Sometimes you see them: dignified, terribly cool, impeccably dressed, and upright, making their way through the rush hour traffic on their old-fashioned bikes in a manner poles opposite to the more common fluoro speedsters. A beacon of bicycling style, and also: fairly damned hot.

Yes, you think, now that’s certainly one mode of commuter cycling I would take up myself if only I wasn’t so scared of getting pasted by a bus or doored by a car.

Well, to address these very real fears among the majority of Wellington’s irregular and non-cyclists comes The Friendly Cyclist, a site created by Cycle Aware Wellington and funded by the Council, with a selection of rather nice short videos imparting some basic safety tips.

Like this one, on intersections, where we learn that it’s quite alright to be in the middle of the lane:

Starring Sarah Harpur and narrated by a certain very famous gentleman of Norfolk, the videos are well worth watching in their entirety. And afterwards, once you’ve steeled yourself to brave the mean streets on your mamachari, your next problem is figuring out where to securely park the thing close to your non-bike-friendly office during work hours. (Good luck with that.)