How to survive a tube strike: get on your bike
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to cycle to work one day a week. But January came and went and it still hadn’t happened.
Yesterday though, I finally got on my bike. All the previous excuses — rain, wind and reasoning that actually the tube is far more efficient because I can read the paper — paled into insignificance at the thought of being stuck on a bus or cramming onto a skeleton tube service from Highbury to High Street Kensington. Wheels would set me free.
Plenty of others had the same idea. One tube notice board read: “stop bloody moaning. Try running or cycling to work for a change. Better than ending up fat like Bob Crow.”
Hardened cycle commuters complained of all these newbies on the road, whose inexperience was evident from their appearance — bundled up as if they were heading to Sochi in brand new kit.
Mark Ames has created a site to help those who refuse to let the tube strike inconvenience them. BikeTheStrike uses Google Maps to bring together veteran cycling commuters with those who have only just donned their lycra. If you’re happy to guide another rider to work, add your details and draw your cycle route. They can then link up with you and cycle safely. Ames says it’s about channelling the blitz spirit and helping others.
I wish I had known about BikeTheStrike before setting off. Desperately trying to figure out which road is the quickest out of a petrifying lorry traffic jam on Edgware Road was enough to make me miss the Circle Line and while I’m proud of having cycled eight miles and whizzing past all those walking or braving the bus, Google Maps tells me that there was a much quicker way.
It was a lot of effort but it hasn’t put me off. Maybe that New Year’s resolution wasn’t so unrealistic after all. Watch out Wiggo.
