Why LEL 2025 was the best ‘cancelled’ Audax in the history of cycling

On 21/08/202521/08/2025 By OlafIn Uncategorized1 Comment

When I checked my iPhone on Monday morning after just two hours of sleep, I thought the weather app had frozen. The wind maps for both Monday and Tuesday seemed identical: a solid mass of red and amber indicating gusts of up to 80kph. Hours later I understood the truth — the app was fine, the forecast just didn’t change materially. Storm Floris was stuck over northern Britain, making Yad Moss and southern Scotland impassable.

When London Edinburgh London 2025 was cancelled, I was both gutted — months of preparation lost — and relieved that the decision to ride into dangerous winds was taken out of my hands.

Bizarrely, what followed over the next two days turned out to be one of the best cycling experiences in a very long time. I followed the LEL route back south, covering a total of 1030km since my start in Writtle on Sunday morning. Relieved of any time pressure, I got completely into my stride and was “in the zone” for days.

*A few kilometres after the start in Writtle on Sunday morning*

The camaraderie between riders seemed even better than normally, the kindness and support from volunteers was ever more special. Everyone seemed to be smiling in the face of adversity. Days after making it back to Writtle, I was still glowing.

London Edinburgh London 2025 must have been the best ‘cancelled’ ride in the history of cycling. Quickly relabeled “London Floris London”, it was a mass application of the principle that “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” The vast majority of riders shortened their ride and had a jolly good time riding south and stopping at the more southern controls. The volunteers played a blinder anyway.

*Volunteers at the last control in Henham*

The cancellation was of course frustrating. I had spent more than seven months preparing for these five days of cycling, using a week of holiday and spending hundreds if not thousands of euros on travel, food, kit and accommodation during preparation as well as the actual event. In the weeks before the start, I could hardly think of anything else. And over the first one and a half days and 517km, my ride had gone much better than I had dared to hope.

All riders I talked to during and after the event accepted the decision to cancel and thought it was the correct one. But on social media, some participants expressed reservations, pointing out that the PAID for the event, were bereft of the chance to complete the route and thought they had failed.

However, Ian McBride, the only rider quick enough to ride the whole route, wrote this on Facebook about his ride in Scotland:

“I was blown off the road twice just before Moffat. I had to walk two small parts as I couldn’t ride them. The end of the valley was a wind funnel. I was actually frightened on a few occasions. I was hoping every white van was an LEL van coming to pick me up saying it was all abandoned. I only carried on because I had no choice, there was nowhere to hide from it all. Trees were down on the road and small branches and stuff were flying all over the place. My return over Yad Moss 30 hours later went from sunny to very windy, some dangerous zigzagging all over the road, every stitch of clothing on again, and coming down to the bottom shaking cold and wringing wet. I think, sadly, the right choice was made. “

My ride

I was travelling to London with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I finished LEL in 2017 but did not make it to the start line in 2022 due to an ill-timed Covid infection. But I was the LEL volunteer coordinator and had spent a lot of time on that in the run-up to the event, and also volunteered at start and finish. Due to a new job and a loss of volunteering mojo, I had resigned from that role some 14 months before the start of LEL 2025.

The start and finish this year was a new one and quite spectacular: Writtle College, a sprawling university campus with its own bar and on-site accommodation close to Chelmsford some 50 km north-east of London. I ran into many familiar faces from the British and German long-distance cycling community, which was fun.

*At the start in Writtle: rides checking in for the 5:45am start*

I was fortunate enough to have a room right at the start, which was very convenient. However, I did not sleep well during the final night before the start – a habit – and was wide awake from 4am, almost two hours before my start time. A UK cycling friend – Greame – who was volunteering at the start cheered me up as he was directing riders with a laser sword. I did not expect to hallucinate even before the ride.

*A marshall with a cause (and a laser sword)*

I started with Steffen, a German cycling friend I have been riding with a lot in recent years. We had agreed not to try to religiously stick together but to approach the ride as ‘free agents’. Normally we ride at roughly the same pace, but Steffen dropped me immediately as he was on fire. I was only going to see him again three days later on the return leg.

Steffen was not the only one who was faster than me. Basically everyone else was too, which I found surprisingly unsettling. I know I am a slow rider – but was I so slow? Was there something wrong with me? Why did I not catch up riders from earlier start groups? In an attempt to calm me down, I used one of the last resort tools and dbegan talking to myself. “Olaf, you know how to do this.” “You’ve done this before.” “You got this.”

*A small group in the Fens (heading south again)*

I also concluded that while many riders must be much fitter than me, others were clearly punching above their weight and were going to pay the price for going too fast later. “We will talk again later!,” I started to tell myself when I got passed once more.

My first highlight was after 60km when I met Hans-Peter and Hendrik, two German friends who were volunteering and marshalled a hairy roundabout. Seeing familiar faces and chatting to them briefly really cheered me up.

Things got even better at the first control in Northstowe: even more familiar faces among the volunteers, some really good hot food, and an enchanting welcome from the female marshall at the entry to the control who was welcoming every rider with a cheerful and friendly “Welcome to Northstowe”.

I was in and out of the control within 20 minutes. On the way to Boston, I finally found my Audax mojo. I finally joined a few groups who were going at a convenient speed which was very helpful as we faced annoying crosswinds in the Fens. At the second control in Boston,I had covered 192 km in just under 9 hours, including stops. I enjoyed a fantastic vegetarian curry at the control and again was back on the road in 25 minutes again. While I was going more slowly than most other riders, I kept my breaks short and hence the same people started to pass me time and again after every control.

Some already appeared to be struggling while I was feeling increasingly confident. The beautiful Lincolnshire Wolds mountains were a welcome change to the boring flatlands, and at Louth, the welcome from the volunteers was even more spectacular than in Northstowe. We were greeted with small street party in front of the control. I briefly chatted with the chief controller in Louth, Damon, who is one of the funniest people in the whole LEL crowd before hitting the road again.

