Bikes in London

My second new experience last Saturday (after taking my bike on a train): Cycling in London. I was going to London for the World Naked Bike Ride. The prospect of that phased me not one bit - What I was seriously nervous about though was cycling in London between the trains station and start and end points of the ride. I live in a tiny city that suffers only marginally more traffic (and much more cycle path) than the diddly rural/suburban village I grew up in. That village was near Bristol, but to the best of my memory I never cycled in the city centre, nor in any large cities when on holidays and such. So I am pretty much a complete novice to cycling in a proper heavily-trafficed, wide-roaded urban area.

I’m also a bit of a novice to London. I mean, I’ve been there many many times, but up until a couple of years ago I’d almost exclusively travelled on the tube. And even after walking a bit of it I only knew my way around a tiny part - Although I remain amazed how tiny central London is on foot. One gets the impression from travelling on the tube, and looking at maps, that it should be huge, but it’s really not.

Turns out, I had nothing to worry about! Ok, I was there on a Saturday which I’m sure made things much less congested. I mean, I did get lost going both from and to the station, but only slightly, and thanks to my keen sense of direction was quickly back on course. So that was fine. I found London a bit of a maze, but the traffic was no problem at all, much more cyclist friendly than I put up with Lincoln on a regular basis.

It was also just great fun cycling around London. I love the city, and it was nice to see it from a different perspective, at a different pace, and just to see more of it. Should I ever manage to escape tiny Lincoln I look forward to cycling around not so big and scary London more.