly in Orlando traffic. I've heard her speak, met her, spoken with her and seen her videos of her cycling in full-on Orlando traffic. The woman knows cycling. And in this town, she's a cyclist's best ally. Sign up now for her three-part course in October called Cycling Savvy . Below is the schedule.
Train Your Bike
Saturday, 10/2 from 8-11am
Location: Orlando Arena
This session is conducted in a parking lot. It consists of a set of progressive drills designed to increase students’ control and comfort handling their bikes in various situations. Drills include:
Start/Stop, Power Pedal & Balance Stop
Snail Race, Slow-speed Balance
Drag-race, Gears & Acceleration
Ride Straight, One-handed
Shoulder Check
Object-avoidance Handling, Weave, Snap
Turning: Slow-speed Tight Turns, High-speed cornering, Emergency Snap-turn
Emergency Braking
63% of Florida adult cycling hospitalizations do NOT involve a motor vehicle. Many are crashes with fixed objects, pavement hazards, pedestrians, animals or other cyclists, and could be avoided with better bike-handling skills.
This session is available รก la carte. You may take it as a stand-alone class. In three short hours, you will learn to command your bike with precision and confidence.
Truth & Techniques
Thursday, 10/7 from 6-9pm
Location TBA
Through guided discussion with video and animation, this session familiarizes students with bicycle-specific laws, traffic dynamics and problem-solving strategies. Students discover that bicycle drivers are equal road users, with the right and ability to control their space. Bicycling is very safe and with a few simple techniques, you can make your own cycling virtually conflict-free.
Tour of Orlando
Saturday 10/9 from 9am – 12:30pm
Location: Colonialtown loop through downtown
This session is an experiential tour of Orlando roads. The course includes some of the most intimidating road features (intersections, interchanges, merges, etc.) a cyclist might find in his/her travels. The students travel as a group, stopping to survey and discuss each exercise location. After observing the feature, discussing the traffic dynamics and the best strategy for safe and easy passage, the students ride through individually and regroup at a nearby location.
This session is designed to give you the confidence and skills to handle any situation you might encounter.
The object of the course is not to turn people into road warriors, but to give them access to the entire transportation grid. In many cases, it is only an intimidating intersection or short stretch of busy road which hinders a cyclist’s preferred route. This course is designed to show students simple strategies to eliminate obstacles and ride with ease and confidence in places they might never have thought possible.