London as a 'world class cycling city'
Groups like the London Cycling Campaign and others have long campaigned to make London a "world class cycling city". I have news for them -- London is already such a city. Streets are largely empty of cars and cyclists can zip around freely without having to deal with traffic.
I am speaking, of course, of London at 5:30 A.M.
I took my bike out this morning for a 37 minute spin from my neighborhood (Finchley Church End) through East Finchley over to Muswell Hill and back for a total of 5.8 miles.
The streets were not entirely empty. I did pass one other cyclist, two pedestrians, a couple of Express Dairy eco-friendly vehicles delivering the morning milk, one early morning bus, and about three cars.
The sun rises at 4:51 on a summer morning like this one in London, meaning that cyclists can get a head start of an hour or two before drivers get out on the roads with their cars. On weekends, this should be even better. Sunday mornings in north London, the roads seem completely empty.
This will not be the case in winter. When the sun rises after 8:00 AM and sets before 4:00 PM, there will be nothing like this. So during the next few weeks, for cyclists who can awaken with the sun (or have no choice, like myself), the cycle-friendly city we dream of is there for the taking.