Brighton
Bibi van der Zee

Brighton has a love-hate relationship with its cyclists: the city that nearly voted in the UK's first Green MP in the last election can see that good cycling policies win votes, but the thinking usually doesn't quite join up. Cycle paths go along pavements, across traffic lights, more often turning cycling into a battle with pedestrians than with traffic.

The North Laine has been a nightmare ever since it was zoned by the council to keep motorists out. It is impossible to cycle through the area without breaking about three sections of the Highway Code, and getting tutted at by pedestrians. There is also a dire shortage of Sheffield stands. One cyclist chained his bike to a lamppost recently and came back to find a "Pavements are for Pedestrians" sticker on the seat.

One of the great cycling treasures in Brighton is the seafront track. Ian Davey of Bike for Life reckons you can go from Carrots Cafe in Hove all the way past the pier, through the marina and along the recently reopened undercliff path to Saltdean - about 10 or 15 miles, and off-road almost all the way. However, Nick Sayers, the organiser of the annual Naked Bike Ride, points out that at the Hove end you're not allowed on to the broad promenade: he was once fined £120 when he was caught there.

The route from the university into town, along the Lewes Road and down the Old Steine, has bad moments (Lewes Road, between the gyratory and Elm Grove, is a treacherous stretch) and most cyclists pick the Vogue gyratory on Lewes Road as their pet hate. But it's mostly good - cycling along the Level is a leafy pleasure, and the stretch from there to the Pavilion Gardens is a great run, if you manage to avoid the pedestrians who meander on to the cycle paths.

Brighton has some of the worst hills you can possibly imagine: if you can do Southover Street in one go, you are probably ready for the Tour de France. The council's not-very-good online journey planner, journeyon.co.uk, once sent a cyclist up it as a route from Preston Circus to the Pier. (It also advised me that there was no cycling route from my house to the seafront, which is a five-minute straight line on a bike.) Keen cyclist Fred Pipes's website, www.weirdcyclelanes.co.uk, charts some of the more idiotic cycle lanes laid down by the council.

Best repair shop Aaron's Bike Shop in the Old Market, open Tuesday to Saturday, 12-5pm. You can get a good bacon sandwich from the market caff while he sorts you out: he turns most bike problems round on the spot.

Worst lock-ups The ones near the Lanes: if your bike doesn't get nicked, a roaming hen-night will kick one of the wheels in.

Cardiff
Elisabeth Mahoney

Cyclists in Cardiff are rightly evangelical about the pleasures of the Taff Trail. For cyclists commuting from areas such as Radyr, Llandaff, Whitchurch, Pontcanna and Canton, the trail offers an idyllic, traffic-free route along the banks of the Taff river and through the city's loveliest parkland. Alastair Rayment, of Cycle Cardiff, is typically effusive: "We bought our house because of its proximity to the trail. Everything we need - doctors, dentists, shops - are just off the trail."

John Higgins, of Cardiff Cycle Couriers (cyclecouriers.com), reckons Ocean Way is one of the worst roads for cyclists as it is nearly always clogged with lorries and vans moving at speed. You can avoid it by cycling along Windsor Road, East Tyndall Street, Lewis Road, Freshmoor Road and Portmanmoor Road. He also suggests avoiding Cowbridge Road East in Canton, which is always busy with moving traffic and has cars parked over the cycle lanes. Leave it at Victoria Park, and cycle along Lansdowne Road, into Atlas Road and then into Wellington Road, which brings you out at the junction of Cathedral Road and Castle Street.

Alternatively, turn left up Victoria Park Road East, then right at the roundabout into Romilly Road West. At the junction with Clive Road, you can stop and get a newspaper from Clive Road Stores, then go straight on into Romilly Road and then Wyndham Crescent, which brings you out near the end of Cowbridge Road. Coming home this way, Clive Road has a couple of handy shops - The Cookshop, selling gourmet ready meals (open until 6pm Tues-Fri; ejcatering.co.uk) and a branch of Wine Rack, with jolly staff.

