Fear of collisions with cars, lorries and buses may put some people off the idea of cycling as a form of exercise, particularly those travelling on busy city roads. But collision statistics issued by the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions in 2001 show that there is less than one cycling death in the UK for every 18 million miles cycled. A serious injury occurs less than once in every 900,000 miles cycled.
Both doctors and government health experts concluded that the risk of injury was outweighed by the benefits of cycling in ‘Cycling: Towards Health and Safety’, a report issued by the British Medical Association in 1992.
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Ten reasons to take up cycling
If your reading this, chances are you already cycle or have an interest in cycling. But, nevertheless, here are ten powerful reasons to take up cycling.
1. Freedom.
Cycling gives a sense of freedom that sitting in a car can never give. Descending a hill on a bike is exhilarating, something you never feel in a car. Cycling also gives greater freedom about where to go. Many towns are encouraging pedestrian only areas. With a bike you can go down narrow lanes, on canal paths and often cut corners that you cannot do in a car.
2. Quicker Travelling.
In many congested towns, a bike can offer the quickest method of transport. For example, in London average speeds on roads amounts to a paltry 9mph (this is actually lower than 100 years ago!) Even a moderately fit cyclist will have no trouble in beating cars, buses and the underground. Also with a bike, you don’t have to spend time driving around looking for parking. You can park usually exactly where you want to end up.
3. Saves Money.
A good bike costs £200; a reasonable car will cost £5,000. With oil prices rising through the roof, cycling can also save significantly on petrol costs. The majority of car journeys are for distances less than 5 miles. These distances are easily cycleable. These short journeys also have the relatively highest petrol costs because cars are most inefficient at low speeds. It is estimated that leaving the car in the garage for the average commuter could save an estimate £74.14 ($150) per week (source: Cycling Weekly June 19th)
4. Lose Weight
Cycling is a low impact aerobic exercise and is an excellent way of losing weight. Cycling can also be combined with shopping and commuting therefore, enabling very busy people to find time for exercise. It is also a lot cheaper than gaining membership to the gym. With obesity becoming an endemic problem in western society, cycling can play a key role in helping to keep the population in shape.
5. Health Benefits.
Cycling is good for the heart and can help reduce incidence of heart disease, one of the biggest killers amongst developed countries. Sedentary lifestyles also contribute to other ‘silent killers’ such as diabetes and high blood pressure. see: Health benefits of Cycling at Bupa
6. Relieve Stress.
If you work in an office or have a stressful job, exercise such as cycling can be a powerful way to help reduce stress and take your mind off many problems. Exercise releases chemicals such as serontin. Serontin is known to promote a feeling of well being. But, also vigorous exercise is an effective way to take your mind off trifling problems. Often coming back from a bike ride, you can see problems in a new perspective
7. It’s Egalitarian
Everyone cycles, it is the great social leveller. Rich or poor, Oxford don or little kid, everyone can enjoy cycling.
8. Reduce Global Warming
Cycling creates no pollution or Carbon dioxide emission. It provides a powerful way to help make a meaningful contribution to reducing pollution and preventing future global warming.
9. Less Accidents.
Unlike Cars, bikes are not lethal machines. In the UK, over 3,000 people a year die on the roads due to car accidents. An accident involving bikes may cause injury, but, very rarely will a bike be the cause of a fatal accident. If more people cycled it would definitely help reduce the death rate on our roads.
10. It’s Fun.
The bike has repeatedly been voted the most popular invention of the past 200 years. Cycling is simply great fun.
1. Freedom.
Cycling gives a sense of freedom that sitting in a car can never give. Descending a hill on a bike is exhilarating, something you never feel in a car. Cycling also gives greater freedom about where to go. Many towns are encouraging pedestrian only areas. With a bike you can go down narrow lanes, on canal paths and often cut corners that you cannot do in a car.
2. Quicker Travelling.
In many congested towns, a bike can offer the quickest method of transport. For example, in London average speeds on roads amounts to a paltry 9mph (this is actually lower than 100 years ago!) Even a moderately fit cyclist will have no trouble in beating cars, buses and the underground. Also with a bike, you don’t have to spend time driving around looking for parking. You can park usually exactly where you want to end up.
3. Saves Money.
A good bike costs £200; a reasonable car will cost £5,000. With oil prices rising through the roof, cycling can also save significantly on petrol costs. The majority of car journeys are for distances less than 5 miles. These distances are easily cycleable. These short journeys also have the relatively highest petrol costs because cars are most inefficient at low speeds. It is estimated that leaving the car in the garage for the average commuter could save an estimate £74.14 ($150) per week (source: Cycling Weekly June 19th)
4. Lose Weight
Cycling is a low impact aerobic exercise and is an excellent way of losing weight. Cycling can also be combined with shopping and commuting therefore, enabling very busy people to find time for exercise. It is also a lot cheaper than gaining membership to the gym. With obesity becoming an endemic problem in western society, cycling can play a key role in helping to keep the population in shape.