The two stages between Boston and Hessle, with Louth in between, were short with just 60km-ish each, and no big challenge. On Humber Bridge, one of the ride’s iconic landmarks, one of the LEL volunteers shouted “Olaf!” when I came past. It was Manfred, who I had briefly met at the start and was a mate of a Dortmund-based cycling friend. He was part of the team of roaming volunteers. His next task after bridge services on the following day was running the pop up café in Alston on the other side of Yad Moss, and we agreed to meet again there….

On the outskirts of Hessle, when I was riding into the dusk, a local guy stood by the roadside and clapped. The same chap was standing there and kept clapping two days later on my return trip. Impressive!

During the first day, I was constantly weighing my options for the night. I had booked a hotel room with 24 hours access in Malton as I feared the control might get overrun and I am not the biggest fan of the Audax dormitories in the first place.

As the time limit on LEL with a minimum speed of 12 kph is quite generous, I originally planned to sleep up to 4 to 6 hours in the hotel. But the weather forecast suggested that this was not a smart idea. The wind was going to get bad in the course of Monday, and the exposed section of Yad Moss was likely to get impassable. Should I ditch the hotel and ride through the night to Richmond in an attempt to make it across Yad Moss before the storm kicked in properly? Or should I wait in Malton until mid-day on Monday, hoping to make it to Yad Moss after the storm had gone through?

Every option had its pros and cons. After pondering for hours, I eventually decided to use the hotel room but limit myself to just two hours of sleep. I knew that tiredness can hit me quickly and out of the blue. Getting “the dozies” somewhere between Malton and Richmond (km 467) with no sleep options seemed risky, and could result in a very unpleasant night. And I also realised that even if I made it to Richmond during the night, there was no point in trying to ride even further as I then needed a brief laydown. As I needed to sleep anyway, why not use my hotel bed instead of a dorm and also have a quick shower?

It was the right decision. I arrived at my hotel in Malton shortly before 1:30am, covering 374km in just under 20 hours including stops. It was briefly brutal when the alarm clock went off after just 2 hours at 4am, but I felt very relaxed and well recovered. After a quick breakfast at the control, I was back on the road with only a few other riders and in a good mood.

Shortly after leaving the control I found myself in the Howardian Hills – an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which had been on the LEL route for years. It was still new for me as I had chosen a flatter alternative in 2017 when the route was not mandatory.

While I knew that the Howardian Hills were scattered with bizarre monuments, I was blown awa when I saw an obelisk at the peak of a beautiful rolling hill, followed by Pyramid Gate and Carrmirre Gate. At dusk, with a peculiar hazy lighting, the setting was surreal.

The buildings lacked any purpose apart from just being there to impress the visitors. The slogan that the local tourism agency has coined for Howardian Hills – a landscape like no other – is spot on. I was even more satisfied that I sleept for a couple of hours in Malton as I would otherwise have crossed the Howardian Hills in darkness.

Then it started chucking down. The heavy rain that was forecasted came a few hours early. I passed the pop up control in Rainton without stopping and was shortly afterwards caught up by a British female solo rider. We had briefly met before and chatted a bit but she was faster on hills. As the next 30km were flat, we were now going at the same speed and talked about everything from female cricket, the crisis of journalism and the weather. At one point during the morning she got a call from her husband and then needed to explain to her four-year old daughter why this wasn’t the ideal moment for a video call, which I found very sweet. As we were approaching the hills around Catterick Garrions and Richmond, I told her that “you will lose me at the next climb”, which was prescient.

The final miles to Richmond turned grim again as they were hilly, the rain restarted, and there was quite a lot of morning traffic. I was struck by a warning sign “Tanks turning” but could not be arsed to stop and take a picture. When riding past the garrisons, I was moved by signposts to memorials for units that fought at the Ypres lines and other theatres of war in the first world war, but again did not take a look as I just wanted to get to the control.

My plan was to get back on the road quickly to carry on to Alston. I briefly chatted with Peter Davies, the chief controller in Richmond, who told me that there might be “an announcement” at 10:30 am about the weather. Without any additional information, I understood that this was likely to mean that the ride might be suspended and riders won’t be allowed to leave the control. That was a scenario I tried to avoid. I told Peter that I had planned to leave between 10:20 and 10:30, and he responded: “Well, you better go then!” Off I went. (Later, when I was back in Writtle, I learned that it apparently was decided to allow about 150 to leave Richmond before the ride was going to be suspended to relieve some of the pressure on the control which was likely to be completely overcroweded in any type of lockdown.)

Apart from the wind, the weather was glorious at this point as the sun had come out. The vistas in the borders area were lovely, and I was feeling chipper. The wind continuously got stronger though and turned into a proper headwind, which slowed me down markedly. At some point my wife texted me to tell me the ride was officially suspended. I joked that the most dangerous bit of cycling so far had been the crossing of the A66 north of Richmond: a dual carriageway with lots of fast traffic and no roundabout. A rider from Malaysia who was crossing the road at the same time as I was rather unsettled: “I’m not used to this!”, he told me.

While I was expecting the suspension of the ride, I was still slightly perplexed when it acutally happened. I briefly stopped in a bus shelter to look at my options, realizing that carrying on was actually the only one. There were no restaurants or pubs nearby. My best bet seemed to be the pop-up café in Mickleton some 25 km north. I carried on and the wind was getting ever more stronger. In another bus shelter some 10km on, I met the Malaysian rider again and convinced him to join me on the way to Mickleton. We were now riding into a fierce headwind, and also had to go pedal up a gentle yet long climb. Covering the 15km to Mickleton took us 1.5 hours.

*Cumbria at its best (you can’t see the incredible wind)*

A few kilometers before the village, a white van came our way, informing us that the ride was suspendended and that there was food and shelter waiting for us at the village hall in a few miles. While I was already aware, it was still a very uplifting moment. The last stretch was through a wild romantic narrow gorge, turning it into one of the most beautiful sections of the route so far. I was so determined to make it to Mickleton that I did not bother to take any pictures.

