On Sun, 13 Sep 2009, Mizter T wrote:

On Sep 13, 3:12*pm, Tom Anderson wrote:

On Sat, 12 Sep 2009, MIG wrote:

[snip]

What I should have done, and did do on the way back, was

Get on the DLR to Mudchute.
Get the 135 to Aldgate Eastish.

Or:

Get the train to London Bridge
Cycle to Whitechapel Gallery

Faster, cheaper, and more reliable.

I'm not trying to be a smug ******* here, but a a bike is not only the
best way to travel distances up to five miles or so in London, it is *far
and away the best way* to deal with closures.

I shall tell that to (a) my very pregnant friend;

Ah, fair enough. Recumbent?

(b) my pal who often ferries his couple of young kids about London on
his own by p/t;

Kids can be carried on or ride bikes; admittedly if they're old enough to
ride but still young, this may be a terrifying and unsafe prospect.

(c) the guys I know who do a bit of painting and decorating around
London and take their own kit with them on p/t,

If it's small enough to carry on PT, it's small enough to fit in panniers,
surely? I can carry more in panniers than in my hands.

(d) the one-time colleague I knew who'd love to cycle but cannot because
of a health issue (which cannot in any shape or form be argued to be
down to his lifestyle);

Again, fair enough.

(e) my elderly relative who's fit and active but for whom cycling would
now simply be beyond them;

Once more again, fair enough.

(f) the very fit guy I know who needs to get around town and visit
various clients whilst looking sharp, who despite his considerable
fitness perspires a great deal and just isn't willing to arrive looking
flustered in his snazzy suit;

I was in this situation this summer: working on a client site in North
Finchley, a seven (?) mile ride with about a million feet of climb, in the
peak of the heat. I rode in a tank-top, or topless (mentally scarring
numerous schoolchildren in the process), locked up round the corner from
the office, gave myself five minutes to cool down, and got changed into a
shirt before going into the office. Sometimes i changed in the street (it
wasn't busy), and sometimes in the toilets, between reception and the
actual client. Even including changing, it was faster than any PT option.

(g) the friends I have who used to live in a high-up flat with no space
for leaving their bikes inside anywhere and who gave up on cycling when
they had their bicycles that were well locked up outside nicked and/or
vandalised.

Unfortunate. The decision to live somewhere with nowhere to keep a bike
was theirs, though (unless it wasn't).

Also, whilst it applies less to weekends, taking a bike on a train is
not always allowed or possible.

That is of course entirely true (unless it's a folding bike - is there any
situation where that isn't allowed?). If the journey is a regular
back-and-forth commute, leaving a bike at one end (or both) may be a way
round this, but i can't honestly say this is a general solution.

I am totally up for evangelising about cycling around town, and I'm
also well aware that one could dismiss various reasons ('excuses' if
you will) for not cycling as being a bit lame - but all the above are
true examples of where cycling falls down somewhat -

Some of them certainly are. You're right that bikes are not helpful for
anyone, and i was wrong to imply that.

But i do think bikes are helpful for many more people than currently use
them, and indeed for the great majority of people who have travel problems
in London. The specific individual we were discussing in this thread, for
example!

another obvious example is 'asynchronous journeys', if I may call them
that (that's not to say cycling isn't possible for some portions thereof
but it can get a bit fiddly).

What's an asynchronous journey?

I do think there is the danger that 'cycle evangelists' can end up
sounding smug and putting others off by claiming it's the be all and end
all when it comes to transportation.

I resemble this remark, of course.

Though that all sounds like I'm having a go at you Tom, and that
wasn't really my intention!

No offence taken at all. You were primarly having a go at my statements,
not me, which is always okay. Your more personal comments were carefully
worded, and, moreover, entirely true!

I won't go back and edit it because the various points still stand. Some
of them can be (and occasionally are) addressed by the provision of
various facilities - a bike shed for a block of flats (sorry 'executive
apartments' as we must call them now), more secure cycle parking at
stations etc. Some perhaps by a more general change of attitude (e.g.
arriving a bit dishevelled at a clients having cycled there shouldn't be
an issue). And in the specific case of this specific journey, then yes
I'll agree with you (though I do have to say that taking a bike on a
train that has no designated cycle space is not always the most joyous
or relaxing experience, though one acquires various strategies for
dealing with it).

Oh god, i know. I came back from Leagrave to Kentish Town with a bike last
night, and was jumping up at every station to see if i needed to shift the
bike from one side of the vestibule to the other, when i'd much rather
have been dozing.

On the way out i was in some kind of train that had a big space by the
toilets (plural - there were two, which i didn't know happened), which was
ideal. Presumably it was really a wheelchair space, but no wheelchairmen
came on board, so it all worked out.

tom

--
Intensive Erfrischung