El Director loves his bicycle!

Most of the readers of this blog are not cyclists. Not in any conventional way, such as going to work, to the shops or going out. Most people, the Londoners in particular, rely on public transport to get from A-B and a few of the rich ones rely on their cars. However, I am a big bicycle fan, especially for anything upto an hours cycling, which includes my workplace, ten miles from where I live.

Cyclists in London are given a bad press, and who can blame the general public. We're slow, we take up valuable road space and we have a general disregard to any traffic rules. But screw it, cycling is so much more freer than driving in a car. In the rush hour, I am guaranteed to beat anything on four wheels and more to the point I save twofold. Firstly on petrol costs and secondly on gym membership.



All right, cycling is not for the faint hearted, and yes, while I am quite happy to take my chances from Croydon to Trafalgar Square, as a driver of a double decker, I also know the stupidity of other road users. And London really does have inadequate infrastructure for cyclists, especially when compared to the Low Countries, Germany and France. Hell, even Slovenia is a Mecca for cyclists in comparison to dowdy England. And the shocker is that cycling is on the rise in London, despite all of this. Politicians, anyone in power. We need better facilities. And for starters that means decent cycle lanes, not marred by parked cars and that do not suddenly end at the foot of dual carriageway. Also, more places to lock up our bikes would be nice!



However, it is not all doom and gloom in London. The LCN will provide something, although its quality really does vary from borough to borough. For every Tower Hamlets or Kingston Upon Thames (fan-flippin-tastic) there is a Sutton or Richmond (plain-bloody-awful). What is really needed is a message to motorists. A cyclist is essentially a road-based pedestrian. You wouldn't try to kill a person walking in the street so why try to do the same for a cyclist. Knock us down, and we are probably going to get killed.

And for the cyclists out there, don't be scared. You need to be a bit brave when cycling in London town. It's a jungle out there, but like the apes coming down from the trees, we are the future...