Originally Posted by
AlmostTrick
You should have wrote a book back then!
The "VC influence" is still very much alive. If only because there is not and can never be bicycle specific infrastructure everywhere, so cyclists will always need to know how to safely ride roads with motor traffic. That you figured it out on your own is great, but training like Effective Cycling or the LAB road courses still taught today are a much faster way to learn.
Funny thing--IRL, I don't know anyone who has ever actually attended such a thing. And I know a lot of people who ride bikes. Figuring it out on their own is how virtually everyone learns how to ride.