Cycling to work

Over the past week and a half, I've commuted to work and back on my bike! I know, I didn't really see it coming either. But before I dive into that inspiring topic, I must first discuss bike lingo. For some reason, the terminologies for bicycle related activities is very different in the UK to the US. As I work in 'sustainable travel', I discuss and write in the UK terminology basically every day, and having not discussed these things very frequently in the US, I tend to use the UK terminology even when I'm not at work. As I will no doubt write the rest of this entry using UK terminology (go ahead, judge me, that's fine!), I think I should first give a run down on these differences.

US: 'Bike ride'
UK: 'Cycle ride'

US: 'Bike riding'
UK: 'Cycling'

US: 'I rode my bike to work'
UK: 'I cycled to work'

I think that just about sums things up, so bear with me! I shall try to refrain from using any additional anglicisms.

So, after Mark and I had a few weekend 'cycle rides', we decided that we would try 'cycling to work'. Our first attempts were thwarted by torrential rains on the Friday before last, but the forecast for last week was remarkably warm and sunny and we decided to give it a whirl. So last Monday we dressed up like complete idiots (but no lyrca people!) and hit the road.

While I did eventually make it to work, I must admit I did get a bit lost. Our plan was to stick to the main roads to our workplaces, many of which were 'cycle routes'. For me this meant leaving the house, 'cycling' up a side street, through a park and some residential streets (essentially a traffic-free short-cut to Fulham Road), then up Fulham Road into Chelsea. As a good 'cyclist', I try my best to obey traffic laws, including stopping at red lights and not proceeding through them until the light turns green (although you get started on the 'red & amber' phase). When I was stopped at one of these red lights on Fulham Road, I was joined by 7 (!) other 'cyclists' before the light turned green again. This seemed like an impressive number to me.

On day 1 I missed my turn off of Fulham Road, which would have led me through a residential bit of South Kensington then up through Hyde Park alongside Kensington Palace and then an undetermined route from there to my work. So having missed this turn, I took one just after and ended up sort of winding through South Ken (not a bad area to be lost, in general) and ended up going up Queens Gate, then through, um the Queens Gate into Hyde Park, then alongside the road through the park and I managed to find my work through the other end. While this was entirely accidental my first day (I resorted to following other 'cyclists' who seemed to know where they were going), I have gone up and down Queens Gate every day since (on purpose). Might I add, that this route takes me past the Natural History Museum, the Albert Memorial, Royal Albert Hall, and I noticed yesterday on my way home that I could see a bit of the Princess Diana Memorial in the park. Again, not a bad bid of scenery for a commute.

So how do I feel about this route? Fulham Road tends to be a bit busy with traffic and I have to pass several buses. However, it's a 'cycle route' and there are always lots of other 'cyclists' around so you feel like there is an awareness of 'cyclists'. Queens Gate is a massive, massive road, but instead of being busy, it's just really wide. Basically there's sort of one lane of traffic in the space for two lanes, so cars don't come anywhere near you and there's plenty of room to pass other 'cyclists' without danger. That being said, my bike is not meant for speed, so I am generally the one being passed by those guys on road bikes wearing lycra, but I do pass the occasional old lady! The route through Hyde Park is quite nice as there are 'cycle lanes' along the sidewalk of the main route, so you are essentially lumped in with pedestrians instead of cars. There are 'cycle lanes' along both sides of the road so you don't have to deal with a lot of people coming at you either. The sketchiest bit of my commute is on my way in when I have to go along the very busy road along the north side of Hyde Park for a couple blocks, crossing two lanes of traffic so I can turn up to work. However, I have found that it's quite easy if I just go a bit slow and let every pass me, waiting for a gap in traffic to duck over.

So there are supposed to be many benefits of 'cycling' to work that we spew off in the world of travel planning. Now I shall debunk them.

Time savings: if I just walked to my desk from my bike it might be quicker to cycle, but having to get changed sort of makes it a push. If I was in a rush in the morning I could probably get in a bit quicker, but I don't want to get sweaty so it's not worth it. However, I made excellent time 'cycling' home yesterday when I wasn't so worried about such things! Oh, and my trip in to work is slightly uphill, so the trip home is slightly down. This makes the trip in a little more tricky!

Energy: we like to claim that people show up at work awake and ready to face the day when they 'cycle' in. However, I just seem to be a bit sleepier than usual! Perhaps this only applies if you would otherwise drive to work?

Hair: not really something you talk about in travel planning, but a concern for female cyclists, especially. I put my hair in a French braid if I'm going to be wearing the helmet as I don't get helmet hair. When I get in to work my hair is a bit weird from having been braided straight after drying, but I generally have been putting it into a pony. It's not ideal, but I'm not that worried about impressing my colleagues by having fabulous hair (as, let's be honest, it's never fabulous).

So that's a brief wrap-up of my cycling to work ways. I took the tube in today. I'm pooped!