Cycle Lifestyle

One time when it certainly is advisable to wear a cycle helmet is if you are going to get in a debate about whether cyclists should wear them or not. Controversy has been caused recently by transport minister Norman Baker's insistence that he chooses 'to enjoy the wind in his hair'. The same was once true of Boris Johnson and David Cameron, but each of them has given in to calls for them to 'lead by example' and don a helmet, as a recent blog laments.

What example is Cycle Lifestyle setting on helmets? Ours is informed by a couple of significant facts. First: none of the three major cycling organisations we follow - CTC, LCC and Sustrans - advocate wearing a helmet while on a bike. Second: it is not illegal to cycle without a helmet in the UK. Until we hear otherwise, our policy as a magazine will be to endorse the 'individual choice' policy advocated by the above authorities. You could call it a non-policy.

What about my own personal opinion? This is not necessarily the opinion of everyone associated with the magazine, but I too like to enjoy the wind in my hair. I would wear a helmet if I rode a racing bike at high speeds; but when I'm meandering around the backstreets of London on my rusty hybrid, with my panniers and front basket full of clobber, I don't.

I'm not stupid: I know that wearing head protection is likely to be helpful if a person bangs their head - whether playing sports, using a motor-vehicle, being a contestent on Gladiators, or riding a bike. I just don't wear a cycle helmet for the same reason I don't wear head protection when I'm playing football, in a car, or pugil-sticking at a fairground. It seems unnecessarily cautious; as it seemed to my parents uneccesarily cautious for me to wear a cycle helmet when I was a toddler wobbling my way to proficiency on stabilisers, an exuberant kid wheelying over divots in Epping Forest, or a teenager riding to college quicker than the bus could ever get me there.  

But that's just me: make up your own mind about wearing a cycle helmet. That's the policy of Cycle Lifestyle as well as the prevailing authorities.

Just want to say a big sarcastic 'thank you' to the thief who stole my back wheel, and after replacing his with mine, carefully - lovingly, even - leaned his old one up against the frame of my bike. This was an act of generosity beyond the call of duty. Perhaps Dylan was right: to live outside the law you must be honest.

Thinking back to my previous experiences with bike theft, I am reminded not just of the bikes lost and the websites trawled looking for them, but, most of all, of the time I checked out a room for rent near Brick Lane. You couldn't close the back door to the house (I kid you not), so I enquired as to what the security arrangements were. 'Trust life', was the nonchalent, slightly condescending (and probably drug-induced) reply from one of the cooler-than-thou inhabitants. Fair enough, I thought... for a few seconds anyway. We were soon discussing where I could buy a secondhand bike in the area. 'I got mine from the market', my interlocutor proudly told me, adding: 'they're all stolen, so they're cheap'. Didn't sound like life could be trusted inside or outside the house.

The reason I am recounting this story is because it's not just criminals replacing bike wheels who are manifesting a fake kind of goodness. The regular folk who moan about crime then buy stolen goods are faking it as well. My point is: it is living inside the law that really requires honesty beyond the call of duty. In the book Bowling Alone, the author laments the decline of civic life in America; and it's hard not to think of Britain in the same vein. For as long as regular citizens kid themselves into thinking that they're good (tax-paying, carbon-neutral, fine wine-drinking) people, but don't have a role to play in fostering and bolstering their local community - in upholding the values they profess to stand for - communities will be rudderless, lawless and backwheel-less. 

After an intense and exhilarating weekend at Geovation camp, I’m delighted to say that the London Cycle Map Campaign has made it through to the final of the competition.

The theme of this year’s challenge is ‘How can we improve transport in Britain?’. With so many experts and innovators in attendence, we learned so much, and are really grateful to all the people we met whose insights helped us to developed our campaign. A huge thank you to the organisers for an inspiring event.

Watch this space. Our noses are back to the grindstone preparing for the Showcase final on the 4th of May.

A new book by Michael Embacher - Cyclepedia: A Tour of Iconic Bicycle Designs - shows that bikes are about more than speed and gears - they can be beautiful, too.