Looking Back

Before you do any sharp direction changes you should always look back. You cant go by ear because some cars these days make almost no noise, especially when you factor in the background city noise and wind (if your going fast enough). Also you wont hear if there's a cyclist behind you as well. So anytime you change directions...its just a good habit to learn to look back BEFORE you do so, not at the same time your doing so.

Anytime you look back make sure the path in front of you is clear and that you can ride in a straight line without having to change directions or speed. Make sure there are no possible doors or cars changing lanes or pulling out. Because while your looking back even for just half a second an obstacle can appear in your way and surprise. Never look back if the path in front of your might be taken over by a pedestrian or car.

The short look back is used to see whats in your immediate surroundings, I make these very frequently just to always refresh my escape options for anything happening. These are really quick looks that are pretty much used to reaffirm your position.

The loog look back is when your going to make large direction changes in heavy traffic...you got to make sure you the space in front of you clear for longer distances because our going to turn your head more and for a longer amount of time. There are times when I would like to get out of a bad traffic situation but I don't because I dont have the space in front of me clear enough to turn back and see whats going on. In that case just slow the bike down. I traffic whenever things get too sketchy the best answer is to just slow down and stop and wait for the situation to change...I know I say momentum is king but sometimes its not worth it to just barrel through a really bad spot and risk getting pinched.

You can either look back just by turning your head at least as possible needed in order to get a good look. This works out if your torso position is more upright when riding flat bars . Or, if your torso is lower to the ground due to riding a road bike you can look down and to the side to the view between your arms and your torso. I like to do my quick looks this way.

Make sure you know how to look back while maintaining course. You dont want to be the asshole who starts riding to the side while looking back and rear ends a car. Just go to a parking lot and practice looking back while learning to maintain course. Yes it will require a bit of flexibility of neck muscles and balance but once you learn it you'll be a lot more flexible in traffic. Little by little youll learn to get the most info about your sorroundings while turning your head at least and as quick as possible.

Pass on the outside of a turning car's curve

Always pass a car who is making a turn on its outside. 9 out of 10 times when a car is turning and its going to change its curse it will tighten its curve. You dont want to be inside of it curve especially when your in its blind spot. Whenever I see a car is going to turn, and Im turning as well in the same direction I’ll move into the outside of its curve.

Getting Skinny

Fitting through tight spots in traffic is about learning to move your shoulders, your hips and bending at the knees. You should have a really good feel for how much space your body takes up and what you can do with it to slip through tight spots such as side-view mirrors between . Obviously that takes time. But this is what works for me best in these situations.

The widest parts of your body silhouette are your sholders and your handlebars. The widest parts of cars are their mirrors. Depending on how tall you are and whether the vehicle is a truck or a convertible. You will move different body parts to slip between them.

Fastest way to get skinny is to tuck your elbows in by straightening your arms. I use that sometimes to let pedestrians on the shoulder know that I'm not trying to hit them, its more of psychological message I send to them letting them know I don't want to hit them , and just by doing that they will also more likely get out of the way a little. Its a bit of a compromise, but all interactions with cars and ped are that way, you got to give a little space to get some space. But If I see the ped doesnt do anything make space for me as well, then in my head I say “fuck you were going to play chicken”. (I wouldn't recomend you do that though.)

Car mirrors are easy to avoid depending on their height by twisting you torso (without affecting your handling too much) to make a slimmer profile. This works when then mirrors are at hip to shoulder level for you. If the mirror is closer to your hip then to your shoulder you can also just stick your hip to the opposite side.

Now if the mirrors are at shoulder height or above then you can easily just drop of the seat and sit on your top tube by lowering your knee to lower your shoulders. This is much easier to do when you have a freewheel (another reason why I don't ride fixed)

The trickiest part of slipping through cars when the mirrors of two cars are adjacent to each other. They give you no space to work with...and if they are at hip height your fucked because you cant even duck down. The trick is to wait till are not adjacent and take advantage of that small time frame and twist your torso to get through. Be careful that the drivers don't slow down or speed up and their mirrors are adjacent again while your trying to slip through. It’s happened to me many times and what usually happens is that the mirror nudges me pretty hard until it flips inward. Usually after that point I apologize to the driver and flip the mirror out. By the way, I consider it very good form to flip a mirror back out of a car that you inadvertently flip in, its just good karma. Unless you flipped it in because the fucker was trying to sideswipe you.

Also one more thing you should be aware of how wide your profile is at pedal level. This helps in knowing when you can fit when your trying to sweep across to bumpers side/length wise without having your feet scrape the bumper.

Its almost like boxing. I have fairly wide shoulders but I can fit through almost anything because I know how to manipulate my shoulders/hips to slip and duck mirrors. I flipped in many mirrors in my time trying to gauge what I can and cant fit through. I still do ones in a while. You can only sharpen your body awareness through experience, the trick is to avoid being seriously hurt while doing so.

Just like in anything else in urban cycling, you will make mistakes, you will get hurt. The trick is in minimizing the damage so that you can learn from your mistakes and not be taken out of commision. You will make fatal errors when you dont keep a cool head and have some prior knowledge (which Im trying to give you) of whats going on. You will make mistakes, but keep them minor and deal with scrapes and bruises as opposed to to dealing with head injuries,broken collar bones and punctured lungs that come when you try to ride beyond your capacity. And yes you will know when your riding beyond your capacity when your terrified shitless, if you are...slow the fuck down and get out of the my way (and the cars) and let the pros do what they do.

BTW .Be careful of fenders on busses and trucks as they stick out more than the vehicle itself.