The weekend before last I bought a new bike, and today I cycled to work for the first time. It went pretty well, although I'd cycled part of the route yesterday to make sure I knew where I was going.
I'm lucky that at work we have underground parking for bikes, and showers. It took me about 35 minutes cycling time, and with 10 minutes for showering I was still at my desk in roughly the same time it would normally take me using overland train and bus. Plus I felt fantastic!
It was a real learning curve, and I've tried to think what advice I would give my past self if I could. Here goes...
#1 - Follow the other cyclists
Being London, there were loads of cyclists all over the place, most of whom were going similar routes to me -- so I just followed them most of the time. This helped with working out how to cross roads or how to position myself at junctions. I expect I'll only need to do this for a while, until I learn it all myself. In the meantime though, it's really useful.
#2 - Light yourself up like a Christmas tree
As it was getting light this morning, the difference between people with lights and without wasn't very noticeable -- but in the evening it was massive. And lights on their own aren't much good either, they need to be flashing (ideally randomly) and you should be wearing a high-visibility jacket or cover on your rucksack. I had the lights already, but invested in some hi-vis gear on my way home. I'm really glad I did, once it got dark I felt a lot more visible and safer.
#3 - Use cycle lanes on main roads, not little back streets
Despite the traffic moving faster, paradoxically I felt safer on main roads (even ones without cycle lanes) than I did a little "quiet" back streets. The problem with back streets is that although there fairly quiet, cars tend to pull out from behind buildings a lot, and because the streets are narrow there's less space between you and cars. Also, obviously, it's much slower and you have to negotiate more junctions (DANGER DANGER DANGER), whereas on main roads you can just keep going pretty quickly for ages.
#4 Check your route ahead of time so that you know roughly where you're going...
I did plan my route home on the Internet, so although I hadn't memorised it I didn't need to take a map with me. This really helped, as I would have hated to have to be checking a map all the time, especially as it was really dark and getting quite cold. This leads me onto my last point...
Transport for London do some good guides, plus you can customise the TFL Journey Planner to give you cycle routes.
#5 - ...but go with the flow!
I ended up taking a wrong turn around Vauxhall and went down the A3 instead of Lavender Hill. It wasn't a big deal, as I knew I'd end up at Clapham Common, so I just carried on even though it probably took me an extra half a mile. I figured it was safer and quicker just to head the way I knew rather than trying to find my way back onto the route I'd chosen.
In summary, I'm really pleased and am looking forward to doing the route again tomorrow. Except slightly wiser -- and maybe in better time!
#6 If you're cycling an urban commute every day, consider wearing a filter mask. Next time you're inches from a lorry's exhaust pipe, you'll be glad you wore it.
Get one with plenty of ventilation or you'll sweat, fast. The silver lining: it keeps your cheeks toasty in winter.
#7 Trouserclips! (Unless you're wearing lycra, shorts, trousers tucked into socks, or if you have a bike with a good chainguard.) Chainsucked trousers on a crossroads at rush hour could be a lazy cyclist's final sartorial error.
Posted by: sampablokuper | Thursday, 05 March 2009 at 22:33
Thanks Sam! I shall invest in trouserclips and perhaps a filter mask. I was definitely feeling a bit polluted on Tuesday night - probably to do with having a headache already!
Posted by: Nick Seeber | Thursday, 12 March 2009 at 01:27