Sunday, May 26, was a special day in the capital - it was Ride London, and people had signed up to take to the streets on a cycle of their choice, to ride 30, 60 or 100 miles.
And crucially, for the whole route and some streets before the start too, roads were closed to all motor vehicles.
I rather ambitiously signed up to do the 100-mile route last July. I got up early and headed into town on the train with my friend Louise. We got off at Moorgate and rode the last few miles on our bikes.
It was fairly quiet anyway, but hitting the section of London without motor vehicles was really something.
The streets were teeming with those on cycles, following different coloured signs for their start positions.
We headed down the Strand – so peaceful, and passed nearby Trafalgar Square, before pedalling down Piccadilly.
It wasn’t just that there was no motor traffic, it was that nothing was parked on these roads either. There was a huge glorious expanse of road just for us, and we giggled and threw our heads back as we rode along.
We cycled past the Ritz and discussed popping in for tea and cucumber sandwiches.
Central London was peaceful, relaxing. The only sounds were of people talking, the tick of a bicycle wheel or the turn of a pedal... maybe some trees rustling in the wind or some distant birdsong.
I thought how nice it would be if London was like this even just on Sunday mornings, say between 8am and midday. I’d come back with my children in a heartbeat.
Louise and I had to separate as we had different starting points, and I heard some cheering near the start. “Good luck everyone!” It was London’s walking and cycling commissioner, Will Norman, giving it some gusto with support. He’d been there since 4.30am cheering people on, through heavy rain too.
We headed past the O2 and down into the Limehouse Link Tunnel, and onto the A12, a dual carriageway.
Wow, I’ve only ever been on a dual carriageway in a car, and normally sitting in a traffic jam. Yet here we were, taking up every lane on our cycles. I saw women on upright vintage-looking bikes with jazzy leggings and bright lipstick, folks who looked to be in their 70s and older, and Travis and Sigrid - Sigrid is a cat!
We headed over flyovers, and then onto beautiful country lanes.
People lined the streets to cheer us on. For me, it was a long day. “I thought 100 miles was kind of like 100 km!” One woman exclaimed as we rode along. “But it’s not is it!”
Reader, it is not.
I eventually finished and there were some tears. But what stayed with me is not the pain of those last 20 miles, but of seeing London and beyond without motor traffic. Peaceful, safe, calm, friendly, and mainly, people-focused. Space to cheer each other on, to hear ourselves talk.
The more we can open up roads to people like this, the better.
- Carla Francome is a cycle campaigner and patron of the London Cycling Campaign (lcc.org.uk).
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