City Cycling by Emma Barnes

This is the first chapter from City Cycling by Richard Ballantine To find out more about this book, email emma@snowbooks.com

Snowbooks publish fiction as well as cycling books. Find out more at www.snowbooks.com

Order City Cycling at Amazon.co.uk

I. City Cycling 1. City Cycling

2. How To Use This Book

3. Kinds of Journeys

4. Kinds of Cycles

II. Wheel Dealing 5. Finance

6. The £0 Bike or Red Saddles Are Free

7. Bikes £0 to £400 and More

8. How to Buy a Bike

9. Clobber

10. Bike Sizing and Set-up

102

III. Tactics 11. Route-finding

128

12. Parking and Security

133

13. Shopping and Haulage

143

IV. Riding 14. Bike Handling Skills

154

15. The Innermost Secrets Of Speed and Happiness!

170

16. Details!

196

17. School

222

V. Mechanics 18. Maintenance

226

19. Field Repairs

288

On to Victory!

293

Resources

300

Richard Ballantine is a cycling author and advocate. His Richard’s Bicycle Book appeared in 1972, at the time of a boom in bike sales stimulated by a world wide oil crisis, and became an essential handbook for millions of cyclists. Richard’s classic ‘manual of bicycle maintenance and enjoyment’ was (and still is) enthusiastic, friendly, and colourful, and

utterly

uncompromising

championing cyclists as first-class road users, equally important as motorists. This is now the conventional view. Richard rode on to found several cycling magazines, and author numerous books on cycling, many translated all over the world.

mountain bike pioneer in the UK, and a participant in the human power vehicle movement since the 1980s, Richard is chair of the British Human Power Club and of the International Human Powered Vehicle Association, and a founder member of the Human Power Institute, publisher of the Human Power eJournal. Born in the USA, Richard is resident in England with his wife Sherry, and the latest family member: Sunshine ‘Sunny’ Ballantine, a fast-growing F2 Labradoodle.

City Cycling

I: CITY CYCLING

City Cycling

This book is about cycling for transport in cities. If you are interested in racing, mountain biking, or touring far lands, try the reading list at the back of this book. If you want to learn about city cycling and making the most of urban living, you are on the right wheel. Stay close! As transport, cycling has a unique advantage: you can speed up or slow down, stop, or change a journey, as and when you please. This flexibility perfectly complements the varied geographic and demographic nature of cities. On a bike you can speed miles across town, but change pace to cruise a street of interesting-looking restaurants, follow a tantalising aroma of baking doughnuts to source, or pause for a chat with a friend. Yet cycling also purely shines for speed. Transport is about movement, and in cities, for distances up to 6 miles, bikes are faster than anything else going. Most urban journeys are short: in London, half are under a mile, and 85 percent are under 5 miles — by bike, half an hour at a sedate 10 mph, and just 20 minutes at a crisp 15 mph. Ever done a 5-mile journey by tube in 20 minutes? By bus?! Bikes are fine for longer journeys, as well. Once you have your legs, distances of 7 to 10 miles and even more are enjoyable. A brilliant technique is mixed-mode transport.You cycle, say, to a train station, ride the rails, and then cycle again to your destination. And if (as happens often) something goes wrong with the train, you can beam a big grin, because while others queue for buses or pound shoe leather, you are off and away on your bike. Reliability is an intrinsic and important advantage of cycling. Part of the fun of living in cities is diversity and doing lots of different things. For this to work one needs to be places on time; lateness is self-defeating. Cities are crowded and often congested, so if you rely on public transport or a car to get around, then you must allow extra time for delays. Go by bike, and time

I: City Cycling 13

is yours. Late? Just step on it! You cannot make a bus or train go faster, but you surely can hustle a bike. The money is good, too. Living in Britain costs a bomb. Never mind the many millions of people enslaved in menial jobs at minimum wage levels or less. People making pretty good money — teachers, firemen, nurses, and other professionals — have a hard time making ends meet. Food and shelter costs are sky-high, and every form of transport bar cycling or walking is more expensive than anywhere in the world except Japan. In an average British household, 18 to 20 percent of income is spent on transport.That is not just incredible. It is damaging to the national economy in general and your existence in particular. People who equate cycling with impoverishment have their heads screwed front to back. It is the other way round. Ride a bike, and, financially, you enjoy an instant upgrade! Cars? Please, no. Not in cities. Cars and lorries are fine when journey distances are long or difficult and there is no other way, and for hauling bricks and pianos. But as private transport in cities, cars are slow, expensive, and thoroughly aggravating. Do the TV ads show cars stuck motionless in traffic? Motorists being fleeced with fines? Don’t be hoodwinked. Cars are no fun in cities. People who live in high density metropolitan areas increasingly do not own cars. They use car-share pools, or rent motor vehicles as required. Cycling means pedalling. Yes! This is good for you. Cyclists drink at the Fountain of Youth; they live for years longer, and more importantly, they live healthier and enjoy life more. There is no greater gift. Last on a short list of advantages, and naturally not least: cycling sharpens your being. You do for yourself. You take charge. As a result, you are more aware and switched-on, and this tends to carry over into the rest of your existence — work, play, social consciousness, and even your love life!

