Cycling To And From Work In London...

[sandyRoe]

What would the average distance be for such a journey? What little I've seen of traffic there makes me think that the cyclists must have hearts like lions.

[emmie]

depends perhaps on where one lives, no you don't need the heart of a lion, you have to have your wits about you, not be listening at full blast on your i pod or whatever music machine, and don't ride over red lights, a sure way to get your derrière in the hospital or morgue. I used to take 30 minutes to get to my work, but i didn't take stupid chances.

[Booldawg]

I dont live in London but have cycled from Waterloo Station to Euston several times.

Not as bad as I thought it would be as there are dedicated cycle lanes and you can use the bus lanes. The trouble starts when cyclists decide to weave in and out of the traffic and ignore signage.

[emmie]

most likely scenario for getting killed is not being seen, if you are on the inside of a large sided vehicle, against the kerb they can't see you usually, and when they indicate and turn left you will like as not, if you aren't quick, will go under the vehicle. There was another fatality the other day. Not sure how many that make that this year, but too many.

[emmie]

cycling according to the Dept of transport has risen to record levels
and it's not surprise to me there are fatalities. Its a mega busy city with lots of heavy vehicles, even though on many roads you can't go faster that 20mph, and as we have found you don't go anywhere when it's gridlocked...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_in_London

[Octavius]

When I worked in central London, near Houses of Parliament, a colleague used to cycle in from Putney (about 6 miles). One day he was cycling along and a lorry turned at a junction in front of him, and the back end (the bars that stick out of some lorries) sliced across his back and he was hospitalised for about 2 months. He's fine now, but it did rather put him off.