Learn to Ride Your Bicycle on the 'Mean Streets'

Does the prospect of navigating busy city streets on a bicycle dampen your enthusiasm to go green and leave your car in the driveway? You're not alone. You're also wise to be wary. 

Fortunately, you can learn everything you need to know to keep yourself safe by attending the East Bay Bicycle Coalition's Urban Cycling 101 in Alameda on Thursday evening. The class is free and lasts two hours. Here are the details and how to register.  

If you ride your bike in Alameda, you should know you are riding in a city with a relatively high rate of bicycle collisions, according to numbers from the Office of Traffic Safety. Out of 103 California cities of similar population, only nine counted more bicycle collisions in 2010 than Alameda. It's even more dangerous for kids. Only one city had more collisions involving bicyclists under the age of 15 in 2010. 

Here's a map showing pedestrian and bicycle accidents near Alameda's schools from 2007—2009. 

In 2011, 13-year-old Brandon Sorenson was fatally struck by a car while riding his bike on Santa Clara Avenue. 

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