I was quite relieved when I finally arrived at the village hall. The 45 km from Richmond had taken me an incredible 3.5 hours of cycling, including two brief stops at bus shelters.

The pop up café was tiny. Locals had also erected a marquee and both the hall and the marquee were pretty packed. Cyclistes were taking a snooze inside on airbeds, others were outside laying in the sun. I bought some lovely home-made food and used the opportunity to dry my shoes and other clothes which were already wet from the heavy rain in the morning.

*Pop-up control turned emergency dormitory in Mickleton*

By afternoon in Mickleton it was clear to me that the ride wouldn’t restart. The hall was overcrowded, blankets gone, and I dreaded a sleepless night. A local mentioned hotels in Middleton-in-Teesdale, just a couple of kilometres further on, and I managed to grab one of the last rooms.

*Middleton – my alternative to an overcrowded village hall*

That evening the cancellation was confirmed; instead of lying cold in the hall, I had a hot meal, shared a room with another rider, and slept eight hours. I set off next morning refreshed, backtracking my way to Richmond, enjoying the beautiful scenery and a tailwind that made me feel like being on an e-bike.

*Heading south again on Tuesday on the way to Richmond*

When I came through Mickleton again I realised that the whole village was decorated with cycles and scarecrows – apparently the local community had organised an LEL-themed scarecrow contest. It made me sad that all this effort was largely going to waste as only some 200 of the total 2200 riders would ever make it to the village because of the weather.

*One of the many cycling-themed scarecrow installations in Mickleton*

Shortly after arriving at Richmond, I had tears in my eyes for the first time. By accident, I had just arrived when Peter Davies was giving his farewell address to the Richmond volunteers, who had been working all out through the night and the morning. The control, which had 350 beds, at peak times during the night was populated by more than 1000 cyclists. Peter got very emotional and had tears in his eyes. So did I.

*Peter Davies farewell speech to volunteers in Richmond*

After some food – baked beans and bacon was the only food that was left – I cracked on towards Malton, having decided to follow the LEL route back to Writtle. I stopped at the pop up control in Rainton this time, buying a lovely soup, a sandwich and a coffee. One of the locals told me that they had only some 15 cyclists who were stranded there during the night, and all were taken home by locals and put up in guest rooms. How lovely!

I had planned to ride up to Hessle on the northern side of Humber Bridge, assuming that would be around 250 kilometers from Middleton. As I did not fancy a night in the dorm, and did not have any time pressure, I booked a cheap room at the Ibis hotel in downtown Hull. But at some point between Malton and Hessle, it dawned upon me that I had miscalculated the distance which in fact was only 200km.

*Quite a church north of Hessle, heading south*

I found myself in Hessle at 8pm on a wounderful day with a terrific tailwind and by no means wanted to stop. The ride to Hessle had been fantastic, as I had good company from a German rider and the scenery – in particular a narrow green valley – was gorgeous.

*This amazing valley is in England rather than Scotland*

For the whole day, I had been “in the flow”: the rare and blissful mental state of fully being in the here and now. I was completely absorbed by my cycling and felt strong and happy. I could not cancel the room anymore but decided to carry on regardless. At Hessle countrol, I briefly chatted with Hans-Peter and Hendrik again, the roaming volunteers from Germany who were down to marshall the bridge but currently off duty. I also briefly talked to Graham, the head of the roaming volunteers who I knew from my 2022 volunteer coordination days. It was so good to meet familiar faces and have a natter!

Crossing Humber Bridge always is a highlight. On the southern side I bought a few sandwiches and sweets to brace for potential shortages at Louth and Boston. The controls in Richmond, Malton and Hessle were already running low, and I was expecting that I may have to ride through the night to Boston (110km from Hessle) if I could not find a bed in Louth.

The coming 3.5 hours of cycling were among the best night cycling experience in years.

The night was warm, dry and under a full moon, the roads in the Lincolnshire Wolds were effectively empty, with few other cyclists being out there. To the left, the horizon was illuminated by the gas flare of the Prax Lindsey oil refinery down by the Humber. An almost mystical atmosphere and quite a contrast to 2017, when I entered the Lincolnshire Wolds southbound also at night but in heavy rain.

*The stunning night section between Hessle and Louth*

I met two very strong Indian riders, one Indian military officer and the other his friend and former RAAM participant. Time flew as we chatted. It could not get much better than this.

The control in Louth was so full that I struggled to find a place to park my bike and needed to rearrange some other bikes first. When checking in at the control, I met Damon again who magically managed to find me an empty bed. But I was so excited and full of adrenalin that I struggled to get to sleep for at least half an hour. I woke up at 4am after just three or so hours, unable to get back to sleep.

*I did meet the most important volunteer in Louth*

I had an early breakfast before the queues started, and chatted with a number of volunteers including Jo, a roaming volunteer who I knew from 2022 when she also was part of the team. So nice to meet again, so much to talk about. Later in the morning, I met my German cycling friends Steffen and Bogdan, who had both arrived earlier and slept at the control.

Steffen and I left together, riding into a beautiful sunrise in the gorgeous Lincolnshire Wolds. In the Fens we had an annoying side wind that turned head wind at times, and the day turned sunny and rather hot. We teamed up with a group of Swedes on steel bikes, one of them riding a nice Mercian – the first and only Mercian I saw on the entire ride.

*The sunrise in the Lincolnshire Wolds between Louth and Boston*

Arriving in Northstowe was lovely as I had long chat with George, the chief controller, and also for the first time since the start met Anja, another Frankfurt cycling friend.

I am still in two minds about the subsequent bit of riding: the route went straight through downtown Cambridge, which was chock-a-block with tourists. I also happened to come through during late afternoon peak traffic. The road surfaces, not great in general, were particularly bad in and around Cambridge. We saw a decent incident of road rage when a local cyclist, who got clipped by a car, kicked against the vehicle’s wing mirror. It was horrible. But bizarrely, it was wonderful at the same time. When I came past the insanely beautiful facade of King’s College, a young singer in front of the gate sang Abba’s “The Winner Takes it all”. I was so touched by her voice and the overall setup that I had again tears in my eyes.

