Tag Archives: London

News

The Most Active Cycling City in the World Is….

This does not surprise me. When I was over in London last year, we took a walk to a local pub. My daughter and I counted the cyclists we saw on the way there and on the walk back. We counted over 110. Most of them looked like commuters.

Cyclists in London at Trafalgar Square
Cyclists in Trafalgar Square London. Photo by author, July 2014.

They are everywhere. There’s no shortage of cyclists in the center of London mixing it up in Trafalgar Square, thick with taxis and buses. We also came across a string of cyclists in a mid-week time trial on a rainy day out in the country.

My local city, Charlotte, much much smaller and much less traffic, and with very few cyclists comparative to London averages 1-4 deaths a year. The bustling, chaotic and sprawling London which is thick with cyclists has had just 8 fatalities so far this year. That seems mighty low.

I rode in London in the 90’s while living there, commuting to work, but it wasn’t smack bang in the middle of the city, though my wife and I took a few weekend trips into a busy part of town. We were a bit nervous at first but got over it quickly and I don’t remember any close calls, not like here.

Certainly the cycle lanes contribute to safety, but I’m pretty sure the sheer number of cyclists on the road dramatically raises the awareness of drivers, and makes them more cyclist-sensitive. Whereas here, they look but don’t see.

What you see is strongly influenced by what you’re looking for, and around here most drivers are just not expecting a cyclist, aren’t looking for them and consequntly don’t see them.

And when they do see them, reactions vary from: from curiosity, “OMG! WTF is that?” to amazement, “cool, look a cyclist!!” …and to anger, “What the hell is this kid doing with his toy on the roads?!!”

I’m sure there’s many lessons we can learn from London.

London Crowned as Strava’s Most Active Cycling City

 

News

Bombs and Bicycles – The “Skid Kids” of Postwar London

In the years after World War II and unlikely sport arose from the ashes of London’s bomb sites, cycle speedway.

skid-kids-east-surrey-grove-peckham-south-london-1948Kids from as young as 13 put London’s many bomb sites to productive use by turning them into speedway tracks and racing their bicycles around them.

Well I use the word “bicycles” but according to reports, most of these bicycles were not roadworthy, and many were homemade, sporting old wheels and frames, and bent gas piping for handlebars.

That did not stop the “skid kids,” who blasted around the dirt tracks dreaming of one day racing real speedway.

Cycle Speedway Boom in Postwar London

According to Wikipedia, the sport actually goes back to 1920s, but it really took off in London in 1945 with the abundance of bomb sites providing dirt tracks for the city’s daring youth.

Intercity tournaments commenced in 1946, and in 1950 the international clash between England and the Netherlands drew 10,000 spectators.

In it’s heyday in 1950, there were over 200 teams in East London alone. The total number of racers across the country is estimated at between 30,000 and100,000.

This emerging sport was a significant milestone in history, according to sports historian Simon Inglis:

“It was the birth of youth culture that hadn’t existed before, which enabled kids to have a completely separate identity to their parents for the first time – cycle speedway was something that no adult did.”

After 1950, the bomb sites were cleared and the sport declined rapidly, going back to it’s local roots at a few scattered tracks around the country, but essentially fading into obscurity.

BBC Magazine has an interesting article on the sport with comments from some of the original racers, one of whom at 84 is still racing his bicycle today (on the road).

Cycle Speedway is still going today in the UK, administered by British Cycling, and it is practiced in Europe and the United States.

Sources: Wikipedia, BBC Magazine