CAN-BIKE 2 Course

Canada's premier traffic cycling survival course! Covers bicycle care, repairs, riding techniques, detecting and avoiding hazards, and practising emergency manoeuvres. Combination of classroom and on-bike instruction helps you cycle with greater skill and confidence and more safely in traffic. Essential skills for the recreational or commuting cyclist.

CAN-BIKE 2 is an advanced course in defensive cycling for commuters and recreational cyclists who already ride in traffic. This is an adult course for cyclists aged 14 and up with experience riding in traffic. This course will improve your confidence and skill in riding in challenging traffic situations. This course is quite often a requirement for jobs that involve cycling. CAN-BIKE 1 is not a pre-requisite for CAN-BIKE 2.

Course content includes: how traffic works, good decision making, lane positioning, proper cycling equipment, group riding, effective and efficient cycling in heavy traffic, basic maintenance, collision avoidance techniques. 18 hours.

• To help people enjoy cycling more.
• To develop traffic cycling proficiency and judgement that increases cyclists' safety in traffic.
• To increase students' knowledge about cycling, bicycle equipment, health and fitness, and cycling consumerism.
• To develop cycling leadership qualities.

The course may be delivered in a variety of formats, totalling 18 hours of instruction. The course involves six hours of classroom instruction and a minimum of 12 hours on-bike. 

CAN-BIKE 2 is the prerequisite for all CAN-BIKE instructor level courses, including CAN-BIKE Instructor, Kids CAN-BIKE Instructor and Kids CAN-BIKE Instructor Trainer. 

Course objectives:

Upon completion of the course, participants should feel confident to ride regularly and safely for utilitarian and recreational purposes, including touring and commuting on multi-lane expressways. They will also have information on organized cycling activities in their area and be encouraged to pursue cycling leadership opportunities.

Course outline:

This course may be presented in a variety of formats, ranging from six three-hour evening sessions for public courses to two nine-hour sessions for police, EMT personnel and highly experienced cyclists. An outline for a popular two-weekend course is presented below. Time allotments and emphasis will vary from course to course depending on the leader and the participants.

Classroom:

Traffic dynamics - where to ride on the road, principles of traffic flow.

Equipment - basic tool kit, bicycle fit, selection, helmets, safety equipment, inspection/safety check.

Crashes and collisions - studies and analysis.

Puncture repair - patch inner tube, remove/replace tire.

Touring theory - riding conditions, physiology, energy systems, nutirtion, straight road hazards, gearing, group riding skills.

Road:

First group ride - cycling technique, group riding etiquette.

Handling skills - straight line, shoulder check, signalling, rock dodge, threshold braking, instant/push turn.

Arterial roadways - lane positioning, yielding, left turns, streetcar/railway tracks, turns, lane changes, rotaries, diverges, unions, separations, multi-lanes, heavy traffic.

Example of a course conducted on two weekends

Bicycle in good working condition with a bell or horn, lock, approved bicycle helmet, lunch or lunch money.  A list of suggestions is sent to participants when they register. Participants should feel comfortable riding their bicycles on city streets before enrolling. No student can be allowed to do the on-bike portions of this course (or any CAN-BIKE course) on an obviously unsafe bicycle - defective brakes, steering, headsets or loose assembly of seat or handlebars - as the safety of the entire group is at risk as well as the safety of that student. Participants must sign a student registration and liability waiver before participating in the program.

Kids CAN-BIKE Course