It is hard to remember and name all the friends among riders and volunteers I met on that day: Bogdan, Anja, Peter, Colin, George, Ivan, Ian, Tim…. The most special one was Gordon: an old cycling friend from London and the nicest person on the planet. Gordon is part of a group of friends who we see of a week’s cycling holiday each year. Almost to the week, he is as old as my father who sadly passed away almost four years ago. When I rode up Mont Ventoux with Gordon in 2023, I struggled to stay on his wheel. He became an octogenarian this summer. I knew Gordon was volunteering at the final control before the finish in Henham, and he marshalled the incoming riders when I arrived. It was a very very special moment.

In Henham, Steffen and I met Isabel and Tobbe, a German couple from Dresden and we teamed up to ride the final 40km to Writtle, enjoying small and traffic free lanes into a balmy summer night. The setting at the finish was spectacular: dozens of riders were lingering outside of the registration, having beers and talking about the mutual adventure. It felt like one big party in a cozy beer garden. The snag was that the “Riders Return” bar was drunk dry in no time and we had to decamp to the local pub in Writtle.

*Arrivé! The “Riders Return Bar” in full swing*

My bike

By the look of it, my bike setup was largely unchanged compared to my first LEL in 2017: A Mercian Vincitore Special steel bike with a hub dynamo and mudguards. Compared to eight years ago, there were some three key upgrades though: a Supernova M99 Dy Pro light instead of the Edelux 2, tubeless tyres, and a hot-waxed chain. The bike ran flawlessly all week.

I was lucky that I had an early start time and kept pushing on the first day so I managed to get 1030km in, a good two thirds of the overall route.

Ironically, while LEL 2025 was cut dramatically short, is proved an old adage: Audax, as they say, is not about making a good time but having a good time.

My ride on Strava:

Day 1: Writtle to Malton

Day 2: Malton to Mickleton and Mickleton to Middleton

Day 3: Middleton to Louth

Day 4: Louth to Writtle

A black day for the Olympics and cycling in London

On 02/08/201202/08/2012 By OlafIn Cycling in London, Cycling Safety8 Comments

Yesterday was a fantastic day for cycling in Britain. In the afternoon, after an astonishing performance in the time trial, Bradley Wiggins won the Gold medal while his Team GB mate Chris Froome got Bronze.

(Wiggos views on road safety are barmy, however.

Update: On Twitter, the Lord of the Cyclists later said his views on helmet laws were misreported: “Just to confirm I haven’t called for helmets to be made the law as reports suggest. I suggested it may be the way to go to give cyclists more protection legally I involved In an accident.”)

However, yesterday was also a black day for cycling in Britain and for the Olympic games. Only a few hours after Brads triumph, an “Olympic bus” carrying journalists killed a male cyclist on the junction of Ruckholt Road and East Cross Road.

The crash happened at 7.45pm very close to the Olympic Park in East London. The victim is the 10^th cyclist who died in a traffic accident in London in 2012 (full details about all cycling fatalities in London since 2006 are available here).

Update: According to the London Fixed Gear and Singlespeed Forum, the killed cyclist was Dan Harris (@gecko84 on Twitter). On his blog, Dan describes himself as “social media strategist, community manager and web editor” and a physicist by training. Rest in Peace, Dan.

This death makes me very sad and very angry at the same time. The fatality is related to the Olympics in several different ways. The most straightforward connection is that he was killed by an official games vehicle. (Here’s an appalling report by an eye-witness of the crash.)

The bigger story is that the games are making cycling much more dangerous in London. Important and safe cycle lanes around the Olympic Park have been closed due to security (= terrorism) concerns for months. Yesterday’s fatality apparently happened 120 meters beyond entrance to a closed segregated cycle-path, as cyclist Donnachadh McCarthy wrote on Facebook. Continue reading “A black day for the Olympics and cycling in London” →

Going to the Olympics? Get on your bike!

On 29/07/201229/07/2012 By OlafIn Cycling in London7 Comments

Free and secure: Managed cycle Parking at the Olympics: Wimbledon

Cycling campaigners and influential bloggers have rightly lambasted the organisers of the Olympic Games for not caring enough about the needs of people wanting to cycle to the venues. Especially the closure of the canal footpaths in the proximity of the Olympic Park is outrageous. Getting to the Olympic Park by bike really is a demanding endeavour, as Danny William at Cyclists in the City put it:

“If you want to cycle to the Olympics, you can expect to take a detour, dismount from your bike, cross the motorway, maybe you’ll be able to get back on your bike again after that.”

However, there are alternatives, as Mark explains on his “I bike London” blog who also produced a nice guide for cycling to the Olympics.)

Despite all the justified criticism, I think cycling to the venues still is a good idea, as I found out yesterday. My wife and I had tickets for the first day of tennis at Wimbledon.

Initially, we planned to take the tube, but then found out that there was supposed to be secure, managed and free cycling parking right next to the venue. Hence, we changed our mind and took the Brommis from Highbury, north London, to Wimbledon, south-west London. Continue reading “Going to the Olympics? Get on your bike!” →

How the Velib compares to the Boris Bike – a personal account

On 27/07/201227/07/2012 By OlafIn Cycling in London3 Comments

I recently was in Paris for a couple of days. I pootled around in the city using Velibs, the French cousin of the Boris Bike. The French scheme has just celebrated its fifths anniversary.

Since I used both schemes, I thought a subjective comparison might be interesting. (My detailed experiences as a casual user of the Boris bikes are available here.)

All in all, both systems are great but both have their strengths as well as their weaknesses. Overall, however, from the perspective of a casual user I like the Velib scheme more than the Boris bikes.

Let’s compare the different aspects of the schemes one after another.

