introduction

Cycling in London is one of those things that you get used to. If you don't do it, just standing at the side of the road watching the traffic is pretty terrifying. Actually it's pretty scary if you have a bike with you too, but you kind of get used to it. The trick, I think, is to take it easy when you start, so that you don't get killed before you've sussed it out.

Here are some thoughts on how to hack around the city without ending up under anyone's wheels. There are certainly lots of ways to do that other than mine, but I thought that a few hints may be useful to someone.

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Your position in the road is key to successful cycling in London.

queue traversal

If you're on a dual-lane road full of stationary or slow moving traffic then you have broadly three choices of position:

• between the left line and the kerb
• between the left and right lanes
• in the center of the road on the off side of the right traffic lane

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taxis

Taxis are driven by professionals and they've no interest in killing you - if nothing else you'd make a mess of their business for a few days as they scraped you off their fenders and generally dealt with the legal consequences of squashing you. They also tend to know where they're going, their vehicles are generally well maintained, and they don't use hand-held mobile 'phones whilst driving.

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I don't go for the tribal "all cyclists are nice people and all motorists are homicidal maniacs" line. For a start I drive as well as cycle, but it's clearly bollocks anyway. The whole point is that some people are kind of safe and some are kind of dangerous. The dangerous ones in cars can do more damage than those on bikes is all.

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