Even though London is officially in a drought, it hasn't stopped the heavens opening this past fortnight, giving us some of the wettest and chilliest April weather on record apparently. However, that doesn't stop hardy cyclists like Adrian and I, who've been getting out and about and on with our business cycling through the streets of the city in our wet weather gears.
This Saturday we joined an estimated 10,000 other London cyclists who took part in a central city bike ride to raise awareness for cycling safety. While the situation in London is incredibly advanced compared to Auckland (recently suggested as one of the worst cities in the world for cycling - now that's not something to be proud of), with lots more cycle lanes and bike parks, it's not so good when it comes to big intersections. I cycle through several of London's most dangerous intersections on a daily basis on my way to and from university, and let me tell you, there's always an exhalation of breath when you know you've made it across in one piece. The 21 year old cousin of a good friend of ours over here was also recently killed by a lorry while cycling (in broad daylight, wearing fluro), so the situation really does need to improve.
The bike ride was part of the London Cycling Campaign's initiative called 'Love London Go Dutch' which aims to make London as safe for cycling as the cities in the Netherlands and despite the rain, wind and cold, was good fun to be part of. There's a video of the event here (can you spot me??) and some great photos on this Flickr stream by beenbrun, including this one below showing us all coming up Piccadilly:
This Saturday we joined an estimated 10,000 other London cyclists who took part in a central city bike ride to raise awareness for cycling safety. While the situation in London is incredibly advanced compared to Auckland (recently suggested as one of the worst cities in the world for cycling - now that's not something to be proud of), with lots more cycle lanes and bike parks, it's not so good when it comes to big intersections. I cycle through several of London's most dangerous intersections on a daily basis on my way to and from university, and let me tell you, there's always an exhalation of breath when you know you've made it across in one piece. The 21 year old cousin of a good friend of ours over here was also recently killed by a lorry while cycling (in broad daylight, wearing fluro), so the situation really does need to improve.
The bike ride was part of the London Cycling Campaign's initiative called 'Love London Go Dutch' which aims to make London as safe for cycling as the cities in the Netherlands and despite the rain, wind and cold, was good fun to be part of. There's a video of the event here (can you spot me??) and some great photos on this Flickr stream by beenbrun, including this one below showing us all coming up Piccadilly:
The London mayoral and local government elections are coming up, so here's hoping it made a difference!
