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Date: 17 Nov 2007 11:28:55
From: Stephen Harding
Subject: My Hat is Off To London Bicyclists
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Spent a week in London last week and besides the
fantastic public transport (Tube and bus), I was
most impressed by the bicyclists of the city!
They were everywhere!
And they weren't timid souls poking along desperately
trying to stay a few inches from the curb to
accommodate speeding motor vehicles; they were right
out in the lanes, moving back and forth for left and
right turns, and in every since of the word, behaving
like vehicles with a right to the road!
Very impressive.
The London motorists, while going quite fast IMHO,
seemed to be very tolerant of the bicyclists as well,
so kudos to them too.
I saw only one occasion where a Mercedes laid on the
horn when a very nicely dressed woman in long skirt,
boots and jacket "took the lane" ahead of him.
All the riders seemed to really move along. Equipped
with head and tail lights, they zipped along the sides
of city streets making great progress.
Finally, no "bicycling outfits"! They all seemed to
be wearing fairly nice "go to work" clothes. No jerseys,
no SPDs, no tights or leggings, and no helmets!
They were simply [presumably] commuting to and from work
by the seeming hundreds. Don't know if London has always
had such a large bicycle commuting population or if this
is the result of the city charging cars that come into
town, but it was good to see.
SMH
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Date: 17 Nov 2007 19:09:21
From: Luigi de Guzman
Subject: Re: My Hat is Off To London Bicyclists
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On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 11:28:55 +0000, Stephen Harding wrote:
> They were simply [presumably] commuting to and from work by the seeming
> hundreds. Don't know if London has always had such a large bicycle
> commuting population or if this is the result of the city charging cars
> that come into town, but it was good to see.
I was a graduate student in London for a year, and I commuted by
bicycle. I bought my bike from Re-Cycle by the Elephant & Castle
roundabout. I ended up spending a bit more for a bike with mudguards. A
few extra quid wasn't much of a price to pay for the luxury of not having
road muck thrown up on my back and in my face.
Central London is a cyclist's heaven: high traffic volume and tight
spaces keep total traffic speed down to the point that a cyclist is often
as fast or faster than all other traffic.
London cabbies also tend to regard cyclists fairly. They will give you
exactly the space you need--and not an inch more. It's sometimes tight
but always predictable.
The main thing in London was getting over the initial fear of riding and
learning the rules of the road. Once on the road, cycling in London was
pretty easy.
--
Luigi de Guzman
http://ouij.livejournal.com
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Date: 17 Nov 2007 17:19:01
From: Jeremy Parker
Subject: Re: My Hat is Off To London Bicyclists
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"Stephen Harding" <smharding16@msn.com > wrote in message
news:XfA%i.63$r81.11@trndny05...
> Spent a week in London last week and besides the
> fantastic public transport (Tube and bus), I was
> most impressed by the bicyclists of the city!
Well, as a Londoner I have my quarrels sometimes with Transport for
London, but there are good things going on, and cycling is booming,
much more so than the rest of Britain.
We do have wonderful taxi drivers, who are good at avoiding running
you down. In case of emergency, a taxi can carry a bike, at the same
cost as carrying a suitcase.
The free bike maps, covering all London, to the edge of the outermost
suburb - it takes 14 maps to do that. Just phone up the same number
as for bus or tube maps, or pick up the local map from a rack in any
tube station, library etc.
The best bike training in the world, often free or subsidised, for
adults or kids, from can't balance to advanced lane changing in
traffic, from several competing companies, with idiot safety zealots
firmly kept at bay. Hire your own personal trainer, if you want.
Reasonable provision for bikes on trains, and some of the tube (ok on
surface and shallow underground lines outside rush hour)
A leading candidate for the next mayoral election who is enough of a
cyclist to have had seven bikes stolen
Lots of scenic things to see as you ride around
The Tour de France
The "Freewheel" event. So popular, even though it's the first year,
that things broke down rather, and it was somewhat of a shambles, but
a great success anyway. Somewhere between 30 000 and 40 000 cyclists
seem to have turned up. This didn't bring the whole city to a halt,
nor did bikes overwhelm the trains, but then 40 000 cyclists is
pretty small compared to the number of weekday commuters.
