If anyone wants to switch to Cycling

If anyone wants to switch from public transport or driving to work and is maybe a little apprehensive about cycling on the roads, finding the best routes or has any questions, ping me and I’ll be happy to help out.

There’s also an official scheme over at LCC which gave me the idea
https://www.lcc.org.uk/articles/community-bike-buddies

I’d be happy to cycle in with you one day (even at the weekend if you want to practice a route) and pick you up on the way home. I normally cycle to the City or Canary Wharf and often up into the West End, even Richmond and Hampstead so I have a few preferred routes that work really well.

PM me if you’re interested.

p.s. I would recommend getting an LCC membership purely for the insurance benefit - https://membership.lcc.org.uk/insurance-legal-advice if you are planning to cycle to work regularly.

I was planning to offer to be a ‘cycle buddy’ i.e as an experienced cyclist (10 years in London and over a lap of the planet 28,000 miles) to accompany people on their bikes to work and back if they wanted to give it a go. More info here: If anyone wants to switch to Cycling

When I started, I was going from Dulwich to the City (6 miles), and it seemed like a long way and a challenge. Now I do 7 miles to Moorgate from FH in 30 mins and that’s at a moderate pace. Yesterday I went to visit a friend in Hampstead - 12 miles in 50 mins. Beat that in a train or a car. You can’t. And it saves money too.

As a few of us have said repeatedly we are not trying to convert everyone, but even if a small proportion of people would switch from cars to bikes then it would go some way to sorting the traffic problem

Thank you very much for the offer @clausy. It’s very kind of you to offer to help others.

I would love to be fit enough but I work very long hours on my feet all day, I do 20,000 steps at work everyday (according to my health app) so I think cycling 22 miles every day on top of this and my long working hours will either burn me out or kill me off…

Fair point, yes 11 miles is a bit of a stretch as a starter ride, especially with a busy day on your feet! You could look at riding one way and leaving the bike overnight in a secure location (office basement for example) but yeah, 11 miles is a decent challenge!

My issue was always the massive hill first thing in the morning, then it is a pretty easy ride for 10 miles

I moved these all into this topic, as we’d gone off the Road Closures theme, hope that’s OK with everyone.