My daughter just stopped competitive dancing last year after essentially a lifetime. The impact of all that ballet on her posture is worth it alone. Also she's phenomenal at posing for otherwise unscripted photos; her smile is always perfect.

Finding happiness being an amateur at anything is a super power! IME nothing kills the joy like transitioning to being a professional.

shared infrastructure means exactly that.

cars are typically the biggest problems and it's usually their behaviour, but I always give a friendly wave when a car yields (or even just doesn't run me over).

One small victory at a a time...

it's a good habit to just ring your bell when approaching things like merges and city intersections regardless if there's other people; you tend to do it earlier and might miss seeing someone.

also - even though the pedestrian has the obligation to move over - a friendly thanks! or thank you! helps all cyclists in the long-run.

This again depends on the jurisdiction and kind of path you're on. Where I grew up, if it's not separated into bicyclist & pedestrian lanes, bikes yield to pedestrians.

On US forest trails, the general rule is bikes yield to pedestrians and everyone yields to horses.

(Obviously pedestrians walking in bicycle lanes are doing it wrong.)

Yep, a wave helps as well.

go somewhere appropriate and do a little practice with the friendly multi-tap vs. the two-hand push!

adding on a wave helps too; I wish more drivers waved...

Reminds me of a mini-course I took on sound design. Lots of exercises in trying to squeeze expression out of a limited palette. Not too different from LEDs, but of course we have different cultural references for audio. Neat subject.

I hate how many cars I see these days with windows so tinted that eye contact and waves are impossible.

It feels dangerous to be unable to see the driver through their side window (eg. 4-way stop eye contact on who goes)

Agreed! It's a small but satisfying interaction to have that coordination and unspoken communication with other drivers at a 4-way stop.

I've taught my kids when crossing the street to make eye contact with drivers to make sure they see you. Drivers with smartphones unfortunately add to the challenge.

Your right and I think local culture gets the difference between the escalating "move over! I've rung my bell 5 times already" vs. the light courtesy "coming up from behind" ring

horns & bells are for pedestrians IME, not cars.

>> properly segregated infrastructure for each class of vehicle.

I ride a lot in traffic and the problem with segregated infrastructure (i.e. bike lanes) is the interfaces and constriction. Pedestrians step off the sidewalk or out of cars into constrained bike lanes all the time and there's no where to go; cars turn across bike lanes with the same problem.

You can't always do it, but if you can eliminate the speed differential I believe riding in traffic is much safer than a bike lane, at least until you get enough bike volume to keep drivers aware. THat's hard to do in most of NA or year round.

I had a digital bell from aliexpress on my winter commuter because pogies on the bars prevented a typical dinger. It was very annoying and very effective; my wife referred to it as "the friend maker".