Confessions of a London Cycle Hire Virgin – Dan Vivian
October 1st, 2010
I left living in London behind many years ago now. Work and play have taken me back there often, but now I have even more excuse to enjoy the delights of our incredibly vibrant capital city. It’s slow, heavy and possibly dangerous; but ultimately after one experience I am a total convert to Boris Johnson’s Cycle Hire scheme.
I still can’t quite associate it directly with Barclays (official name is Barclays Cycle Hire www.tfl.gov.uk/barclayscyclehire), inspired piece of branding/sponsorship that it is. No doubt that intimate association may come over time, in the wonderfully inspired way 02 has taken ownership of the Millennium Dome and live entertainment in general.
One of the main reasons to leave London behind for me was the state of the archaic transport system at the end of the 20thCentury. It made ordinary journeys around town incredibly painful and stressful. Even then my normal commuter transport was my beloved GT mountain bike, but that was difficult to take to meetings for fear of ruining suits or of being stolen.
This week I returned to cycling in London. I took the step to join the Cycle Hire scheme. The online registration was very simple and the personalised key fob arriving in the post within 24 hours. So I arrived at Waterloo bright and breezy after a dawn start from Poole looking for the nearest bike rack. Sadly the first I found was completely empty. Frustrating for me but a great endorsement of the level of take up of the new system.
On finding another rack within a few hundred yards I proceeded to engage my fob. All I received was an annoying red light however many bikes I tried. Luckily I suspected some teething problems/ operator error and had allowed enough time to contact TFL who very efficiently activated my fob… releasing my bike and I was off.
The initial experience of cycling these heavy, sit up and beg, three geared bikes couldn’t have been a bigger contrast with my last cycling experience while completing my first half Iron Man triathlon at the weekend on my stripped down, arse in the air road bike. However within a few turns of the pedals I had a huge grin on my face; unlike the huge grimace of the weekend as I ground out the endless hills on the BustinSkin Middle Distance Tri.
I was seeing London from a completely different perspective, one I don’t think I’d ever taken in before. Gently cruising over Waterloo Bridge I had to check myself as London commuters sped past me on their swifter machines. I sat up, engaged a very accommodating second gear and reached my destination with minimum fuss. I was almost sad to find a nearby rack and leave my steed behind.
The contrast to other forms of transport was extreme. It has none of the squeeze and claustrophobia of the Tube, the confusion of the bus or the expense, congestion and pollution of a cab, or the shoe leather of Shanksy’s pony; just a gentle meander taking time to absorb the scenes on the street. I felt almost childlike in my joy of this discovery – convenient, hugely enjoyable, extraordinarily cheap, with absolutely minimal environmental impact and most of all relaxing. It was a moment of pause in the day. Not the constant rush and stress of the other modes described and probably quicker than any of them.
I am a total convert – not sure what happens when it rains but hey, what are cagoules for. I’ll be telling anyone who cares to listen to sign up and get on their bikes. Well done Boris, TFL and Barclays a brilliant addition to our Capital.
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It is fantastic to leave a seminar feeling inspired and full of practical ideas. Thursday’s oomph seminar did exactly that, Ben and Dan are naturals at putting an audience at ease which meant real participation from the group. As environmental professionals often form a one person team, it is fantastic to share a room with like minded individuals from local businesses who have faced and tackled similar challenges and can offer insight and advice. Eagerly anticipating the next installment of Oomph!
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Thank you both for inviting us to today’s Oomph seminar. From our point of view, we found the stimulus material and subsequent debate insightful from a sustainability perspective, but also in a wider context applicable to the successful deployment of general business initiatives.
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Really enjoyed this morning. I have attended very few seminars over the past two years simple because they are all too similar, often the the same speakers and follow the same theme. Today was most importantly enjoyable, interesting and got the brain cells working. I like small groups with variety of people and backgrounds.
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