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Road rash is a precious gift. Road rash is your friend.
Bask in it, appreciate it, love it. Above all, learn from it.
The bicyclist is under attack from all directions - the streets are ragged, the air is poison, and the drivers are angry. As if that weren’t enough, the urban cyclist must carry the weight of history along on every ride.
After a brief heyday at the turn of the twentieth century, American cyclists fell out of the social consciousness, becoming an afterthought when our cities were planned and built. Cyclists today are left to navigate, like rats in a sewer, through a hard and unsympathetic world that was not made for them. Yet, with the proper attitude and a bit of knowledge, urban cyclists can thrive in this hostile environment.
Author Robert Hurst dismantles the experience of urban cycling, slides it under the microscope, and examines it piece by piece. The primary concern of this book is safety, but Hurst goes well beyond the usual tips and how-to, revealing the bicycle’s historical truths and its pivotal role in the origin of the automobile, the psychology of blame and responsibility, the social advantage of communicating solidarity with drivers, and the economics of riding a bike. This book empowers readers with the big picture of bicycling - and gives riders useful insights to ponder while pedaling their next commute or grocery run. Riding a bike will never be the same.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780762727834
Publisher: Globe Pequot Press
Publication date: 7/1/2004
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 6.30 (w) x 9.00 (h) x 0.67 (d)

Meet the Author

Robert Hurst

Robert Hurst is a fifth-generation Front Ranger who was born in Colorado Springs, lived for eight years in Boulder, and currently resides in Denver. After racking up more than 3,000 days as a bike messenger, he wrote The Art of Urban Cycling: Lessons from the Street. He is also the author of Mountain Biking Colorado's San Juan Mountains: Durango and Telluride.

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The Art of Urban Cycling

Lessons from the Street

By Hurst, Robert

Falcon Press Publishing

Copyright © 2004 Hurst, Robert
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0762727837

...Road rash is a precious gift. Road rash is your friend. Bask in it, appreciate it, love it. Above all, learn from it...

...Even after a successful tuck-and-roll maneuver, the cyclist is left with a discomforting sense of the terrible force involved with hitting the street. The pavement is not soft. You never say to yourself, man, I want to try that again...

...The Door Zone is a brutal, sadistic taskmaster. The Door Zone is a total beeyotch.
Getting "doored," as it is universally known in the language of cycling, is a violent, completely unpleasant experience. Unfortunately, it's also a rite of passage for urban cyclists, who remain difficult to convince about the treacherous nature of the DZ until they experience it for themselves. Then they never want to go near a door again...

...Theoretically, the most effective stopping force that can be applied to a wheel comes at the moment just before the wheel locks up. This leads many to believe that the shortest stops will involve no skidding. On a bicycle, it doesn't work that way. The rear wheel skid is almost automatic when the front brake is applied correctly. Trying not to skid the rear wheel in a maximum stop is like trying to keep the eyes open during a sneeze...

...The cyclists' struggle for visibility has been a noble and long-fought effort. Problem is, it hasn't worked. No matter how much tinsel and ornamentation we attach to ourselves, no matter how many flashing beacons we strap to our backsides, no matter what previously unseen degree of neon insanity we manage to surpass in our jersey selections, some drivers continue to look right through us, as if we were-that's right--invisible.
The dream of visibility is a sweet siren's song that will, eventually, lead us into the rocks. Not that visibility is a bad thing, mind you, we all love visibility. It's just that an attitude of faith in visibility puts the rider on a slippery slope on the way to complacency, which is a very dangerous place for an urban cyclist to hang out...

...Consider the condition of some of the drivers locked in the typical urban traffic grid. They're trying to make a left turn, but all they see is an unbroken line of fast-moving vehicles coming at them, with no end in sight. They're late. They're hopped up on four cups of coffee. They're about to pee their pants. They've been waiting to make that left turn since the Mesozoic Era. Actually, they've been waiting about 30 seconds or so, but to them it seems like a very long time. Like the dinosaurs of the Mesozoic Era, their eyes are bigger than their brains. Suddenly, a small gap opens in oncoming traffic. They're going to hit that gap if it's the last thing they do. They stomp on the gas and crank the wheel. This is the Gap Effect in action.
One big problem, though-there's a cyclist in the gap, puttering along...

