The mystery of red light ignorance

The Dunwich Dynamo is tomorrow, but rather than blog about that, something else has caught my attention, particularly over the last week.

My morning commute consists of a 3.7 mile cycle from Battersea (South Chelsea, as I like to call it) to Tottenham Court Road. I have done this route virtually every day for the last 2 months, and in my opinion, I now feel I know the dangerous areas/"hot spots" (i.e - junctions, corners etc) along the way.

Before I continue, I want to point out that I am no angel at all when it comes to stopping at each and every red light that captures me to and from work, having said that, at no point would I jump a red light at particular points on my route, most notably Vauxhall roundabout. But be assured, in no way, am I about to preach about the green cross code and how cyclists should obey it.

But over the last few weeks, I have come across some real Kamikaze cyclists, that seem happy to put their life on the line for the reward of gaining a few extra meters/seconds on those that are willing to sit safely in the green cycle bay, awaiting the prestigious green light. There are a couple of instances where I could probably understand this type of decision making -

1. Your wife is pregnant and you need to get to the hospital
2. England are beating Germany 2-1 in the World cup final with 89 minutes gone and you need to get home to watch the boys lift the trophy (in this instance I'd have to ask, why you were out and about in the first place)
3. Dodgy stomach - enough said (although this is only a reasonable one, should the issue have come about whilst on your journey, if not - stay at home)

Unfortunately, when I recently confronted a fellow cyclist/commuter, who must have been colour blind, considering he had cycled through every single red light that faced him along the route, he gave me none of the above. He just turned to me and grunted, in an almost arrogant way.

This is my point. Before I started cycling in London, I heard numerous stories of the perils of cycling around such a congested place, such as cyclists being knocked off bikes, run over by the evil white van drivers etc. I acknowledge there are times when there is nothing a cyclist can do about being injured/hit by vehicles, but of the incidents I have seen so far, virtually all have been at busy crossings.

As a result, I have started to ask myself, are a growing proportion of these incidents down to cyclists pushing the odds too far, by not paying attention or going through one too many reds? And are the people typically involved in incidents (not necessarily incidents involving injury), those that seem especially keen to get too work a minute earlier? Apologies if this appears to be completely arrogant of me to ask those questions, but I genuinely want to know the answers.

I absolutely love cycling around London, and yes I have had a couple of "near misses" but as I put more and more miles under my belt, I have begun to form the opinion that many newcomers (to London and to cycling) are perhaps put off cycling around London because of stories founded on incidents involving cyclists that dont see the dangers of jumping one too many red lights.

Readers, your thoughts?

The Dunwich Dynamo - Part 1

So, its finally here. After weeks of speculation, and chat between Josh (my northern housemate) and I about our strategy for the Dunwich Dynamo, it is literally 3 days away.

Josh came home on Monday, after finally getting round to reading some blogs on the Dynamo and speaking to a couple of people experienced in the art of all night riding, with the idea of not sleeping on Friday night. I must admit, my initial reaction was to be 100% against the idea. I couldn't really think of anything worse than to not sleep the night before a 120 mile race.....overnight. But as I thought about it, and he explained himself further, the idea of preparing your body for the shock of being up all night began to make sense and so I agreed.

I am not really too sure what the plan is yet, i.e. whether we go out on Friday night (coca colas only) or whether we sit in and watch some action thrillers to keep the heart pumping. It could even be a combination of the two.

The last few weeks spent preparing (I use the term loosely) have been really fun, I have been on a couple of bigger bike rides (40 miles+) in and around London, and have cycled to and from work virtually every day. I have also spent plenty of time on bike rides with the Flood, which has been good as it has given us the chance to hype ourselves up about how we plan to go about riding through the field on Saturday. Although I am a little worried about our ability to stay as a team now, given the fact he has upgraded his chain and chain set with the aim of "transferring more power to the bike".

I must admit, I do think we have maybe hyped this up a little too much in our minds, particularly as there is so many photos of riders on pub lock ins, eating and generally just taking it easy. Up until recently, I pictured it as a mad dash to beat the sun, which for some riders, I bet it is. I include Josh and I in that bracket of course.

Over the next few days I will post more about my feelings leading up to the Dunwich, including a post on the Friday evening, which will no doubt include spelling errors as my body and mind battles against my decision to not go to bed until 6am. I may even invite Flood to write a piece.

Until now, that is all.