Tips for riding in high (people) traffic areas?

[scheda]

Hey all,

I've had my EUC (Ninebot One E+) for a few weeks now and feel pretty comfortable riding around when there's not many people around, but I picked it up to make the (hilly) mile trek to work easier.

That said, riding around in pretty highly walked areas gives me the willys. I'm pretty afraid that I'm going to run right into someone to be honest.

What tips do you have for dealing with this sort of thing? Best I can tell, I legally have to ride on the sidewalks, so I can't use bike lanes or anything here.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

[Frode]

You need to practice tight cornering at various speeds. I use tennis balls for this. I cut them in halves and sped them out in a line, 2 or 3 feet apart from each other. Then you turn between them. In beginning you can take several at a time depending on speed and skills, say go left of 4, then right of 4, then left of 4 again and so on. Then fewer and fewer as your skills rise. You can also spread them randomly around like a crowd of people and go in between them. The nice ting with tennis balls compared to cones is that you can run over them without falling, and you don't need to stop every so often to move them in place again. I use it for motorcycle training also.

 

Also, a tip is to use at least two colors on the tennis balls so it will be easier to see what pair you are going between next without actually counting tennis balls.

You should look where you want to go and not where you are, not at the space you are going into right in front of you (i.e. not into the space between the two nearest tennis balls you are passing between, but at the area between the next pair you are going to pass between. In a way you need to prepare/plan for the next curve, not the current one. Probably not a good explanation, but the idea is to focus forward in the path instead of the actual path you are currently executing. Look where you are going, not where you are.

Well, this is in my experience. Others may have other experience of course.

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Just wave your arms all about like you're losing your balance, weave side to side randomly and shout out "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!  LOOK OUT!!!!!  I'M OUTTA CONTROL!!!!!  AAAAAHHHH!!!!!"

People will clear a path for you.  Trust me.  They will.  

Either that or get a small bicycle bell and ding it to warn people as you're approaching.  Practice going at walking pace and your dismounts and launches if you need to come to full stops.  I can crawl slowly behind people (creeping) and wait for a space to open up.

[Marty Backe]

Don't practice by riding around people - that won't end well.

I think you will naturally know when you're ready to ride among people, and at that point you won't need to practice. Sounds like you're not ready.

The primary skill that you need is to be able to ride very slowly. When you can slow down at will and move forward at a snails pace then you're good to go. So practice your skills at riding extremely slow.

[codersarepeople]

If you go fast enough, your alarms will warn people like a bicycle bell

In all seriousness, people seem to clear away from me as if I have no control of myself.

 

Also, as for legality, I wouldn't worry about it personally. I know riding in bike lanes is illegal here but the cops have seen me and simply don't care, so I'm going to wait until somebody says something

[houseofjob]

I usually employ rocking back and forth to a stand still when amongst a lot of pedestrians (involves more upper body movement since the lower body is not actively moving) and simply stepping off when really in the thick of things.

Also, FWIW looks like the SoloWheel Seattle Meetup guys utilize the bike lanes there: 

 

 

[Marty Backe]

11 minutes ago, houseofjob said:

<snip>

Also, FWIW looks like the SoloWheel Seattle Meetup guys utilize the bike lanes there: 

I use the bike lanes all the time. But fortunately for us Californians, California passed a law effective Jan 1st 2016 that allows any electric personal transportation device with a maximum speed of 20mph to go wherever a bike can go. There are size limitations too, but EUCs easily fall within those limits.

But regardless, I would ride wherever you want. EUCs are so unique you're unlikely to get any response other then "please don't ride here". For us, ignorance is the best defence 

[Blunzn]

learn or train some stuff before getting into heavy pedestrian traffic, but most of it just comes from doing many kilometers on your wheel.

- be comftable driving very slow, train this everytime you are not in a hurry. 

- drive slow, stop for a second then continue. you know these moments from walking too

- drive defensive and dont be afraid to step down. starting within a crowd can be tricky so you should be comfortable to start too. or try stopping hop 2 steps 1legged and continoue driving  but most of the time you get some posts/walls to hold on.

- search for eamty spaces in the "flow" of people & overtake carefully, or if you go against the flow search for eye contact and inflate your breast a bit

- 45°/90°/180° turns can help if there is a sudden stop of movement or traffic jam

- look sideways & behind and keep an good overview over the people around you to better predict movement (easier if your tall)

- watch out behind corners/obstacles/inside shops and keep away from doors, also don't run over dogs

- watch your pedals and get used to the width of your wheel, its not funny to scrape a wall/leg/borderstone

- get used to the lean-angle of your wheel 

- watch the ground and be careful if wet/gravel/railways/bumps at pedestrian crossings ...

