One of the things I truly love about living in London is the fact that cycling is by far the most efficient form of transport available. During the working day or at weekends, London becomes a grid locked mess with no chance of getting anywhere quickly by car, bus or taxi. It is at these times when the bike becomes the king of the road.

A bike like mine above is able to maintain a relatively easy 20 mph, while being able to overtake stopping buses or slip through the traffic to the front of the traffic lights. Best of all, the bike will take you exactly where you want to go – from point A to point B not needing to walk from train/ tube stations or having to daisy chain methods of transport to get where you want to go. Finally, the bike will get you where you want to go for free (beating the ever rising cost of public transport), will steadily improve your health and will over time help you learn your way around the city without relying on tube maps.

Below are my top tips for cycling in London:

1. Helmet / Gloves

These are not required – but certainly help your body from wear and tear / potential damage in an accident and I would recommend having gloves as a minimum due to the calluses that form without them.

2. A good lock

London is notorious for bike theft (in fact that bike has now been stolen, but I’ll get to that another time) and the minimum I would recommend is two locks at all times, one strong D lock like a kryptonite lock to go through the frame and the back wheel and then a cable / wire lock to go through the frame, front wheel and D lock. This when secured to a strong traditional bike locking point should prevent most bike thefts from happening.

3. A Handlebar Phone Holder / Google Maps

This may sound a bit crazy, but one of the best things I used on my bike was my handlebar mount for my iPhone 5s. This would let me use Google Maps with car or bike turn by turn navigation to easily navigate the entire city! Some people gave me a strange look when they heard my bike audibly saying ‘Turn left in 400 yards’ but it was the best way of navigating on the bike and helped me learn a lot of routes over time so I didn’t need it anymore.

4. Critical Mass / Bike Groups

One of the great things about cycling in London is the cycling communities that exist. Critical Mass is a cycling event that happens every month on the last Friday. They meet under Waterloo Bridge down near South Bank and then cycle (with music) around the city in a group often in the hundreds and sometimes in the thousands.

5. Richmond Park

This is a great benchmark for fitness / cycling within the boundaries of London, with a beautiful park, deer, a couple of decent hills and many other cyclists – this is a great place to go do laps when you’re not tearing about on the streets of London.

What do you like about cycling in London? Do you have any cycling tips to share? Leave them in the comments below.

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