The Mall, from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace, closed to cars
every Sunday (but watch for wandering tourists)
Cambridge, an hour away by train, with a higher bike modal split than
Amsterdam. On the way there's Stevenage, the town that taught the
Dutch how to do things, where they built the bike path network first,
and then built the town round it. You get a better class of facility
that way.
And its on the dry side of Britain, with only half as much rain as
Washington DC
Jeremy Parker
London
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Date: 17 Nov 2007 07:04:53
From:
Subject: Re: My Hat is Off To London Bicyclists
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On Nov 17, 6:28 am, Stephen Harding <smhardin...@msn.com > wrote:
> Spent a week in London last week and besides the
> fantastic public transport (Tube and bus), I was
> most impressed by the bicyclists of the city!
>
> They were everywhere!...
>
> Finally, no "bicycling outfits"! They all seemed to
> be wearing fairly nice "go to work" clothes. No jerseys,
> no SPDs, no tights or leggings, and no helmets!
>
> They were simply [presumably] commuting to and from work...
We saw the same thing on our ramble around Europe this summer.
My nephew was very impressed by the hundreds of sharp and shapely
women cycling everywhere, in very fashionable clothes. (Since I was
with my wife, I naturally didn't notice them. ;-)
And I was impressed by the businessmen, with briefcases and dress
suits, making their way home through the drizzle, umbrellas aloft.
In America, riding a bike for utility is considered extreme - not to
be attempted without protective gear, garish colors and a shower
immediately after. In Europe, riding a bike for utility is just
normal.
- Frank Krygowski
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Date: 17 Nov 2007 09:50:03
From: Paul Turner
Subject: Re: My Hat is Off To London Bicyclists
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On Nov 17, 9:04 am, frkry...@gmail.com wrote:
> We saw the same thing on our ramble around Europe this summer.
>
> My nephew was very impressed by the hundreds of sharp and shapely
> women cycling everywhere, in very fashionable clothes. (Since I was
> with my wife, I naturally didn't notice them. ;-)
That makes me think of A.J. Liebling's great reporting on Paris after
the liberation, when he writes: "Among the bicyclists there are pretty
girls, their hair dressed high on their heads in what seems to be the
current mode here. These girls show legs of a length and slimness and
firmness and brownness never associated with French womanhood. Food
restrictions and the amount of bicycling that is necessary in getting
around in a big city without any other means of transportation have
endowed these girls with the best figures in the world, which they
will doubtless be glad to trade in for three square meals, plentiful
supplies of chocolate, and a seat in the family Citro=EBn as soon as the
situation becomes more normal."
I guess he was wrong about the last bit. They're still out there
cycling. Over the past two or three years, I've noticed ever
increasing numbers of commuters in Chicago in street clothes, treating
the bicycle as a normal way of getting around, not as a sport you have
to dress for.
--
Paul Turner
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Date: 17 Nov 2007 07:02:35
From: Tom Sherman
Subject: Re: My Hat is Off To London Bicyclists
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Stephen Harding wrote:
> Spent a week in London last week and besides the
> fantastic public transport (Tube and bus), I was
> most impressed by the bicyclists of the city!
>
> They were everywhere!
>
> And they weren't timid souls poking along desperately
> trying to stay a few inches from the curb to
> accommodate speeding motor vehicles; they were right
> out in the lanes, moving back and forth for left and
> right turns, and in every since of the word, behaving
> like vehicles with a right to the road!
>
> Very impressive.
>
> The London motorists, while going quite fast IMHO,
> seemed to be very tolerant of the bicyclists as well,
> so kudos to them too.
>
> I saw only one occasion where a Mercedes laid on the
> horn when a very nicely dressed woman in long skirt,
> boots and jacket "took the lane" ahead of him.
>
> All the riders seemed to really move along. Equipped
> with head and tail lights, they zipped along the sides
> of city streets making great progress.
>
> Finally, no "bicycling outfits"! They all seemed to
> be wearing fairly nice "go to work" clothes. No jerseys,
> no SPDs, no tights or leggings, and no helmets!
>
> They were simply [presumably] commuting to and from work
> by the seeming hundreds. Don't know if London has always
> had such a large bicycle commuting population or if this
> is the result of the city charging cars that come into
> town, but it was good to see.
England also has a relatively cool climate. Try wearing regular business
clothes while riding in summer in the northern US (or much of the year
in the southern US) and you will get totally soaked in sweat.
--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
"the grinning buddy bear carries a fork." - g.d.
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