Comments on: Tell me your commuting or cycling story and win £50 pounds!

By: Andreas

Andreas — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:02:22 +0000

Right thanks everyone for your entries!
*****I think we will stop it here*****

I’ll do a random number generator from 1 to 21 and announce the winner shortly. I wish you all good luck and thanks so much for your entries it has been so interesting reading through, think we have some good linguists following here on London Cyclist! Very entertaining reading

Winner announced: Here

By: jane

jane — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:13:21 +0000

i love my cycle commute; it means that i never have a really bad day. i have an old claud butler mixte and i ride from waterloo to various destinations north of the river – usually either hampstead (5 miles, about 30 minutes) or warren street (2.5 miles or so, and only 15 minutes…). i costs me nothing and i am never, ever late for work or grumpy when i get there. it definitely beats the tube hands-down and i only wish i lived further away!

By: tim

tim — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:13:38 +0000

8 miles each way rain or shine. favourite part is knowing i’ll be home before my son goes to bed (even with a puncture) and spending the money i’m saving from the train on shiny things also makes me smile.

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:38:13 +0000

A sporadically but committed cyclist, my morning commute is from Petticoat Lane on the outskirts of hipster country, to the centre of London in Trafalgar square. This route takes in the always exciting tunnel on Lower Thames Street and the Embankment, where coach drivers delivering city workers constantly challenge themselves on how close they can shave my legs with their luggage compartment doors.

A lover of bikes from a young age, I recently tried to rekindle my childhood love of the 80’s BMX culture, with the purchase of the Mongoose anniversary edition of their 1978 model. Only 500 made and collectors’ edition the sales bumph told me. And I believed it. I also believed that I would now be a BMX freestyle wizard when all those years ago, as a weedy 11 year old, I was barely strong enough to rest my Raleigh Burner from gravity’s grasp.

How wrong I was. My new nostalgic ride was nothing more than a cheap replica of the models that I coveted as a young boy, seemingly weighing about the same as my washing machine. More than that, there is nothing sadder than seeing a man in his mid-thirties riding a bike several sizes too small for him along with pads and old school number plate. It has found a place however and that is hanging on my wall. I find that my new Boardman road bike is much better suited, and certainly faster, for getting round town.

By: anniebah

anniebah — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:55:12 +0000

Trying to get the hang of riding at 57 isn’t easy. First effort I tried to answer my mobile while cycling and fell off and twisted my ankle and broke the bike. Second effort on new bike, my water bottle made an exit from its holder as I unsteadily made my way down the road – I reached for it to save it from falling under my bike wheel and promptly fell off onto the bonnet of a slow-moving car with a very abusive driver. I am learning slowly though and try to stay on bike paths where I am most comfortable. It is a great pleasure but hard to be confident so think of me as I push and pedal onwards!

By: Nigel

Nigel — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:58:12 +0000

I have just moved off the isle of Wight and commute back to the island 3 days a week. Using my trustee Mezzo my morning commute involves a cycle-ferry-cycle-car-cycle getting to work and the reverse going home!

Each afternoon when I return to Lymington and as the ramp lowers on the ferry I glance anxiously at the railway station clock. How many minutes past is it, will I make it?
Make what you ask; why does this folding bicycle maniac launch himself off the ramp each afternoon if a flurry of whirling pedals? If clock reads 17:10 and under I can pedal a mile up the road and beat the 14 minutes past train to the crossing, getting home earlier for tea! 11 minute past and its tight, 12 minutes past and I saunter up the road casually slide by the queuing cars at the crossing gates and assume my rightful place at the front of the queue.

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:52:56 +0000

I cycle to & from the station (in West Sussex) 5 days a week. Rain or shine, light or dark, sleet, snow, drizzle and fog. Crisp mornings and lazy evenings. Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. I love it and wouldn’t go without. There is traffic, but it’s rarely busy. When I was a student (lived and cycled in London) I’d often have a pocket full of rice. A handful of that thrown at a careless driver wakes them up, but does them no damage. I wouldn’t condone it nor would I do it anymore. But it was an amusing way of venting frustration at taxis, mercedes drivers and, on one occasion, a porsche driven by a muppet in Hammersmith. I was only knocked off once, by a pregnant lady driving her car in a rush to the hospital to have her baby. First day of my finals, but my concern was more for her. That child will now be 18. Hope he or she’s having a good life and is a careful cyclist.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:39:09 +0000

When I moved from American to London 4 years ago, a bicycle was the first thing I bought – even before sorting out a permanent place to live! I had heard public transport was expensive here and that travelling by bike was the quickest way to get around the city. 4 years on, I still cycle everywhere, from my daily work commute to weekend joyrides.

I love overtaking cars while riding at a completely safe, reasonable pace. Not maniacal, bobbing and weaving across traffic, but just calming blowing past them when they’re in stand-still traffic.

I recently attached a miniature camera to my helmet so I could record my rides. I’m not exactly sure what I’ll do with all the footage!

By: Liam

Liam — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:31:49 +0000

A few years ago I started working from home which has many advantages.

Best of all is the commute of about 5 seconds into the spare bedroom/office, worst of all is the loss of the ride at the start and end of the day. I was discussing this with a cycling friend the other day and he said ‘the trouble with cycle commuting is that your working day has two high points – neither of which happen in the workplace!”.

But the big upside is that when the day gets a bit sh*tty or when I’ve been a good boy and done all I need to, I can drag the bike out and steal a cheeky hour or so.

I managed all my training for the 2007 Paris Brest Paris by nipping out for an hour here and an hour there.

I’ve been offered a new job back in Central London and I’m trying to make sure that the opportunity to return to a cycle-commute doesn’t cloud my decision whether to accept or not!

By: Kylie ap Garth

Kylie ap Garth — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:50:56 +0000

I cycle about 4 miles to work in the morning, varying between a road route and a cycle path. On two days a week my husband comes with me when he’s based in Central London.
I’ve had quite a history of bikes. My first was a green, heavy second-hand bike that a friend no longer needed. Unfortunately it didn’t survive a crash after a car veered in front of me to turn a corner. My next bike I forked out a heap of cash for & I absolutely loved (it was so fast!) but it only lasted a couple of months before thieves broke into the basement at my old flat and stole it. My next bike was another hand-me-down, a lovely old hybrid, but it was stolen (despite being secured with a D-lock) from a busy street I work on. The bike after that was an old collapsible commuter bike that I got from a friend that was unbelievably slow & eventually fell to pieces. My current bike is the white bike my friend gave me when she moved to Spain, it’s my first ladies bike & it’s just got a new chain. It hasn’t been crashed into, stolen or fallen apart… yet!