Terminals

English: Boris Bikes docked at Hyde Park, Lond... — A Boris bike docking station in London (photo credit: Wikipedia)

I found the Velib terminals rather confusing at first sight. They have to different sides, one is apparently for subscribers while the other one is for casual users. It was 1 am when I used the Velib for the first time, and some vin rouge might have been a factor. Be it as it may, initially I was trying to use the side for subscribers and was desperately looking for a credit card slot. I was close to giving up, buy my wife, who had only drunk Perrier, finally managed to figure it out that we have to use the other side of the terminal.

England scores the opening goal: England: 1 , France 0 Continue reading “How the Velib compares to the Boris Bike – a personal account” →

Cycling in London: What the Yanks can teach us

On 01/03/201229/02/2012 By OlafIn Cycling in London2 Comments

The safety of cycling in the UK has become a hot topic recently. Even the parliament discussed the dangers for cyclists. This debate was triggered by an impressive campaign “The Times” has launched several weeks ago entitled “Cities fit for cycling”.

Should cyclists welcome this debate?

Traditionally, the cycling community is very wary about openly discussing the safety issue. A lot of cycling campaigners fear that too much focus on the (perceived) dangers of cycling do more harm than good because this might reinforce a misguided perception that cycling is a dangerous endeavour.

This could turn off potential cyclists and harm our interests. It is generally assumed that the more riders are on the road, the safer cycling gets for everyone – this effect is called “safety in numbers”. Hence Andrew Gilligan, the “Daily Telegraphs” London editor and a cyclist himself, recently raised concerns about “The Times'” campaign.

When I started to collect detailed statistics about killed and severely injured riders in London last year, I had similar qualms.

In the meantime, however, I’ve become sure that such worries are misguided. Most of the people who haven’t started to cycle yet do this because they consider it unsafe anyway. They look at the traffic and the road infrastructure of this country and just don’t have the guts get on their bike in such an environment. If you want to turn them into cyclists, you have to increase the actual and the perceived safety first.

Roger Geller, the cycling coordinator of Portland Oregon, has developed a very convincing taxonomy of cyclists that I think can be adopted to London. Roger divides the citizens into four groups: “The Strong and the Fearless”, “The Enthused and the Confident”, “The Interested but Concerned” and “No Way No How”.

“The Strong and the Fearless”

The first group consists of a few diehards : People who cycle not matter what. As Roger puts it:

“They are ‘bicyclists;’ riding is a strong part of their identity and they are generally undeterred by roadway conditions regardless of road conditions. (…) Messengers immediately came to mind. Those “type” of people— generally young, predominantly male, fit — are an important and perhaps dominant subset of those who will ride regardless of conditions.”

According to Rogers estimates, this group equals less than 1 percent of the population.

“The Enthused and the Confident”

These riders can be easily attracted by better cycling infrastructure. In Roger’s terms:

“They are comfortable sharing the roadway with automotive traffic, but they prefer to do so operating on their own facilities. (…) They appreciate bicycle lanes and bicycle boulevards.”

Roger estimates 7% of the population belong to this group.

“The Interested but Concerned”

This is the biggest group: About 60% of the residents who are curious about cycling but scared of at the moment. Hence, they use the bike only very rarely in their local area. Roger describes them like this:

“They like riding a bicycle, remembering back to their youths, or to the ride they took last summer. (…) But, they are afraid to ride. They don’t like the cars speeding down their streets.

They get nervous thinking about what would happen to them on a bicycle when a driver runs a red light, or guns their cars around them, or passes too closely and too fast. (…)

They would ride if they felt safer on the roadways—if cars were slower and less frequent, and if there were more quiet streets with few cars and paths without any cars at all.”

“No Way No How”

Well, the Jeremy Clarkson’s of this world, you know. About a third of the population who cannot fathom to use a bike: People that are “currently not interested in bicycling at all, for reasons of topography, inability, or simply a complete and utter lack of interest”

The four types of cyclist and London

My hypothesis is that in London, currently only the “strong and fearless” and a small part of the “Enthused and the Confident” cycle frequently. The large surge in cycling in the last ten years probably can be explained by the fact that more “enthuse and confident” riders decided to cycle. However, I would predict that given the current road layout and planning priorities in London, this effect will soon peter out.

According to the latest figures in the “Travel in London 4” report that was published in January, the typical cyclist in London is male.

Across all age groups, there is a striking sex gap: Males are much more prone to cycling as females are. According to the numbers, 64 per cent of cyclists are men. If you look at the numbers of journeys, the difference is even bigger: 72 per cent of cycle journeys are done by men.

Especially striking is the difference in the age group 25 and 44 years: Males outnumber females in a ratio of almost 1 to 3.

Psychological research shows that men are more prone to overconficence than women. I think it’s a sure bet to say that women are just scared off by the conditions on the road.

I’m convinced that without a major transformation of the transport policies in London, cycling is about to stagnate in the future because nobody will be able to convince the “Interested but Concerned” to hop on their bike in today’s London. Probably the stagnation of cycling in London has already begun.

According to the “Travel in London” report, the number of daily cycling journey in London in 2010 has risen by about 40000 to 54000. In relative terms, this is an impressive gain of 6.4 per cent. However, about 25 000 of the new journey were due to the new cycle hire scheme which was a major investment. Without the Boris Bikes, the number of journeys would only have increased by 15000. This would have been the weakest increase for a number of years.

The big spike in cycling in London happened between 2002 and 2005, as this chart confirms. Ever since, cycling seems to have reached a new plateau.

Since 2008, the increases were so tiny that they disappear in the statistics if you round to the first digit after the comma.

In the last three years, the numbers of daily bus journeys increased by 300.000 from 3.4 to 3.7 million journey while the number of daily journeys by bike only increased by less than a third.

Seen from this perspective, London is experiencing a bus revolution rather than a cycling revolution.

This is even more appalling given the fact that using the bus is much slower and more expensive than cycling. Busses in London on average travel at a speed of about 12.5 Kilometers an hour, at the same time bus fares increased massively.

So why don’t more people cycle?

