Comparing cycling in Oxford with cycling in Bath

For me when I was a lad at school riding a “racing bike” with dropped handlebars was the ultimate thrill and with three-speed gearing I could tackle steep hills.

Now I can still just about ride hills, but with mountain bike gears - 27 of them.

During a period of about 25 years, I was seduced by driving cars, mostly Minis. I came back to cycling in the 1980s, no longer able to run, because of an arthritic knee joint and was able to use cycling as part of a fitness regime by commuting by bike.

My partner and I have only been in Oxford for about two years, having previously been long-term residents in Bath.

Amongst the reasons for moving to Oxford was that there is at least some infrastructure for cycling here and the city is mostly on the flat.

When in Bath, we were living at the top of a hill which meant a ride of 1.25km with a rise of 200m, so cycling home became increasingly more difficult. But here in Oxford bikes cycling can be our main method of transport.

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One of the main differences between Oxford and Bath, is the cycling infrastructure here and as a result there are many more cyclists on the roads.

Drivers are used to having people riding bikes and appear to be much more patient than their counterparts in Bath, where there are fewer cyclists.

It is also comforting to see the high number of people riding bikes here. We no longer feel like aliens on the roads.

In Bath, I was once knocked off my bike by an elderly lady driver, who when she got out of her car needed crutches to walk. Thankfully I was unhurt.

I was not so lucky when I came off my bike after turning left and sliding along a “dropped” kerb, breaking my femur. I was unable to move out and do a proper left turn owing to heavy motor traffic.

There are some drivers who are hostile to cyclists. It is difficult to tell whether this antipathy is because cycle riders are seen as delaying drivers or whether it is because drivers dislike the fact that bike riders are able to go past when vehicles are stuck in traffic, or is it a deeper psychological factor of resentment that many drivers are not able to enjoy the fitness levels and well-being that riding a bike provides?

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My own experience of riding and being overtaken at speed by cars, particularly on hills, is frightening and dangerous, leading to riding on pavements in Bath, when going uphill.

People riding bikes will feel safer once the proposed “Quickways” project, with parking spaces removed from main roads, allowing space for protected cycle lanes, is implemented. “Quickways” should make using a direct route to school or work safer and more direct. (The photo shows what the Iffley Road could look like when free of parking.)

Even reducing through traffic in residential areas is proving controversial in some places, but in Oxford these Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) are going ahead.

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In East Oxford some are already completed.

In these LTNs one end of a road is blocked off only allowing local traffic, people in wheelchairs, walkers and bike riders.

There is nothing new about these, as there are long standing examples already in place. For instance, locally in Fairacres Road and Tree Lane.

With growing concerns about climate change, more sedentary lifestyles and increasing pollution in our cities, most local and national decision makers are looking to fund more cycle infrastructure, even though there is a little noisy opposition.

The newly elected county council must hold its nerve.

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