Fit to Ride
Check the rider first
Four questions before you touch the bike.
The helmet
A helmet that fits, buckled, every ride.
Your phone, music and ears
Phone away, ears open, before you move.
Why fourteen is harder than 40
Decide early, while it is still cheap.
Riding when you are not right
Not right is a condition. It has a way home.
- Check what you know
Quiz: Fit to Ride
Ten questions on getting yourself ready.
Know Your Machine
What are you riding?
Three questions that work everywhere.
What a throttle changes
A throttle does not wait. Feet set first.
Weight, speed and stopping
Both brakes, squeezed early, not grabbed.
Making it fit you
Seat, levers, tires. Set once, then ride.
The check before you ride
Air, brakes, chain, quick, check.
The battery and the charger
Its own charger, never across the way out.
- Check what you know
Quiz: Know Your Machine
Ten questions on the bike you ride.
In the Empty Lot
Somewhere with no cars in it
Every skill here starts with no cars around.
Setting off from a standstill
Brakes on, pedal to two, look, then go.
The stop, and the pedal
One foot down, then the pedal back to two.
Riding a straight line
Eyes at the far end, fingers on the levers.
The weave and the box
At walking pace the rear brake does the work.
The squeeze, and the corner
Squeeze, never grab. Straighten, then brake.
- Check what you know
Quiz: In the Empty Lot
Ten questions on the drills you practiced.
Look Behind, Ride Straight
Why looking back can swerve you
Lock the elbow and your line stays put.
Prove that you looked
Say what was there, or you did not see it.
Riding with one hand
A hand off the bars costs you steadiness.
Glance, check, stare
Three looks. Take the smallest one that works.
Look, signal, wait, move
A signal is not permission. Wait for the nod.
- Check what you know
Quiz: Looking Behind
Ten questions on looking back and signaling.
You Are Traffic
You are traffic
Same rights, same duties. All of both.
The two road positions
Middle of the lane, or three feet out.
Control, then release
Hold the lane through it, then let them past.
The rule quoted in half
Right-ish, unless. The unless is in the law.
The door zone is four feet
Ride outside it for the whole row of cars.
Intersections and left turns
Leave the edge before the corner, not after.
- Check what you know
Quiz: You Are Traffic
Ten questions on riding on the road.
Where You Are Allowed
Four surfaces, four answers
Which surface, which bike, which town, how old.
The sidewalk is the worse one
It feels safest and measures out worst.
The rule changes at the line
A path has an owner, and that rule wins.
Lights, front one first
The front lamp matters more than the back.
Finding your own rule
Which words, which date, whose page.
- Check what you know
Quiz: Where You Can Ride
Ten questions on rules and where they change.
Paths and People
You are the heaviest thing
The person ahead has no helmet and no brakes.
Keep right, pass left
Call it out, then wait for them to react.
The sign, and right now
The sign is a ceiling, not a target.
People do not go straight
Leave a few feet. Assume they will move.
Six of you is one vehicle
A group is one long vehicle. Nobody dropped.
- Check what you know
Quiz: Paths and People
Ten questions on sharing a path.
When It Goes Wrong
Why this badge comes last
You cannot rush a move you never made slowly.
The quick stop
Pedals level, weight back, both brakes.
Two ways round a thing
Small thing, small move. Big thing, big move.
You get one of them, not both
Brake, or steer. Never both at once.
The dog
Do not outrun it. Put the bike between.
Gravel, grates and rails
Straight and upright. No braking, no turning.
- Check what you know
Quiz: When It Goes Wrong
Ten questions on the emergency moves.