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Art of Urban Cycling by Hurst, Robert Copyright © 2004 by Hurst, Robert. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

	Foreword	xiii
	Acknowledgments	xv
	Introduction	xv
1	Frankenstein's Monster
	Continuum
	Bicycles in the Age of Manure: Leonardo to Starley	2
	The Bicycle Craze of the 1890s	3
	Chumps of the Road	10
	From Bicycles to Automobiles in Sixty Seconds	12
	Speed and Creed	14
	Barney Oldfield and the Arena of Death	15
	A Dark Wave Cometh	17
	Fake Gas Tanks	20
	Transportation and the Shape of Cities	22
	Automobile Suburbs	23
	The Creat Streetcar Massacre	24
	Congestion	26
	Enclosure	28
	Rage	33
	Cycling the New American City	34
	Invocation	35
2	The City Surface
	Pavement: Get Over It	40
	Responsibility and Surface Hazards	41
	The Great American Pothole	43
	Cracks and Seams	45
	Waves	47
	Lane Markers	47
	Wet Metal	48
	Drainage	49
	Railroad Tracks	51
	Toppings	52
	Plazas	54
	Curbs	55
3	In Traffic
	Beyond Vehicular Cycling	60
	Blame Versus Responsibility	64
	Vigilance	67
	Route Choice	70
	Road Position and Location	74
	The Invisible Cyclist	77
	Space Versus Visibility	78
	The Myth of Lane Ownership	79
	Running Green Lights	82
	Eye Contact, Stop Signs, and Fake Right Turns	84
	The Gap Effect	87
	Four-way Stops	89
	Momentum	91
	Notes on Traffic Lights	93
	Waiting at Traffic Lights	95
	Running Red Lights	99
	Left Turns	100
	Corner Cutters	101
	Looking Back	103
	Seeing without Looking	105
	Instinct Unveiled	107
	Turn Signals	108
	Hand Signals	109
	In Defense of Gutters	110
	The Door Zone	112
	Reading Parked Vehicles	115
	Close Combat: Positioning in Heavy Traffic	118
	Riding a Straight Line	120
	Track Stands	121
	Turning and Cornering	124
	Panic Stops	126
	Bicycle Lanes and Paths: Good or Evil?	130
	On the Bike Path	137
	Sidewalks and the Law	139
	Riding at Night	143
	Riding with Others	146
4	Bicycle Accidents and Injuries
	The Statistical Quagmire	150
	The Stats at a Glance	153
	Cycling Fatalities	154
	The Paradox of Experience	156
	The Accident Immune System	158
	Road Rash	159
	Collarbones	161
	How to Fall	163
	Facial Injuries	165
	Head Injuries	167
	Other Injuries	168
	Disclaimer	168
	The Helmet Controversy	169
	What Are Helmets Built For?	172
	Torsion Injuries	173
	The Helmet Verdict	174
5	Air Pollution and the Urban Cyclist
	A Historical Reality Check	178
	The Good News about Urban Air Pollution	180
	What Am I Breathing and What Does It Do to Me?	182
	Breathing Strategies for the Urban Cyclist	185
	Does Air Pollution Cancel the Health Benefit of Cycling?	188
6	Punctures and Flat Tires
	Flat Repair Equipment	192
	Fixing Flats: A Primer	193
	Broken Glass	196
	Tire Wiping	197
	Glassphalt	199
	Tribulus Terrestris	200
	A Thorny Dilemma	203
	Random Sharpies	204
	Pinch Flats	205
	Blowouts	206
7	Equipment
	The Cult of Equipment	210
	Bike Choice	213
	Track Bikes	215
	Bike Fit	217
	Tools	219
	Clothing	224
	Messenger Bags, Backpacks, and Panniers	226
	Drivetrain Maintenance	228
	Epilogue: Of Bicycles and Cities	232
	Chapter Notes	235
	Bibliography	243
	Index	245
	About the Author	253

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Anonymous

Posted June 14, 2004

A deeper discussion than any others I've read.

¿The Art of Urban Cycling¿ by Robert Hurst provides quite another level of understanding for bicycling in urban traffic. The author says, ¿I possess no desire to be the pied piper of urban cycling, leading fat American motorists down the wide curb lane to freedom. This is a book for folks who are already aware of the bicycle¿s magic.¿ And, ¿Urban cycling requires a high level of engagement, mental and physical.¿ He gives us interesting in depth discussions about several subjects ¿ from the chapter titled ¿Frankenstein¿s Monster¿, his perspective of the history of bicycling in America in relation to the growth of automobile use; through ¿In Defense of Gutters¿, to the epilogue ¿Of Bicycles and Cities¿ where he states, ¿. . .if cycling makes cyclists happier, it¿s not because cycling is easy.¿ The author criticizes what he calls the ¿old-fashioned vehicular cycling¿ approach to bicycling that relies on legal traffic behavior. But, he states that John Forester¿s principle, that ¿cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as operators of vehicles¿ is a ¿stellar guideline¿ (especially) ¿¿ next to the absentminded anarchy (of) many novices.¿ And then he explains that bicyclists should not expect or seek to force the proper or legal actions of others. ¿The most effective way for a cyclist to stay out of trouble on city streets is to ¿ take on full responsibility for his or her own safety.¿ This book goes beyond the basics and the tips to explore in more depth the issues and situations that explain why good bicycling is an art more than a science.
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The Art of Urban Cycling: Lessons from the Street

Overview

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

More About This Book

Overview

Related Subjects

Product Details

Meet the Author

Robert Hurst

Read an Excerpt

The Art of Urban Cycling

Falcon Press Publishing

Table of Contents

Rating Distribution

A deeper discussion than any others I've read.