Interestingly, this question isn’t asked by Transport for London (presumably because they would not like to hear the answer).

Let’s turn to Portland’s Roger Geller instead. He asserts:

“Despite all the considerable advances Portland and the region have made in facilitating bicycling, concerns about the safety of bicycling still loom large.

Riding a bicycle should not require bravery. Yet, all too often, that is the perception among cyclists and noncyclists alike. No person should have to be “brave” to ride a bicycle; unfortunately, this is a sentiment commonly expressed to those who regularly ride bicycles by those who do not.

There are many cities in modern, industrialized nations around the world with a high bicycle mode split. They have achieved these high levels of bicycle use through adherence to various cycling-promoting policies and practices.

But, one thing they share in common is they have substantially removed the element of fear associated with bicycling in an urban environment. They have created transportation systems in which bicycling is often the most logical, enjoyable and attainable choice for trips of a certain length for a wide swath—if not the majority—of their populace.

For residents of these cities, concern about personal safety associated with bicycling is rarely a consideration, and certainly not to the levels we experience here. In these “fearless” cities septuagenarians are able to ride alongside seven-year-olds safely, comfortably, and with confidence throughout the breadth of the cities.

Making bicycling a more widespread and mainstream means of transportation in Portland will require substantially addressing concerns about personal safety.”

Compare this assessment to the statements of Boris Johnson and Transport for London. They are constantly stating that cycling in London is safe and has become safer.

It’s a small wonder that most Londoners remain sceptical with regards to cycling.

Severe neglect and deep frustration – Cyclists are the least satisfied users of London Roads

On 15/02/2012 By OlafIn Cycling in London4 Comments

Boris Johnson likes to label himself as the “cycling mayor” who wants to kick-start a cycling revolution in London. 2010 was supposed to be “the year of cycling”. However, a lot of cyclists have the impression that their needs aren’t really respected by traffic planners in London.

Interestingly, figures released by Transport for London in their latest “Travel in London” report compellingly show that they have a point. According to data published in Chapter 9 (“Transport and quality of life: Customer satisfaction and perception”), cyclists in London are by far the least satisfied users of roads in the capital.

The authors of the report put it this way:

“Satisfaction levels were similar for users of all road modes except cycling, where satisfaction was significantly below average at 67 out of 100.”

How severe the level of frustation is becomes clear if you compare the statisfaction of cyclists to the statisfaction of Tube users. There is a lot of moaning and complaining going on about the Tube: fares, punctuality, crowding. However, the average cyclist in London is significantly less happy with the road network than the average Tube passenger is with the Tube. According to the report, the overall satisfaction of Tube users is at 79 out of 100. Even with regard to train crowing, Tube users are more satisfied than cyclists are with London roads (72 out of 100).

satisfaction aspects — Aspects of satisfaction

This frustration of cyclists is confirmed by other results. For example, the conditions of cycle lanes get the worst marks at all. Amazingly, this aspect even fares below traffic congestion! The satisfaction with the availability of cycle lanes and advanced stop lines is also significantly below average.

Here’s another evidence that London is massively neglecting cyclists:

proportion people satisfied — Proportion of satisfied road users

Taken together, from my perspective these results are pretty devastating.

The report states that

“the Mayor has made it a particular priority to improve the quality of Londoners’ overall daily travel experiences. The substantive outcomes of these policies should be visible, in due course, in the various formal and informal performance measures considered elsewhere in this report”

If this pledge, the fuss about the “cycling revolution” and the results in the report were taken seriously by London’s policy makers, improvements to the cycle infrastructure would be of utmost priority. Why do I have a hunch that this is not the case?

Thanks to the “Love London, Go Dutch” campaign we talk a lot about making London more like Amsterdam. However, judged by the low satisfaction of cyclists with the road network, it would be nice to make London (for cyclists) at least like London (for cars).

Interestingly, despite the awful road network and the lack of cycle paths, cyclists in London in general love what they do.

satisfaction with journey — Journey Satisfaction

Asked about our general satisfaction with their most recent journey, we are happier than the users of public transport and cars. This proves the vast benefits of cycling: It is quicker and cheaper than most other means of transport.

Even the wretched road network and the biased priorities of London’s traffic planner cannot botch this!

How to avoid the door zone as a cyclist

On 12/02/201212/02/2012 By OlafIn Cycling in London, Cycling Safety5 Comments

In the last two years, at least three cyclists in London died after they were knocked off their bike by a car door being opened: Patrick Gorma in January 2010 at Chalk Farm in Camden, Sam Harding in August 2011 on Holloway Road in Islington and James Darby in January 2012 on Upper Elmers End Road, Beckenham. (Details about all cycling fatalities in London since 2006 are available here.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1TQ7aID1jHs

The Highway Code does not leave any doubt on who is to blame in such occasions. Paragraph 239 says:

“If you have to stop on the roadside: you MUST ensure you do not hit anyone when you open your door – check for cyclists or other traffic.”

The driver of the car who killed Sam Harding currently is charged with manslaughter.

However, being on the right side of the law gives small consolation if you’re “doored”. Additionally, even if you’re not severely injured, running into a car door is really painful, as I can report from first hand experience.

Unfortunately, a lot of cyclists, however, are not aware of the danger parked cars pose to them and do not leave enough room when they cycle alongside parked cars. Continue reading “How to avoid the door zone as a cyclist” →

Memorial Ride for Henry Warwick on 10/02/2012

On 09/02/2012 By OlafIn Cycling in London, Cycling SafetyLeave a comment

Tomorrow evening (10th February), there will be a memorial ride for Henry Warwick, the cyclist who was killed by a Terravision coach at the junction of Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street last week.

Meeting point is the Foundry in Clerkenwell (corner of Old Street & Great Eastern Street) around 7pm. (Details here on the Moving Target website)

Henry was one of the most experienced cycling couriers of the capital and was featured in this film about cycling couriers in London last year.

The ride on Friday is organised by fellow couriers who want to commemorate a friend and colleague.

