My July Rides (week 27)

Rides this week: 5
Miles this week: 118.52
Weekly Average: 3.1
Public transport days: 0
Oyster costs: £0.00

This is the second consecutive full week of cycling commutes. I’m pretty chuffed if I'm honest. I have been spurred on by the TfL Cycle Challenge which lasted a month and finished on Friday.

This has been a great initiative. TfL somehow needs to develop this and roll it out permanently. This is the cycling community I have been thinking about. I am sure that this is the sort of thing the Prime Minister speaks of when he refers to the ‘Big Society’ Perhaps Tfl should hand it over to the LCC and let them run it or they should operate it in conjunction with each other. Our team got chatting with each other (emails only, but who knows where it could have ended up given more time) and my suggestion that we publish some identifying markers so we could spot each other caught on – though I have to admit I didn’t spy any of my team mates.

TfL should issue a corporate identifying team badge which could be affixed to our bikes/clothing so we would have a better chance of spotting each other. It is this camaraderie of the road which cycling lacks and which could do so much to increase the popularity of our ‘sport’ and make it more inclusive.

I am going to send this to TfL when the feedback linx are published; I am convinced this is the way forward and if we lead in London the provinces will follow. One big happy family of cyclists.

I am an enthusiastic supporter of the Cycle-Hire scheme. I don’t use it that often as I use my ‘beast’ most of the time, but on my public transport days if the weather is fine I book out a Boris Bike for the London ends of my journey. This week, however, whilst checking my bank statement for something completely unrelated I spotted a Cycle-Hire charge for £1 and £4 on the same day. Knowing that I have never had a Boris Bike out of the rack for more than about 20 minutes at a time I realised this was an error; an error I would have missed but for chance. I phoned the Cycle-Hire scheme (0845 at 10p per minute) and eventually was contacted by Katrina. Katrina examined my usage record and listened patiently whilst I explained that if the bike had been used at 06:50 on the day in question then I had an Oyster record of me not arriving in London until nearly an hour later so it must be incorrect. Katrina agreed that she would authorise a refund of the £4. I'm not concerned about £4 but what does worry me is that this problem arose at all. I wonder how many other hiring’s have been miscalculated, particularly amongst casual users who would not have a usage history to support their challenge.

I end on Brockley Mews and its environs. This squalid little swamp, tucked way in the back streets on the Lewisham/Southwark borders, between the Brockley Jack Pub and Camberwell New cemetery, is a place which has always concerned me on my commute. - It has been here in the past where I have encountered (mild) hostility. It is here where I have seen strange exchanges of property in the street and have been moved to call the police. It is here that the Operation Minstead rapist lived undetected for many years. - Passing through on the way home on Thursday evening I found that a skip load of soil and spoil had been dumped completely blocking access to the Mews. Now some might suggest that this is no bad thing – in a moment of fantasy I might even allow my own mind to wander in this fanciful direction. But just how outrageous can these fly tippers get. Broad daylight, more CCTV than MI5 and still they……

Best wishes and keep them pedals turnin'.

TyT