Resurgence
Posted: Wed 27 July, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts, Travel 3 Comments »Interesting to see that cycling has had a bit of a renaissance since the London bombings, with the shop mentioned in the article going from selling 3 bikes a day to 15 a day now.
I find I do have a couple of doubts about the entire thing though – first of all, people are quoted saying “The Tube is dangerous, I feel safer cycling”. In London?!? These people are quite blatantly insane. I know my life is made dodgier by cycling on the roads in Bracknell – I don’t even want to think about adding London buses and taxis in to the equation. OK, so they’re no longer at risk of being involved in a bomb on the tube. But there were also incidents on buses – and a bus roof landing on/near a cyclist isn’t going to be good for the health either.
Second, I have to wonder what these people will do once it starts raining again (as it has here today) or as the nights draw in and it gets colder. Will the ones who are so willing to get back into cycling during the balmy light summer evenings be so willing to use their bikes on a cold wet November night?
You said it, bro. This report is a bit out of date, but still relevant.
Well, after the 7 July bombings I was somewhat amused by all the people saying that they had discovered walking instead of buses and Tubes. Well, in those temperatures, Tubes were like saunas, buses twice as hot. Walking made sense…!
I cycle to work 12 months a year in all kinds of weather. However, I don’t live in London and am not sure if I’d do the same there. It’d depend on the distance and traffic patterns I’d have to navigate.