Want to Survive the Big City on a Bicycle? Ride Aggressively.

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We all know the basic how-to’s about riding a bike in the city: wear a helmet, use hand signals, be aware of your surroundings, etc. And while most advice-givers would advise that defensive cycling is the sanest way to navigate the civic gridiron, at least one writer suggests the opposite:

“Somewhat counter-intuitively, aggressive bike-riding will keep you way safer than its opposite.”

Those are the words of Garrett Kamps, writing at Deadspin’s Adequate Man subsection. Kamps rides his bike every day in San Francisco and, aside from being a very funny wordsmith, is absolutely 100% distrustful of people behind the wheel and simultaneously the bane of many drivers’ existence. His article (linked above, watch out for adult language if that’s not your groove) features several unorthodox strategies for surviving the big city commute. They include:

-Don’t trust the bike lanes.

-Ride with confidence, not defensively.

-Don’t run red lights

-Ride an ugly bike that won’t get stolen

The basic conclusion of Kamps’ article is that riding with confidence and not worrying about what drivers think will keep you from getting killed. The devil’s advocate position is that Kamps is of a subset of bike-riders that make roads more dangerous to everyone. I’ll leave the reader to decide between the two.

Check out his piece (linked below) and let us know what you think.