Re:cycling

London

When I moved here last month, I found the Tube to be a good method of getting around. Sure, it was pretty expensive (£2 single journey during the day, into Zone 1) but it was fast, there were plenty of used freepapers to read and the opportunity to see someone really strange. The main downside was (and is) that my flat is 10 minutes' walk from the nearest station. Even given this, I thought that 35 minutes to All Souls and 45 minutes to UCL was pretty reasonable. Imagine my surprise when my trusty Dawes 500 (which I bought for £35 after my last bike was stolen) beat the Central Line every time!

All seemed ideal - saving time and money, and getting fit to boot, with only the 20x greater fatality rate than car drivers to worry about. I had also started to notice that I spend about £3 a day more on food when I cycle, just to recover the energy I spent getting to uni... but there's no such thing as a free lunch after all. Today, however, after cycling for 30 minutes in pouring rain through central London (it started raining just after I set off) I had the inestimable joy of spending 7 hours in an underground, air-conditioned lecture theatre, giving my clothes that still-damp feel as I cycled home again in the drizzle. Hmm... at least the Tube is undercover!

Here's a video I made with some friends the other week.*



* This is a lie.