Two million new cycle commuters about to take to the roads, says CycleScheme

No snobbery from me. Coincidentally, I had a chat with the future of cycling this morning in Hackney.

She wheeled her bike - a ~30 year old Mixte, with metal 'dork disc', and probably the original tyres and chain/gear oil - gingerly off the path and into the road. Directly onto the piece of tarmac where I was heading at ~30kph (on a slight downhill). I wafted out and around her and continued on my way. At the next lights I stopped in the ASZ; when she arrived she edged past me and stopped a good 2 metres ahead. Ho-hum, I thought. At least she stopped.

True enough, no blazing getaway was made when the lights went green. I followed her sedately for a hundred yards or so until there was space to pass, when it occurred to me that she - on her knackered old bike, in 'proper clothes', no lid, no lights and at barely above walking pace - is the future of cycling. It's not me in full Lycra, doing 20km each way at ~25kph on a shiny newish toy. It's 'normal' people, going about their day, using a bike because it's the best option. So at the next lights, I said hello. Gave her a few tips. Reminded her that she should stay at the stop line because turning vehicles swing across junctions and she should be careful about going up the inside of long and heavy vehicles. Finally, reminded her that it's not a race and sitting behind a couple of cars at lights if there's not space to pass is better than shoving through and then holding them up, and went about my way.

Be nice to newbies. You were one once.

I was just looking at the ONS 2011 Census Analysis - Cycling to Work that has just been released. In 2011 for England and Wales 741,000 people cycled to work, an increase of 90,000 in the ten years since the 2001 census.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census-analysis/cycling-to-wor...

Somehow I don’t think that an extra 2 million cycle commuters will be appearing on the roads in the next few weeks !

Personally I'm not bothered about being some sort of virtuoso expert 'cyclist', I'm just a non-motorist who would like to see fewer cars on the road. A less-than-brilliant cyclist is far preferable to an average motorist as far as I'm concerned.

Ah bless!

All the newbies at snobbery trying out their best off-the-peg snob attitudes! I suspect they are all young (at least I hope they are).

Eventually they'll get the hang of looking down on people.

(Also, I was anti-elitist _before_ it was fashionable!)

I have never once seen anyone use cycle scheme to start cycle commuting. From my experience the people using it either already commute by bike or want a nice cheap bike to put in the shed for the weekend.

Equally surprised by some of the negative comments on here about both new cyclists and the cycle to work scheme itself.

We all had to start somewhere with our cycling, I even consider myself to still be something of a noob, having only picked it up again less than a year ago. Some of the comments do appear to be a little on the "elite" side, which can be something of a negative image associated with the sport...

As for the scheme itself, I don't think I've ever heard a single person complain about it being a waste of taxpayers' money, and I know some seriously left-wing people! As Sam Saunders points out, the few hundred quid subsidy can only be a good thing as against the net benefit to both the indvidual concerned and the population more generally arising from more people cycling.

And so what if people have the means to use it and do so to buy second/third/n+1 bikes, or bikes for family members? Whether the bike is used daily for commuting or by the wife once every few weekends in the summer months only, it's still getting/keeping people on bikes, and the more people that either cycle themselves, or know someone who cycles, the greater the likelihood that they'll be a more considerate driver around other cyclists.

I know this might come across as a "my helmet saved my life" type story, but thanks to the scheme I was able to buy myself a decent road bike which now has me out at least once over the weekend for a good two hours or more, in addition to my daily commute. My resulting enthusiasm for the sport has also got both my brother and my Dad involved too, who between them must have put around £2k into the LBS of recent months in buying bikes and gear. My Dad also now commutes to work on the bike too, so that's two people out of their cars for the price of one!

@Sam Saunders good point well made.

@Neil753 are you paid by the Road Haulage Association for your work on here?

@NewCommuters, using a bike is a great choice for most journeys welcome.

I've noticed an increase in new commuters on my morning ride. All good.

I figure best way to turn new commuters into old commuters is to help 'em out - taking the primary off their rear wheel at pinch points, narrow lanes and junction approaches. Claiming the ASL box, and clearing packed junctions of riders on the near side. Adds to the journey time, but see less close passes and left hooks.

C'mon folks, we were all first timers once. One less car on the commute is a good thing and I genuinely take delight from increasing numbers of cyclists on the commute. As far as short distance urban planning is concerned, the bicycle is the future and the sooner it becomes pub chat to talk about what you rode into work rather than what you drove, the better.
A bit of genuine advice might not be a bad thing ? When it is framed in terms of an individual's safety, I have yet to have a tricky reaction.
Anyway, soon we will be at a point where it becomes harder to ignore and thereafter it only gets better.

I really hope not it's bad enough as it is with the born again cyclist commuting to work at 8mph... With their heads down and aldi lights! They are a danger to themselves and most of all to me! No more please.
Stick to Sunday mornings and get some road awareness first and fitness.

Bring out the gringos!

This is good news. Even if only 10% of the 2 million quoted came true, that still a staggering 200,000 people.With an election coming up in 2015, it's also 200,000 voters, so know may be a good time to open political negotiations.

My good karma tip, which I've tried to do every spring for the past few years.

If you see someone locking up an obviously new bike with a shit lock, tell them what they need and how they should use it. Unlike some people on here, the bike thieves love noobs.

joemmo's post is BRILLIANT.
1. Cyclescheme say that their scheme is fantastic and everybody will ride a bike because of it.
2. The cycle-haters will, er, hate cyclists.

And everybody else says that they don't get on with lots of the new cyclists.

For those getting angry at the thought of "noobs" can I just ask what gearing set up you went for when you pedaled out of yer mam?

Nooooo.... sorry, but I get fed up with the noobs... & thats a lot of noobs

Nooooo.... sorry, but I get fed up with the noobs... & thats a lot of noobs

More cyclists means more awareness of cyclists means more drivers expecting to see cyclists means fewer invisible gorillas and thus fewer SMIDSY's although...

...the number of cyclist-on-cyclist SMIDSY's will go up whilst the noobs learn to expect other cyclists.

..the number of existing cyclists suffering "this is my road and you must ride it my way, how very dare you be a noob" road-rage is likely to increase.

The TFL cycleflow data shows there have been pretty healthy numbers going through the winter months despite the rain. Do consider that London grows 1,000 a week and not all of them can fit on the tube nextwork if they're to get to work.

As for the Daily Fail commentary, that was utter tosh, the commentary made not a single mention of House Prices.

I have noticed more bikes in the racks for this time of the year, it goes back to normal rates by Thursday or if its heavy rain early on.