However, as this discussion on the Moving Target Form points out, the ride is open for everyone who wants to show his respect for Henry. Please be aware that the organisers stress the ride is not a protest ride (as the Evening Standard has claimed) but a memorial ride.

I’ll be there.

Cyclist killed on Bishopsgate was a very experienced courier

On 07/02/201207/02/2012 By OlafIn Cycling in London, Cycling Safety5 Comments

According to a report on the website Moving Target and a number of posts on the London Fixed Gear Forum, the cyclist who was killed by a left turning coach at the junction of Wormwood Street and Bishopsgate last Friday was a bicycle courier named Henry Warwick who worked for Rico Logistics.

There will be a memorial ride organised by couriers of London this Friday. The City of London Police is still looking for eyewitnesses of the crash.

Henry is said to be the ninth courier who died on London’s roads while working.

There is a poignant video on Youtube about the work of cycling courier that features Henry Warwick. It’s an episode of a TV series called “Ed’s up”, where Ed Robertson, a member of the Canadian band “Barenaked Ladies”, tries out dangerous jobs.

In this episode, Ed works as a cycling courier in London and is incorporated by Henry.

Watching the film now is absolutely terrifying for a number of reasons.

The manager of Rico Logistics introduces Henry as “one of our most experienced riders”. Apparently, Henry was working as a courier in London for more about 20 years.

Ed muses about the risks for cyclists on London’s streets in a way that appears both prescient and repugnant at the same time.

For instance, Ed asserts that

“London is a city of eight million people. With that comes dangerous traffic which does not bode well with me at my new job. (…) I think I’m more afraid of this than I’ve been of any episode I’ve ever done.”

Horrifying is a scene in a video where Ed discusses the map of London and asks the manager of Rico: “Where will I die exactly?”. The answer he get is: “Oh, you could die anywhere”. The managers the tells Ed:

“Remain nervous. If you remain nervous, you remain alert and be scared. If you don’t watch out, you’ll die.”

I take issue with Ed’s suggestion that the dangers on the roads are an act of God which is clearly wrong. London’s roads are dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians because the mayor and Transport for London give priority to motorised traffic and stick to a road design that poses unnecessary risks to weaker road users.

The traffic planning decisions of Transport for London triggers situations where even very experienced cyclists like Henry, who was on road for almost 20 years, have no chance.

This is a point made by a number of people on the London Fixed Gear forum. For example, somebody calling himself “Badman ratio” writes:

“IT DOESNT MATTER HOW GOOD YOU ARE or how good you THINK you are, sudden death or being maimed for life can snatch you off your machine quicker than you say fixie. Henry was probably the most experienced/exemplary courier in London, if not Europe”

It’s just so sad and agonising.

How to deal with lorries as a cyclist

On 05/02/201218/02/2012 By OlafIn Cycling in London, Cycling Safety7 Comments

old street boris bike — The rider escaped unharmed (Photo courtesy of Steve Biggs)

Lorries and other large vehicles are the single most important threat to cyclists in London. Since 2006, 89 riders died on the streets in the capital, at least 50 percent of them were killed by “heavy goods vehicles” (HGVs) or busses. The latest victim was a male rider who was killed last Friday at the junction of Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street by a left turning coach.

According to a study entitled “Deaths of cyclists in london: trends from 1992 to 2006”,

“freight vehicles are approximately 24 times more likely to be involved in a fatal incident than cars, 4 times as likely as buses and 8.5 times as likely as motorcycles.”

In a poignant letter to the “Evening Standard”, two trauma surgeons recently highlighted the issue:

“We believe that more needs to be done to educate cyclists, drivers, road designers and those in government who are charged to lead and protect us to do more to prevent injuries amongst cyclists.”

London’s car-centric road layout and badly designed lorries are the main reasons for this tragedy. Due to a lot of construction work in the city, HGV traffic currently is on the rise in a lot of areas like King’s Cross, the City and the Southbank.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEaYw_s5R9w

So how should cyclists cope with lorries?

An experienced London rider once gave me the single most important piece of advice:

“I avoid lorries like the plague.”

That’s basically it.

In a nutshell, the basic problem is that due to a misguided design of the vehicles, the drivers can’t see cyclists which are directly in front and alongside their vehicle. Lorry drivers have to deal with blind spots that are frighteningly large, especially on the left side of their vehicle.

This leads to three typical ways how lorries kill a cyclist.

Overtaking a lorry on the inside (“undertaking”)

One general advantage of the bicycle can turn lethal when it comes to lorries. As a cyclist, you can pass vehicles queuing in front of traffic lights. However, due to the massive blind spots of HGVs, the driver can’t see you when you’re alongside the vehicle.

When the traffic lights turn green and the lorry turns left, your life is at risk. As the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) describes:

“When turning left, a lorry will often pull out to the right first. This creates a wide gap on the left side between the vehicle and the kerb, which many cyclists think is safe to ride into. But in fact this is a very dangerous place to be.

As the lorry begins to turn, it will swing back to the left very close to the kerb. The gap between the kerb and the lorry will disappear in an instant.”

A typical accident, that happened in February 2011, was recently described in the “Evening Standard”:

“[James] Moore had been riding in a cycle lane and drew level with the tanker’s front axle virtually as it began pulling away. He tried to cycle straight on but was hit by the lorry, which had stopped in the advance cyclist’s “box”, and had been indicating a left turn.”

When the tanker turned left, the cyclist was dragged under the lorry and was terribly injured, as the “Evening Standard” explains:

“He suffered injuries including a broken left fibia and tibia, a broken pelvis, a collapsed lung and several broken ribs. He was in a medically-induced coma for three weeks and in hospital for three months.”

This is how James Moore himself recalls the crash:

“I do remember quite clearly cycling along past the junction. Suddenly, without any warning I could see, the lorry turned on me. I remember screaming ‘Stop, stop’, I think, and I think I’m going to die. Then I can remember being under the lorry and in considerable pain.”