5. Health Benefits.
Cycling is good for the heart and can help reduce incidence of heart disease, one of the biggest killers amongst developed countries. Sedentary lifestyles also contribute to other ‘silent killers’ such as diabetes and high blood pressure. see: Health benefits of Cycling at Bupa
6. Relieve Stress.
If you work in an office or have a stressful job, exercise such as cycling can be a powerful way to help reduce stress and take your mind off many problems. Exercise releases chemicals such as serontin. Serontin is known to promote a feeling of well being. But, also vigorous exercise is an effective way to take your mind off trifling problems. Often coming back from a bike ride, you can see problems in a new perspective
7. It’s Egalitarian
Everyone cycles, it is the great social leveller. Rich or poor, Oxford don or little kid, everyone can enjoy cycling.
8. Reduce Global Warming
Cycling creates no pollution or Carbon dioxide emission. It provides a powerful way to help make a meaningful contribution to reducing pollution and preventing future global warming.
9. Less Accidents.
Unlike Cars, bikes are not lethal machines. In the UK, over 3,000 people a year die on the roads due to car accidents. An accident involving bikes may cause injury, but, very rarely will a bike be the cause of a fatal accident. If more people cycled it would definitely help reduce the death rate on our roads.
10. It’s Fun.
The bike has repeatedly been voted the most popular invention of the past 200 years. Cycling is simply great fun.
Friday, 1 October 2010
Raven Mad
Some political wag has said the reason the country is currently going to the dogs is that there is only one raven left in the Tower.
The legend is of course that if the ravens leave the tower then the country will fall.
Well:
The Raven Cemetary can be found in the drained moat close to the Watergate and St Thomas’s Tower. There’s a special Raven Memorial Headstone that lists all the ravens buried there since 1956.
It has been observed that when a member of the flock perishes, the birds will hold what could be called a “raven funeral” – a 24-hour event marked by raucous outcries. The Ravenmaster buries the dead bird in the Raven Cemetery located in the drained moat close to the Watergate and the St Thomas Tower. (St Thomas is the patron saint of clergy.) (Incidentally, in England, tombstones are sometimes referred to as “ravenstones”.)
The St Thomas Tower is also known as Traitors’ Gate because it was through this Tower that condemned prisoners accused of treason arrived from Westminster.
The legend is of course that if the ravens leave the tower then the country will fall.
Well:
The Raven Cemetary can be found in the drained moat close to the Watergate and St Thomas’s Tower. There’s a special Raven Memorial Headstone that lists all the ravens buried there since 1956.
It has been observed that when a member of the flock perishes, the birds will hold what could be called a “raven funeral” – a 24-hour event marked by raucous outcries. The Ravenmaster buries the dead bird in the Raven Cemetery located in the drained moat close to the Watergate and the St Thomas Tower. (St Thomas is the patron saint of clergy.) (Incidentally, in England, tombstones are sometimes referred to as “ravenstones”.)
The St Thomas Tower is also known as Traitors’ Gate because it was through this Tower that condemned prisoners accused of treason arrived from Westminster.
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Bethlehem
If you were looking for something a little different to do with the family on a wet Sunday afternoon in the 1700's, you could do worse than take a trip to Bethlehem hospital, known as 'Bedlam' (located on the site where the Imperial War Museum now stands), a huge and well-known lunatic asylum. On arrival you would enter the vast entrance hall to be confronted by Cibber's huge statues of two loonies, Melancholy and Madness, reputedly modelled on two of the inmates. From there you would progress to the main gallery, where all the most seriously disturbed residents would be chained to the walls, or in barred cells, for you to gawp and laugh at.
Any inmates that got a little out of hand would be whipped like animals. In 1770 the authorities seemed to notice that the inmates didn't like this treatment so much, but they didn't stop it as they were making too much dosh through contributions. Instead they decided to make it a ticket only affair. It makes our current behaviour concerning the mentally ill seem almost rather humane!
More tales, tips and trivia like this on a fabulous bike tour of london: http://www.biketouroflondon.com/
Any inmates that got a little out of hand would be whipped like animals. In 1770 the authorities seemed to notice that the inmates didn't like this treatment so much, but they didn't stop it as they were making too much dosh through contributions. Instead they decided to make it a ticket only affair. It makes our current behaviour concerning the mentally ill seem almost rather humane!
More tales, tips and trivia like this on a fabulous bike tour of london: http://www.biketouroflondon.com/
Friday, 3 September 2010
Dog & Duck - 18, Bateman Street, Soho
The Dog and Duck pub was built in 1718 and so little changed since the 19th century that the Victorian Society have applauded it as a rare if not unique survival of a small Victorian town pub. It’s now a Grade II listed building. The pub’s name recalls the rather cruel sport of duck hunting, which had been popular when this was a far more rural area.
The front bar is tiled to dado level with plain and ornamental tiles, some depicting a dog holding a duck in its mouth. Above this, large mirrors in mahogany frames, advertise mineral water and cigarettes. These are separated by columns of decorative tiles.
Author George Orwell came to the Dog and Dick to celebrate the fact that the American Book-of-the-Month Club had selected his latest novel Animal Farm. In fact pop upstairs to the George Orwell room (he used to drink here). One of the better places in Soho for a pint.
