Note: The following video, shot on August 12, 2012, was uploaded to Vimeo on January 10, 2013, after extensive editing.
To view it in full-screen mode, please start the video and then click on the 4 arrowheads symbol (reproduced at right) just left of vimeo below.
To minimize again, click “Esc” on your keyboard (Mac).
Bicycling Made Simple: Gerry Noll Shows How from Martin Pion on Vimeo.
On August 18, 2012, Gerry Noll and I set off to show how relatively easy it is to safely bicycle on Ferguson’s main roads if you just know the basic rules and skills needed for safe cycling, which almost anyone can acquire.
Thanks to Ferguson’s progressive attitude towards bicycle transportation, which it is helping to encourage, Gerry and I were legally permitted to decide whether to control or share the curb lane on the four-lane arterials where most of the video was shot. The curb lanes are typically 12 ft – 13 ft wide in Ferguson, which is definitely not safely shareable with the buses and large commercial vehicles using them, and is tight even with cars, as discussed in previous thinkbicyclingblogs, such as Bicyclist lane control: Why the law needs changing, posted on June 25, 2012.
To avoid being squeezed to the side of the lane, we chose to control it throughout shooting of this video, and as it amply demonstrates, that rarely caused anything other than a short delay to following vehicles in our lane.
Note on videotaping:
I modified an old hardshell Bell Tourlite safety helmet to hold Gerry’s Contour HD 1050p fixed focus videocamera, designed for active sports taping, plus my Canon S-95 camera in video mode. Being fixed focus the Contour distorts vertical objects near the edges of the field of view, causing them to bend, so I had that facing forward, while my Canon, which doesn’t produce this kind of distortion, faced backwards to tape Gerry and his interaction with following motorists.
Background note on Gerry Noll:
Gerry Noll posing outside his Ferguson Bicycle Shop at 429 S. Florissant Rd. on November 16, 2012.
Gerry opened his Ferguson Bicycle Shop after retiring from nearby Emerson Electric in April 2011, and became a certified Cycling Savvy Instructor in June 2011 and now offers CS courses to adults, so he was a natural for the “starring role” in this movie.
4 Comments
In the picture on the bottom of the page it says thats Gerry Noll. That looks like his bicycle but the man doesn’t look like Gerry.
Martin’s reply: That’s Gerry in his undercover cyclist disguise. When I saw him recently he was clean-shaven.
great instructional gerry and martin!
Martin’s reply: Thanks, John! I hope to work on editing this down further, since that may well help it get a wider audience, but it takes a lot of time, so it’ll have to wait.
I wouldn’t edit it. The film shows multiple destinations and how to deal with them. Good work!
Martin’s reply: Thanks very much for reviewing and your positive response. I may end up leaving this version but also adding an edited one for those with less patience! (Also, it does no harm to try and focus on the essentials for a more general audience, e.g. on YouTube.)
The video was great but it was too busy with trying to read the text, watch the insert, and watch Gary all at the same time. I think talking might cut down on the busyness.
Martin reply: Thanks for your comment Dennis and I agree. I invited Gerry Noll to read the written text to provide audible commentary to address this point but that never happened.
I’m thinking of editing it down if/when I get time, shooting for 3-5 mins., and hopefully add audible commentary then.