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Biking

Biking is good exercise, is fun, and you can learn many things from it. You should always wear a helmet, and if needed, pads or gloves. It depends what style of riding you're doing. If you are just biking around your neighborhood you probably don't need pads or gloves. If you are jumping or doing tricks or mountain biking, you should wear gloves and perhaps pads. No matter what kind of riding, you should always wear a helmet!

Safety: Why It's Important
General Safety
Bike Maintenance
Fun Biking
Bike Safety for Drivers

Safety: Why It's Important

Each year, in the U.S. there are around 800 deaths because of biking accidents and ½ million injuries in the emergency room because of biking.
If you wear a helmet, the likelihood of a head injury is 85% lower than if you weren't wearing a helmet, and for a brain injury, 88% lower likelihood of a brain injury than if you weren't wearing a helmet.

General Safety

Use a bike that is the right size and the right size forks (suspension), brakes, or tires.
Don't ride unsupervised or alone.
Wear reflectors if you are riding at night.
Always ride defensively: Which means to always assume that the cars don't know you're there or will give you the right-of-way, even though they should.
Remember to tie your shoelaces tight so they don't get caught in the chain which could cause you to fall off your bike.
If it is raining and you're riding your bike, DON'T SKID. Skidding can cause you to lose control and fall.
If you're riding on gravel or cobblestone ride and brake slowly and make as wide of a turn a possible.
ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET!

Bike Maintenance

It is important to take care of your bike for yourself and for your bike and how long it will last. Start taking care of it as soon as you can so it will stay in better condition and be safer.

Chains and Gears
- Keeping them clean- you can use an all purpose cleaner (I use Finish Line Concentrated Citrus Biosolvent™) which you can find at most bike shops.
- It is in a spray bottle and you put it on the chains and gears. Don't breathe in too much of the spray, because it is concentrated and can be bad for you. It is also flammable. You can also recommend this to your Mom or Dad to use on their bikes, cars, or anything else with gears and chains.
Oils
- You should clean, then oil your chain often because this will prevent it from jamming.
- Before every bike ride, hold your right brake, then your left and see if you can move the bike forward while holding only one brake and pushing hard. If you don't move while holding down the brake, your brakes are working. If you do move, you should adjust them or go to a bike shop to get them adjusted.
Tires
- Your tires should be almost rock-hard and if you have a flat, inflate your tires. If the tire becomes flat again, try to find a hole and bring it to a bike shop to get new tubing or tires. Usually, you just need new tubing.

Fun Biking

Riding with a friend can make biking much more fun. Here are some tips:

If your friends or parents don't bike (or don't want to), you can bike while they run, scooter, or rollerblade.
Bring water while you bike or make sure you will have access to water while you are riding.
Ride on trails or on the street.
Enter some bike races for kids or charity/ fun races with your parents or friends.
Try a triathlon (swim, bike, run) if you also like to swim and run.

Remember, the best way to have fun is to relax and ride safely. Wear a helmet, ride supervised, and it is a great hobby to enjoy because it keeps you healthy and fit along with eating healthy and having fun.
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Bike Safety for Drivers

If you drive a car, you are expected to share the road with bicycles. Many of the people on those bicycles are youth who deserve your protection and respect. Many of those children take a bicycle safety classes before they share the road with cars. In those classes, bicyclists are taught that a bike is like a car and needs to follow the same traffic rules.

Here is one DMV rule about bikes and turning left that all drivers of cars should know:

21202 (a) Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at that time shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway except under any of the following situations:
When overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction.
When preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.

Drivers — please follow some basic bike safety rules around bikes, especially near schools:

Check the bike lane. When turning right across a bike lane, always look behind you for a bicyclist. If someone is approaching, wait rather than trying to "beat" them.
Pass with ample room. You can cross the center line to pass a bicyclist safely, as long as oncoming traffic is clear (except over a double yellow line). Passing close, especially over 25 mph, is very scary for cyclists.
Don't honk to communicate with cyclists unless there's an emergency. If your horn sounds loud from inside your car, imagine how loud and shocking it is from just in front of it.
Be cautious in residential neighborhoods. Children riding bikes or running on the sidewalk may not see you. If you aren't slowing down before they cross the street, you could run them over.
Look for cyclists before opening your door. When parking on the street, make sure you're not opening your car door into the path of a cyclist.
Use good manners. Apologize if you make a mistake and it will go a long way. Eye contact and waves are very humanizing, especially in the stress of rush-hour traffic.
Give children extra space. Children on bicycles are often more wobbly than adults, and more likely to turn or stop suddenly without looking or signaling. It is best not to pass a child on a bicycle unless you have many feet of space and proceed extremely slowly.