Earlier this month I became one of the Mayor’s ‘pioneers’ and signed up to the London cycle hire scheme.  Paris’ ‘Velib’ has been a great success, but I never thought a similar project would materialise in London.  Then, in June, cycle hire stations sprang up seemingly overnight all over central London, and before I knew it, the scheme was up and running.

Unfortunately I ended up waiting 3 weeks for my access key to arrive.  I kept a mental note of all the times I could’ve used a hire bike in that time and was surprised how many missed opportunities presented themselves.  My key finally appeared on the 24^th August, and on the 25^th I headed for a docking station with the intention of cycling up to a client meeting in St Pauls.  I left myself 50 minutes to travel the 2 miles, and was glad I did.

The first docking station refused to release any bikes, the lights remaining resolutely red.  I headed for the next station and was relieved to nab the last remaining bike.  Riding to the meeting was joyous. I cycle six days a week, but these bikes are so far removed from what I’m used to, it was almost like being a beginner again.  The design and gearing encourages a sedate pace and I bumbled along just delighted to be in the saddle and not on the Tube.  In fact riding in a suit, with my satchel perched on front of me felt rather European. Thankfully the relentless traffic reminded me I was in London and not Copenhagen or Amsterdam.

The parking process punctured my enthusiasm though.  I’ve purchased Malcolm Barclay’s excellent ‘Cycle Deluxe’ app for the iPhone, and used it to find a station close to St. Pauls before heading out.  The app informed me that there were four spaces available.  Unfortunately by the time I arrived there were none.  A frantic ride around central London ensued and I visited a further five locations, each progressively further from my destination, before I finally found a free dock.  By the time I got to the meeting I was sweaty, stressed and unimpressed.

Unlike Paris, London’s bikes have not been equipped with locks, and although each half hour access period is free, keep a bike for longer – say the duration of a meeting, and things quickly become expensive.  I can see the logic in this, but if you can’t find a free bike dock then you have a problem.  One blogger reported finding a bike abandoned in the city this week, the (presumably wealthy) rider having abandoned it in frustration.

This is a fundamental drawback of London’s scheme, bikes are not being adequately re-distributed throughout the day, meaning that locations in central London tend to fill up in the morning and empty in the evening.  Fine for commuters, but the scheme isn’t really designed for commuters, and until they iron out this glaring issue I simply can’t risk taking a bike to a meeting.

I cycle all year round, I cycle to work, I cycle to the pub, to see friends, to the cinema. Sometimes I cycle just a few miles a day, sometimes eighty or more.  It’s an exhilarating pastime, but at times, a frustrating one.  When I first started riding a bike in London I was terrified.  I found driving in the City daunting enough, but on a bike, sharing the roads with cars, lorries and buses was like nothing I’d ever experienced.  Like many adults that turn to cycling, I hadn’t ridden since childhood, I knew nothing of bikes, of v-brakes, of rear derailleurs and bottom brackets; of chainwhips and star nuts.  I was uninitiated, confused and a little nervous.  I did almost everything wrong.  I bought the wrong bike, the wrong clothing, the wrong lock.  I couldn’t change gear properly, I couldn’t fix a puncture, I rode in the gutter and my bike handling skills were awful.  I was knocked off and knocked out by a black cab, I spent 4 hours in A&E, I had my top lip stitched back together.   I didn’t ask for help, but I wasn’t offered any.

Unfortunately this is the default position.  You buy a bike and off you go.  A good shop might give you a quick run down on the correct use of gears and brakes, might make some suggestions around what other kit you’ll need, many won’t.  Cycling is enjoying an unprecedented boom in London and the UK.  The big cycling chains have all opened new branches in London over the past few months and are reaping the benefits.  Yet I’ve never come across a shop that advertises what training and support is available, let alone offers any sort of training to their customers.  Of course this isn’t their job, but it wouldn’t hurt them to point out to new cyclists that there are resources available, and places you can turn to, places like the CTC?  These days even TFL have got in on the act, although they don’t make things particularly easy – requiring form filling and the (ever empty) promise that someone ‘will be in touch with more information.’

I gleaned my knowledge from trial and error, cycling forums, the inestimable Sheldon Brown (RIP) and manufacturer sites like Park Tool.  All very useful for understanding more about bikes themselves, less useful for understanding how to ride safely in a busy city like London.  This is where training would be invaluable.  Perhaps there’s an assumption among new cyclists that you don’t need to learn how to ride a bike in a city environment, that training is somehow unnecessary, or only for children.  Or perhaps they simply aren’t aware that there is help out there if you can take the time to look.  Sadly the lack of training usually results in people riding badly, something I see every day, whether its scattering pedestrians as they ride blithely across busy zebra crossings; risking death by riding on the inside of buses and HGV’s; cycling in the dark with no lights or reflectives or cruising through red lights.  The vast majority of these cyclists seem totally unaware of the potential consequences of their actions.  It’s this that I find so frustrating.  Not only are they endangering themselves and others, but their basic lack of ‘cycle-sense’ does nothing to encourage harmonious relations between pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.  I’m sure much of this poor cycling stems from a ignorance, a lack of skills and perhaps a lack of confidence, all things that effective training always looks to address.

I’m not advocating compulsory cycle training, but perhaps if the cycling industry, government and local authorities were a little more vocal in promoting training we could reduce accidents and fatalities and ultimately encourage more people on to two wheels?

Written by James Ashburnham – Relationship Manager