Hence, one of the most important safety tips is: Never cycle on the nearside of a lorry.

In his his excellent e-book “Cycling Street Smarts” (freely available on the internet), John S. Allen writes:

“Don’t pass a long heavy goods vehicle or bus in a traffic jam unless there’s a full, open lane next to it. Keep your distance. If you ride close to the side of such a vehicle it may begin to merge toward you, leaving you no way to escape.”

Another important piece of advice, also by RoSPA, is this:

“If you have to stop or give way at a junction where there are no motor vehicles waiting, it may be best to wait at a point about 1 metre away from the kerb, to ensure that other vehicles arriving after you (especially lorries) pull up behind you, rather than alongside you (where they may forget that you are there and fail to see you when they pull off).”

I’m also very wary when I have to pass a lorry on the right. The blind spots are smaller, but they are still existing. Hence, I take care to have some extra space (1,5 Meter or more) between me and the lorry.

Waiting in front of a lorry at a junction

Unfortunately, there’s also a significant blind spot in front of the lorry. The driver can’t see you when you’re standing in an Advance Stop Box directly in front of the lorry. When the lights turn green and you’re not out off the way quickly enough, you’re at the risk of being run over by the HGV.

A lot of cyclists are not aware of this danger (neither was I for a long time). This is how Kee, an experienced cyclist from London, described the blind spot in a comment on this blog:

“I was recently stopped by police in the City and invited to sit in various HGV vehicles that increasingly chock our city. The idea was to make cyclists aware that they cannot be seen. This was shockingly the case. Drivers are completely blind even if you are in front of them in the ‘cycling box’.”

I try to avoid standing right in front of a lorry at a red light. If possible, I just wait behind the lorry and don’t try to get in front of it. However, there are situations when you’re already waiting in front of the lights when a HGV turns up behind you. In such an occasion, I try to move forward into the junction as much as possible and try to make eye contact with the lorry driver. When you can see him, he can see you, too. When you look him in the eye, there’s a higher probability that he has realised that you’re there. When the lights turn, I make sure so get going as quickly as possible.

If it’s safely possible you might also consider jumping the lights in such an occasion.

A similar danger arises when you want to cross a congested street right in front of a lorry. If the traffic clears while you are still in front of the HGV, the driver can’t see you. Lisa Pontecorvo died in such a situation while wheeling her bike across Holloway Road in 2008. This is how a shopkeeper, who caught the crash on CCTV, described her Lisa’s death:

“Traffic on this side of the road was stopped. She started to cross the road but stopped between the lorry and a car. She was waiting for traffic on the other side to stop. The lights changed and the lorry started to move.”

Even though I’m aware of the danger I foolishly got myself in a similar situation recently when I was trying to cross Kingsland Road at the junction of Tottenham Road. Fortunately, I escaped without any harm but cursed myself afterwards abundatly.

Being passed by a lorry that then turnes left / clips you

This is the biggest of all nightmares: It can happen that a lorry passes you and then cuts in or turns left. Fortunately, I never experienced it myself but James Thomas, who build the ghost bike for Deep Lee at King’s Cross, recently described such an experience on this blog:

“I’d been on the cycle lane and [a royal mail HGV] cut in on me as he overtook me at speed. I had to stop and lean onto the pavement and he missed be by less than 10cm.”

A related situation occurs when a lorry overtakes you at a junction and then turns left. Dave H. puts it this way in a comment on this blog:

“Many of these deaths arise when a large vehicle overtakes and turns left. All that publicity about not going down the inside is a huge smokescreen about the real cause of left-hook crashes.”

This probably is the most awkward situation because there are fewer things you can do to avoid it. I try to cycle as little as possible on busy roads with lots of lorries but of course it is impossible to avoid them completely.

This is Dave H’s advise how to minimise the danger:

“You will protect yourself from this hazard by learning to competently look directly behind you and ideally clocking the driver of any truck square in the eyes – to make sure they have seen you (and they are not reading a map/using the phone etc) That means NO SHADES. As a back up you have a stereoscopic vehicle detector called EARS – TAKE OUT THOSE KILLER EARPIECES. Many coroners’ reports note that the dead cyclist was unlikely to have heard the truck/tram/train coming up behind and even sounding their horn because they had shut down their second most important piece of safety kit. Finally the eyes and ears are rendered useless if you have the brain disconnected – you are riding a bike on a busy road – it is illegal for bus drivers to multi-task and other drivers can also be prosecuted for similar behaviour, cyclists should be equally focussed.”

Another important aspect is road positioning. Don’t cycle in the gutter – this induces lorry drivers to pass you and gives you little room to maneuver. John S. Allen devotes an entire chapter on road positioning in his excellent e-book “Cycling Street Smarts”, that is freely available on the internet.

Two Examples

Here are some situations I encountered in London in the last year.

lorry - pride1 — Just stay behind, example 1

This is an example of a harmless looking situation that could easily have come dangerous. I was cycling southbound on Upper St. Martin’s Lane in Covent Garden and approached this lorry at the junction of Long Acre and wanted to cycle straight on. The lorry was waiting in the lane for straight on traffic and was not indicating. However, when the lights turned green, it made a left turn anyway. If I would have passed the lorry on the left side trying to get in front of the vehicle and the lights would have changed in that moment, I would have been in trouble. However, I just waited behind the lorry.

I took this picture in Islington on Cross Street at the junction of Essex Road and wanted to make a right turn onto Essex Road.

While I was waiting behind the lorry, another rider passed us and positioned herself in front of the vehicle. I guess that she can be seen by the driver (I’m not completely shure, however).

Nevertheless, I think she took unnecessary risks. First of all, she did not try to make eye contact with the lorry driver who – as I could see in his rear mirror – talking on the phone and hence not fully concentrating on the traffic. Secondly, the rider stands in front of her traffic lights and hence will find it hard to realise when the lights switch to green. However, in such a situation, it is important to get out of the way of the lorry as quickly as possible.

Cycling Intelligence

Tag: Cycling