City Cycling

♂SEX♀SEX♂SEX♀SEX♂SEX♀SEX♂SEX♀SEX♂SEX♀ The sex drive is our most primary instinct, and the effect of cycling on sexuality has been a topic of endless fascination ever since the invention of the bicycle. Victorians fantasised (hopefully) that cycling would erotically stimulate females, and the first women to wear trousers for cycling were regarded as exceedingly daring and risqué. More recent medical studies have gone the other way, reporting that cycling can inhibit or reduce sexual drive and performance. What is the story? Cycling promotes fitness and better health, which may facilitate more active and/or better sex. However, cyclists of both genders riding upright bikes do need to take care of their genitals. Women are (I am told) sensitive in this area, and can be hurt by impacts from bumps, or numbed by continual pressure on the genitals. One remedy is a soft, padded saddle, but a better solution is a saddle with a hole or slot in the middle to relieve pressure on the genitals. There are many models on the market; any women experiencing discomfort with a standard saddle should immediately try a more design-specific model. Men are (I know for a fact) sensitive in the genital area. A whack to the goolies, while acutely painful, is unlikely to cause more than a short-term reduction in sexual performance. However, long hours in the saddle can pinch and deaden the nerves in the crotch, which can result in numbness in the genital region and/or failure to obtain or maintain an erection. The solution is the same as for women; reduce pressure. First trick: stand up out of the saddle often. Second trick: lower the nose of the saddle a little. You don’t want to go too far with this and be pitched forward off your perch, but a change of as little as a degree or two may make a vital difference. If adjusting the tilt of the saddle does not do it, then change to a saddle with a groove or recess down the centre. With the pressure off, rides will be better, on and off the bike.

I: City Cycling 15

The bicycle was an instrumental tool for female emancipation. These Victorian ladies are having a fine time sending up a range of taboos — smoking, working on machines, and showing a bit of leg.

Critical Mass Cycling is great, but what about the risk of being mangled or killed by a car? This is what stops most people from cycling. There is a risk of harm, absolutely, but it is diminishing. In fact, using a bike is itself a positive move toward safety. Why? Because cycling in Britain is at critical mass.

City Cycling

Critical Mass Ride, San Francisco, 2005 Critical Mass bike rides began in San Francisco, California, and have become popular all over the world. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of cyclists assemble and ride as a group. For a while, the cyclists own the road. Motorists and the press sometimes perceive the rides as deliberate attempts to screw up traffic. Not so.The Critical Mass slogan is:‘We are traffic’.That is the status cyclists must have in order to be safe.

In the Netherlands the cycle/car crash rate is just 10 percent of the rate in Britain. Is this because the Dutch have a lovely system of cycle paths? No, the cycle paths are only a swell bonus. Forty percent of work

I: City Cycling 17

commuting journeys are by bike. It is not just the cycle paths that teem with cyclists. Dutch roads and streets have cyclists like Trafalgar Square has pigeons. Motorists are considerate of cyclists, because they have to be. There is no other possibility.

Critical Mass meet at London’s South Bank on the last Friday of each month

The story in other countries with large numbers of cyclists, such as Denmark and Germany, is the same. High levels of cycle usage mean low cycle/car crash rates. For UK cyclists, the important factor is that the relationship between the cycle usage rate and the cycle/car crash rate is not an even progression. Once the number of work commuting journeys by bike reaches around nine percent, a modest further increase in cycle usage triggers a proportionately far larger decrease in the crash rate. In short, a critical mass of cyclists triggers a dramatic change — exactly where we are now.

City Cycling

Danish cycling policy This extensive survey, based on a census taken in Copenhagen and on calculations of number of trips cycled along the major roads in 2000, shows that as the number of kilometres cycled increases, the number of serious cyclist injuries decreases. Source: Cykelpolitik 2002-2012: City of Copenhagen, Building and Administration, Roads and Parks Department 2002

Hop on a bike and join the revolution! It is all happening. Cycling advocates have been promoting cycling for years. Even the government is awake to the idea. Cycling is definitely becoming easier and safer, but still, riding in Britain is nothing like as advanced as in Holland, Denmark, or Germany. As well, conditions vary by towns and local areas. Accordingly, the cycling techniques and strategies that will work for you need to be tailored to circumstances, and to your skill level and temperament.

I: City Cycling 19

Cycling hot-spot at rush hour

Scared? Scared in traffic? So am I! It is sensible to be scared. The issue is what to do about it. To feel better, you need to learn how to cope with traffic. The process takes time and experience. The crucial principle to understand is that your safety is under your control. You set the pace, and tyro or expert, you mix humility with courage; you are always both a little cautious — and brave.

Attaining the understanding and skills for riding with confidence and genuine happiness is not always easy. Even very good riders sometimes experience problems. Still, for better or worse, this is your life, and you should make the most of it. Whatever the conditions, and whatever your ability and confidence, remember, you were born free, and are free. Especially on a bike. The streets