Pros and cons of cycling to work and back 5 days a week?

i ride about 2 hours every week day, and like 4 hours on most saturdays and sundays. FUCK COURSEWORK

You're absolutely right. FUCK COURSEWORK. Fuck it all to HELL.

And fuck tidying my room. Yeah, you heard me!

True, fred. Another thing about cycling is I've always felt a lot safer on the bike when traveling through London, especially in the dark, which is why I was shocked from that thread to see what had happened to tynan's mate. Being attacked while on your bike must be pretty bloody rare in comparison to being attacked on foot?!

All indications are that it is, yes. No solid data exists, though. It actually seems much more frequent for people on foot to be attacked by people on bikes, getaway issues and all that. There have been a few localised problems, like the spate of muggings in the N1 area some years ago, when some people got hold of stolen scooters and rode up behind cyclists to snatch their Ortlieb panniers (which shear off if you grab the top handle). That took ages to sort out by the police, for too many reasons to go into.

Sometimes people are ambushed along well-used cycle routes. The problem seems to be that when people decide to beat up someone, they have been known to choose a route where they can be sure that a cyclist will be along soon, so that an ambush can be set up. It doesn't happen that often, though, and we don't really know whether it might as well have been someone on foot who might have been targeted if they'd been unlucky enough.

There are always muggings in isolated spots. Several people get pushed into the canals every year, for instance. Usual advice--use main streets/populated routes after dark, even if you normally enjoy riding away from main streets.

But overall, we get comparatively few reports of such events. It's similar as with traffic collisions--cycling is very safe, but we're not of a mind to tolerate casualties.

Oliver
LCC

Commuting every day has proven health benefits and is rising up the agenda as a health policy imperative. We're working with NHS London trusts at the moment to get funding in place on the back of pilots in LBs Sutton and Tower Hamlets. There's shedloads of evidence on the benefits of these small routine workouts.

As others have said--make sure you do enough for yourself based on your current fitness. Don't overdo it. There's no shame in missing a ride if you don't feel up to it one day. The 'experience' of public transport will be enough to have you back on the bike with newfound enthusiasm the next day.

Some key things:

(1) Don't focus too much on weight loss--gaining power and fitness may have to come before you notice any significant weight loss. Too many cyclists starve themselves and then find that they've lost all power. Make sure you feel good. Perhaps you may have to re-gain lost muscle mass, core stability etc. first.

(2) Most people focus too much on distance when in fact it's the quality of your workout that matters. Building exercise into your normal daily routine is one of the best things you can do in any case, and you don't usually even need to formalise this much.

(3) Commute satisfaction is unlikely to be determined by the time you take alone, but rather by how happy you are with overcoming the various small logistical problems encountered en route. Clothing is an example, but also bike equipment, or traffic flow in certain areas. Or campaign for better facilities for cyclists at work?

(4) Top tip in an earlier post--try to get lost every once in a while to really get to know areas. Vary your route with this knowledge. You will probably start out doing the same route every day, but in London there are always different routes you can take while you're on a bike. The local knowledge you gain will give you a really happy feeling of 'owning' London. Not to be underestimated!

Happy commuting!

Oliver
LCC

mine does, i tried some as you are always banging on about it.

it was ok. it had bits in it.

Yeah - bottle conditioned innit. On draft it's gorgeous.