Newport Road, coming into the city from the east, is another one to avoid. Take Richmond Road at the bottom of Albany Road, turning right into Lowther Road and then left into Salisbury Road, with its shops and cafes. Grab a coffee and your baguette, panini or salad-box lunch at Dough (20 Salisbury Road, open from 7.30am weekdays); phone your order in advance and they will have it ready. Café 37, at No 37, is also good, and open from 6am. From here, you can cut across Cathays Park into the city centre - an inspiring start to the working day.

Five tips for happy Cardiff cycling

1. Plan your journey using the council's free cycle map - it has recommended green (traffic-free) and yellow (quieter roads) routes. The map is online at www.cyclingmapsonline.co.uk/cardiff.

2. Befriend staff in your local bike shop: the Bike Shed on Wyndham Crescent (bikeshedwales.com; 029 2066 8772) is widely recommended.

3. Cardiff council runs free, one-day classes for adults, on the second Saturday of each month, from April to September. Call 029 2061 9907 for details or visit roadsafety.cardiff.gov.uk

4. In town, use the well-lit and highly visible bike racks on Queen Street, at the Castle end.

5. Hook up with Cycle Cardiff (cyclecardiff.org.uk), a friendly new group organising weekend social rides and informative monthly meetings. You don't need to wear tight Lycra shorts to fit in.

Leeds
Martin Wainwright

Leeds is a friendly city for cyclists; despite being built on the traditional seven hills, almost all are gentle and every up means a swoop down. First off, get the Leeds Cycling Map via a stamped, self-addressed A5 envelope to Transport Policy, The Leonardo Building, 2 Rossington Street, Leeds LS2 8HD. Or use the online version at www.cyclingmapsonline.co.uk/Leeds.

Explore the famed green wedges

First, and best, is the Leeds-Liverpool canal towpath that runs all the way between the Dark Arches basin (Granary Wharf) and the north-west city boundary. Meanwood valley, which goes right into the centre, is good, too, as is heading south by the Air & Calder Navigation - apologies for the Knostrop sewage works - and through redbrick lower Beeston and Middleton Park. Do avoid noisy, smelly commuter routes whose lavish cycle lanes are, most of the time, sadly bike-free; they're like landing strips laid out by worshippers for future arrivals from Planet Bicycle.

Nifty shortcuts

Great George Street through the anti-traffic bollards to Woodhouse Square. Also up Calverley Street through the uni's car barrier, then swoosh round and under the labs etc to studentland in Burley and Hyde Park. Check out www.leeds-uni-cycling.org.uk or www.lmu.ac.uk/visiting/travel/cycle_walk.htm, including details of campus showers and Leeds Met's pump 'n' puncture kit depots (central campus and Beckett's Park).

Bad spots

All the vast ringroad roundabouts, where it is safest to play at being a pedestrian. Claypit Lane's cycle path into the city centre is a notorious cyclist/pedestrian conflict point, doubly bad as two-wheelers lose the momentum they have built up for the long slope up into town. Intense work on such things is ongoing through groups such as Leedsbug (www.leeds.ac.uk/leedsbug), the uni-based Bicycle Users Group, and especially Leeds Cycling Action Group (www.leedscyclists.org.uk). If you're interested, check out the online minutes of the quarterly, council-chaired Leeds Cycling Consultation Forum at Civic Hall, via the Leedsbug site; it has fascinating stuff such as changing the timing of green traffic light "waves" to suit bikes as well as cars.

Bike shops

There are many, including Woodrup's in Kirkstall Road for top-of- the-range stuff, including bespoke (www.woodrupcycles.com); a nice family business is Drake's at Harehills (www.drakescycles.co.uk); and the usual nationals such as the workers' co-op Edinburgh (www.edinburghbicycle.com) in Chapel Allerton. While in town, check out the cheery mural and garden in memory of top local biker Beryl Burton, who won every race going. It is off Queen Street in Morley, next to the Yorkshire Bank.