The front bar is tiled to dado level with plain and ornamental tiles, some depicting a dog holding a duck in its mouth. Above this, large mirrors in mahogany frames, advertise mineral water and cigarettes. These are separated by columns of decorative tiles.
Author George Orwell came to the Dog and Dick to celebrate the fact that the American Book-of-the-Month Club had selected his latest novel Animal Farm. In fact pop upstairs to the George Orwell room (he used to drink here). One of the better places in Soho for a pint.
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Listening in?
The Hoop & Grapes on Aldgate High Street is one of those strange old pubs that one would have expected to have vanished from London years ago. Records suggest that it is the oldest licensed premises in the City of London. Certainly its foundations, well beneath the modern road level, date from the 12th or 13th century, and the rest of the buiding is clearly ancient, leaning in that way that timber-framed buildings tend to with age. Experts tell us, though, that the buidling dates back to just after the Great Fire of 1666.
What makes the pub unique is that it still has a listening tube that runs from the cellars to the bars. This was installed so that the landlord could listen for seditious or malicious gossip - which, presumably, was more likely to occur while he was out of sight in the cellar.
There is also some evidence that somewhere in the cellars there is a blocked entrance to tunnel that runs from the pub to the nearby Tower of London. No doubt excavations at some time in the future will reveal whether there is any truth in this story.
Take a London bike tour and hear other fascinating legends of London past and present: http://www.biketouroflondon.com/
What makes the pub unique is that it still has a listening tube that runs from the cellars to the bars. This was installed so that the landlord could listen for seditious or malicious gossip - which, presumably, was more likely to occur while he was out of sight in the cellar.
There is also some evidence that somewhere in the cellars there is a blocked entrance to tunnel that runs from the pub to the nearby Tower of London. No doubt excavations at some time in the future will reveal whether there is any truth in this story.
Take a London bike tour and hear other fascinating legends of London past and present: http://www.biketouroflondon.com/
Monday, 16 August 2010
London Cycle Cafes - a velorution?
Lately London Cycle Cafes have been getting a lot of exposure. Whether that be the Evening Standard, Time Magazine, Timeout, Bike Hugger or the Financial Times. Therefore, I thought now may be a good time to actually take a better look at some of them.
Look Mum No Hands Cycle Cafe
Where? 49 Old Street, EC1V 9HX www.lookmumnohands.com
Quickly becoming London’s most popular meeting point for cyclists this great cafe provides a workshop where you can work on your bike yourself or hand it over to a mechanic, delicious meals and a great place to relax with a coffee. Closes at 10pm.
MiCycle
Where? 47 Barnsbury Street, N1 1TP www.micycle.org.uk
MiCycle is a very recent addition to London and it provides far more than a bike shop. It is also a place to borrow tools to work on your bike, grab a coffee and take part in cycling classes.
CycleLab Juice Bar
Where? 18A Pitfield Street, N1 6EY www.cyclelab.co.uk
London Cycle Chic recently highly recommended the service she had on her bike at CycleLab. The juice bar is a great addition.
Ralpha Cycle Club
Where? 146 Clerkenwell Road, EC1 5DG www.rapha.cc/london
Only open until the 31st of July the Ralpha Cycle Club provides a gallery, shop and cafe.
Lock 7 Cycle Cafe
Where? 129 Pritchards Road, E2 9AP
Perhaps London’s oldest “cycle cafe” Lock 7 provides everything you would expect from a cycle cafe. It is a great place to get your bike tuned up, find a second hand bike and rent a bike or a tandem.
FullCity Cycle Cafe
Where? 72 Leather Lane, E1
Petite cycle cafe and workshop down Leather Lane. Serves up £1 cups of Monmouth coffee!
Look Mum No Hands Cycle Cafe
Where? 49 Old Street, EC1V 9HX www.lookmumnohands.com
Quickly becoming London’s most popular meeting point for cyclists this great cafe provides a workshop where you can work on your bike yourself or hand it over to a mechanic, delicious meals and a great place to relax with a coffee. Closes at 10pm.
MiCycle
Where? 47 Barnsbury Street, N1 1TP www.micycle.org.uk
MiCycle is a very recent addition to London and it provides far more than a bike shop. It is also a place to borrow tools to work on your bike, grab a coffee and take part in cycling classes.
CycleLab Juice Bar
Where? 18A Pitfield Street, N1 6EY www.cyclelab.co.uk
London Cycle Chic recently highly recommended the service she had on her bike at CycleLab. The juice bar is a great addition.
Ralpha Cycle Club
Where? 146 Clerkenwell Road, EC1 5DG www.rapha.cc/london
Only open until the 31st of July the Ralpha Cycle Club provides a gallery, shop and cafe.
Lock 7 Cycle Cafe
Where? 129 Pritchards Road, E2 9AP
Perhaps London’s oldest “cycle cafe” Lock 7 provides everything you would expect from a cycle cafe. It is a great place to get your bike tuned up, find a second hand bike and rent a bike or a tandem.
FullCity Cycle Cafe
Where? 72 Leather Lane, E1
Petite cycle cafe and workshop down Leather Lane. Serves up £1 cups of Monmouth coffee!
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