It’s Cycle to Work Day! By temperament I am suspicious of such arbitrarily-declared, endlessly-proliferating “days” – today is also macadamia nut day, seeing as you ask – but I’m willing to make an exception for this.
For one, it’s backed by a generally saintly bunch, among them British Cycling, the CTC and Sustrans (the organiser is bike-to-work people Cyclescheme. But also, if the cumulative publicity, and entreaties from the official face of the day, the equally saintly Sarah Storey, gets even a tiny percentage of extra Britons onto their bikes, that can but be a good thing.
Have you ridden to work today? If not, have no fear – you are allowed to cycle on other days, too.
Below is a small but potted assortment of thoughts from my years of cycling to various workplaces. Please leave your equivalents below, or even better send in photos and stories of your two-wheeled commute via Guardian Witness. Do you make an uncommonly long, or beautiful, or terrifying trip? Do you pootle sedately dressed entirely in Harris tweed, or adopt a nose down, bum up pose on a time trial bike? Why do you choose the cycle option? We want to hear it all.
Here’s my arbitrarily-selected vignettes:
The day in Lycra
When I worked for another media organisation in London the only shower was located in a building across the road, in which we rented just one floor. Getting access was entirely on the whim of the enigmatic, silent, deeply grumpy security guard at the front desk, who laughed in the face of ID passes and was deeply suspicious of everyone.
Once, after cycling to work for a weekend shift, he simply refused to let me in the building at all. Since I kept my suit in a locker by the showers I had to spend half the day in a crowded newsroom wearing a particularly tight retro Tour de France replica jersey and bike shorts. Eventually, the head of news persuaded the guard to let me in.
[A note: my commute at the time was about eight miles, so the Lycra and posh bike option was somewhat justified)
My (unofficial) Olympic glory
Not strictly a commute, but I was on my way home at the time.
During the 2012 Olympics I was dispatched to speak to the crowds massed along the cycle road race route to write a piece about the atmosphere. Having gathered my quotes I attempted to ride home to write the story. This involved first getting closer to central London.
The competitors were still a couple of hours away, riding around in Surrey, so after struggling to push my bike along the crowded pavement I speculatively waved my press pass and, to my surprise, an official parted the steel barriers and let me onto the road. I started riding, at first tentatively and close to the kerb.
But after about half a mile I got a bit carried away. The crowds were so excited (and bored) that even a man riding past slowly in work clothes was something to cheer. I began cycling faster, waving to people, milking the attention. At one point, I shamefully admit, I did a mock sprint finish, raising my hands in triumph at the end, to resounding cheers.
After about three miles of joyful riding a gruff marshal on a motorbike overtook me and asked, with some justification, what the hell I thought I was doing.
Why I ride to work
On a more general note, there are many reasons – the predictability, the health benefits, the cost – but one always stands out: the sense of wellbeing.
Even if less than an hour earlier I was dragging myself, befuddled and tired, from a dawn bed, by the time I get to work by bike I’m always energised and (just about) ready to face the day. And however tough that day, the ride home relieves many of the stresses, even given the sometimes chaotic state of London’s traffic.
It’s partly the sheer physical effort, which is always calming, almost meditative. But more soothing still of all is the sense of control: barring puncture or mechanical mishap (which happens about once every 18 months in this era of super-tough tyres) I am not beholden to traffic jams, to bus drivers, to rail signal failure. I can predict, more or less to the minute, when I’ll get there. Who else can say that?