- train some emergency braking

 

and ofc always be very attentive, adjust your speed and be ready to break ... pedestrians, tourists, kids, dogs ... can do strange things. 

@ appx 3:30 traffic gets denser - 

 

[Rehab1]

3 hours ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said:

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!  LOOK OUT!!!!!  I'M OUTTA CONTROL!!!!!  AAAAAHHHH!!!!!"

Yep...that sounds like you!?

[litewave]

15 minutes ago, Blunzn said:

learn or train some stuff before getting into heavy pedestrian traffic, but most of it just comes from doing many kilometers on your wheel.

- be comftable driving very slow, train this everytime you are not in a hurry. 

- drive slow, stop for a second then continue. you know these moments from walking too

- drive defensive and dont be afraid to step. starting within a crowd can be tricky so you should be comfortable to start. or to stop hop 2 steps 1legged and continoue driving  but most of the time you get some posts/walls to not have to step down.

- search for eamty spaces in the "flow" of people & overtake carefully, or if you go against the flow search for eye contact and inflate your breast a bit

- 45°/90°/180° turns can help if there is a sudden stop of movement or traffic jam

- look sideways & behind and keep an good overview over the people around you to better predict movement (easier if your tall)

- watch out behind corners/obstacles/inside shops and keep away from doors, also don't run over dogs

- watch your pedals and get used to the width of your wheel, its not funny to scrape a wall/leg/borderstone

- get used to the lean-angle of your wheel 

- watch the ground and be careful if wet/gravel/railways/bumps at pedestrian crossings ...

- train some emergency braking

 

and ofc always be very attentive, adjust your speed and be ready to break ... pedestrians, tourists, kids, dogs ... can do strange things. 

@ appx 3:30 traffic gets denser - 

 

 

Excellent, thorough advice. 

As @Blunzn said, you really need to build up your experience and mileage, when much of this will come naturally: it could take 200+ miles or more until you can do this routinely, safely.

 

My advice is to be polite and courteous to everyone. Show goodwill and humility. I usually approach all pedestrians slowly and just say "excuse me, could I pass on the left (/right, etc.), please?" That may sound a bit corny to some people, but when pedestrians freak out and get off the path for you just to let you pass, they won't be so resentful or critical, and may even think ewheel riders are cool and polite. 

[Rehab1]

8 minutes ago, litewave said:

My advice is to be polite and courteous to everyone. Show goodwill and humility. I usually approach all pedestrians slowly and just say "excuse me, could I pass on the left (/right, etc.), please?

Well spoken!!

@Blunzn Very nice sidewalk- pedestrian management skills!

[MaxLinux]

3 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

The primary skill that you need is to be able to ride very slowly. When you can slow down at will and move forward at a snails pace then you're good to go.

I agree, that's the most important skill for crowded sidewalks. I noticed in my case that my "creeping" skills developed even without targeted practice. (Nothing wrong with practicing, of course.) I began to notice how easily I could go very slowly, even though I never practiced it specifically. Just yesterday as I waited for a car to pass an intersection, I almost freaked out because I realized I was at a complete standstill on the wheel for about 1 second! 

[MaxLinux]

21 minutes ago, litewave said:

My advice is to be polite and courteous to everyone

One way I do this is go out into the street when I see people ahead (if it is possible and safe to do so). I also ride with a runbell (https://run-bell.com/) because I often find that pedestrians don't realize I am approaching behind them.

[noisycarlos]

All good options. (I particularly like @HunkaHunkaBurningLove's flailing method).

People do seem to get out of the way, many times I don't think they know I can actually slow down or stop.

But in really crowded areas (Hollywood touristy areas for me) you might no be able to go through safely.

If all else fails... Trolley Handle.

Unfortunately the NB one is on the expensive side. But for me at least it was worth it. Even buying twice (because it broke after a year).

http://amzn.to/2dy2LoH

[Citi Wheel]

8 hours ago, scheda said:

Hey all,

I've had my EUC (Ninebot One E+) for a few weeks now and feel pretty comfortable riding around when there's not many people around, but I picked it up to make the (hilly) mile trek to work easier.

That said, riding around in pretty highly walked areas gives me the willys. I'm pretty afraid that I'm going to run right into someone to be honest.

What tips do you have for dealing with this sort of thing? Best I can tell, I legally have to ride on the sidewalks, so I can't use bike lanes or anything here.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

It's take a lot of miles to get good at riding very slow (less than 2 mph), but if you're in a very crowded area and there aren't any openings to pass people, it doesn't make much sense anyway to ride an EU at walking speed. Just get a trolley handle and walk with the crowd. When it opens up, get back on the EU. 

[David S]

Being able to ride slow is obviously the most important skill for this. Riding slow among pedestrians greatly increases the risk of people asking you questions about the wheel when you cant speed past them and pretend you didn't hear.