And yet there are whole groups of people called LCIs that believe that cycling in traffic takes more than the basic skills. Is the author so wrong?

Are these your basic park riding skills: "You must be able to follow a precise path through potholes while traffic moves past you and makes right-hand turns in front of you. You must stay clear of parked cars whose doors might be opened without warning. You must know how to make a left-hand turn in heavy traffic. You must be constantly aware of traffic." Or are these skills a bit more than any cruiser might already know?

Nearly everyone here knows what a right hook is... try asking your neighbor who owns a bike or two in the garage if he knows what a right hook is, or how to avoid one?

Sure, it isn't hard to learn how to negotiate these things, but really if you expect people to just drop their car keys and get on a bike... the environment in cities has to be quite a bit more bike friendly before we start to see even a 5% uptake... and to get to say 20% of all trips by bike... well I for one would like to at least see some place to park a bike, besides a sign post, at the local grocer.