Transport for London: www.tfl.gov.uk
London Cycling Campaign: lcc.org.uk or @london_cycling
There’s a war going on out there, one with real casualties and collateral damage. When David Cameron was spotted going through a red light on his bicycle, it threw into sharp relief a low-level conflict which has been going on for decades. Bikes v. Cars: with hapless pedestrians caught in the middle.
Cycling around London is not for the faint-hearted, but municipal improvements (especially during Boris Johnson’s tenure) and the hard work of the London Cycling Campaign, are encouraging people to drop their Oyster cards and jump on their bikes. London continues to implement its system of Cycle Superhighways providing safer routes (and some dedicated lanes) into Central London and across the city. The city’s cyclehire program, Santander Cycles (formerly sponsored by Barclays and also known as ‘Boris Bikes’), is a brilliant system based on European models in which users pick up a bike and then drop it off when finished at a suitable point in the city. If you want to explore London this way, note that Transport for London has some fun leisure routes detailed on its website. Transport for London offers great free cycling maps (order via the TfL website); some of the 14 routes have become so popular, cycling along them is like taking part in the Tour de France (albeit slower and with slightly fewer drugs). The maps give colour-coded help; look for the brown routes (separate from the traffic) or even better the green routes (separate from the traffic and passing through parks, beside canals or rivers.)
But cycling does hold some risks. As well as the nightmare of walking around all day with ‘helmet hair’ you’ve got accidents and theft. LCC’s website has details of road-confidence training and lists local cycling groups who run social events and cycle maintenance classes. They will sometimes cycle your new route to work with you to help you negotiate the difficult bits. Aren’t they nice?
For those new to cycling on London’s roads, basic rules include: stay a door length (or stride) away from the pavement or parked cars; watch out for distracted office drones leaping into the road and into black cabs; don’t undertake bendy-buses or HGVs; don’t use your phone while moving; and if in doubt on a tricky junction, transform yourself into a pedestrian—get off and push your bike wherever you need to go.
Bolt-cutting ‘tea-leaves’ steal thousands of bikes every year. You have three options to reduce this particular risk. One, buy a rubbish bike that no-one would want to steal and lock it with one lock. Two, get a decent bike, carry around a D-lock and two other locks and spend 20 mins each time you stop. Three, get a shit-hot bike and never take it out.
There are plenty of great rides around town and a happy cyclist is one who has been able to incorporate one into their commute. Good options are the short but scenic Parkland Walk Nature Reserve, which links Finsbury Park to Highgate via an abandoned railway line; a Saturday morning cycle takes you to one of Highgate’s wonderful pubs for lunch and a lazy pint. The City, normally snarled with cabs, buses and kamikaze pedestrians, is a dream on a Sunday morning.
Though not continuous, the path along the Regent’s Canal linking Paddington with Canary Wharf takes cyclists away from traffic and along some surprisingly gorgeous stretches of canal (which also sport some top-notch graffiti)—as well as some godawful, festering dumps. A useful section of the canal links the west side of Regent’s Park with Paddington via Lisson Grove and Warwick Avenue. Watch out for super-fast cyclists determined to slice a second off their PB, especially where the path narrows under bridges or around ramps.
A jaunt through any of the capital’s great parks seems an obvious choice, but beware, some parks (notably Hampstead Heath) ban bikes on almost all paths, thanks to selfish cyclists of the past who went too fast and frightened the jumpy pedestrians.
RideLondon (www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk) is a fun two-day riding festival built on the success of the earlier FreeWheel. Events include a family ride along closed central London roads, a 100-mile ride, and a Grand Prix for pros.