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26 July 2012
As far as I am concerned, during the Olympics the only way to travel is by bike.
It's one thing getting drops of moisture on your forehead because you're joining in with the sporting activity that will be permeating the capital over the next few weeks — it's quite another having to wipe your brow every 10 seconds in an overcrowded Tube carriage.
I first took to commuting by bicycle a year ago when the District and Circle lines were suspended between my stations. Cutting 20 minutes each way off a journey from Old Street to High Street Kensington, I have never looked back.
After all, even throughout the rainiest spring on record, Hyde Park glowed with green — a daily reminder of how beautiful London can be, if only you view it from above ground.
For some, navigating London's busy roads on two wheels may seem a terrifying prospect, but with training (available free or subsidised through your borough, http://bit.ly/learncycling) you can feel well enough prepared for even the elevated levels of traffic during the Games.
And since TfL's journey planning website GetAheadoftheGames.com declares that during the Olympics, "some temporary road changes affect other road users but not cyclists", it seems a no-brainer.
Of course, this is not entirely true. My usual route, which brings me from Hoxton via Holborn to Constitution Hill and then through the parks to Kensington means I hit The Mall — a road that has already been entirely closed to traffic for several weeks and remains shut throughout the Games.
The cycle path is blocked and an alternative has not been provided. Joining the ever-growing tailbacks along Birdcage Walk and Piccadilly is hardly a sensible option for cyclists, and the TfL-suggested diversion to Pall Mall in practice involves a section where cyclists must dismount and walk.
Since certain roads around central London are also predicted to be super-busy, GetAheadoftheGames.com can help you plan an alternative route, showing where you will hit parts of the Olympic Route Network (ORN), the main routes that Olympic traffic will take, the Games lanes and other changes to traffic flow via a colour-coded map.
I combined this with the cycle route planning web app CycleStreets.net, a very useful tool which can show you the more cycle-friendly routes through the capital. Another option is Google maps's new cycling directions, which launched this month in beta.
My new route is a revelation. Instead of hitting Holborn, I find myself diverting through Bloomsbury along a dedicated cycle path which, although busy with bike traffic (particularly since the sun has come out), is considerably safer than parts of my old route.
Through Marylebone there may be traffic signals galore but when they go green the roads are fast and I quickly make up time lost through being stuck behind trundling Boris bikers. I cross over the ORN at Tavistock Square and Games lanes on Baker Street and Gloucester Place, which are causing tailbacks at the intersecting junctions, but at no point do I have to join the lanes and the traffic load they will carry.
I even have no trouble when I drop into the top of Hyde Park via a cyclist-only entrance and hit the ORN head on. Unauthorised vehicles have been excluded from the North Carriage Drive, but cyclists have been permitted to share the footpath with pedestrians and the road is now otherwise empty and cycle-friendly.
I'm at work in 35 minutes. No faster than my old journey but certainly more pleasant — so much so that even the athletes and the crowds depart London, I will stick with it. While my old journey now looks like it doesn't even deserve a podium place, my new Olympic route is a gold medal winner.
Bike blocks during the Games
Bikes on the Tube: Folded bikes permitted at all times on all routes. Non-folding bikes only permitted on parts of Circle and District lines outside of peak hours (7.30am-9.30am & 4pm–7pm). See tfl.gov.uk/cycling for more info.
Bikes on trains: Folding cycles are permitted on all trains but must be covered. Non-folding cycles may be excluded at peak times, generally
7–10am and 4-7pm on commuter services to and from London. They are likely to be forbidden on services calling at Olympic venues on days of events.
Bikes on boats: Bicycles will continue to be allowed on London River Services but capacity is limited.
Bikes on buses: Fold-up bikes accepted at driver's discretion, but buses will be busy, so it's unlikely. Non-folding bikes are a no-go.
Bikes on the Overground: Folding bikes will be permitted but non-folding bikes will be forbidden on many routes throughout the Olympic period.
Boris bikes: Several Barclays Cycle Hire docking stations will be closed at various points throughout the Games, check the TfL website to see which ones will be shut. (tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/18088.aspx)
Oscar Williams-Grut
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