I’ve lived in several places the past few years trying to find somewhere that felt like home. I’ve lived way out in the country and in small market towns - trying to sort out my priorities for the perfect place to settle down.

Of course I’d used my bike wherever I’d ended up. And sort of got used to the busy country roads, the being cut up by cars, lorries and buses, the locking to a lamp-post, the absolute absence of facilities for cyclists. That’s how it is in England, right? There was the odd short stretch of cycle route where cyclists had some sort of presence but nowhere did I get the feeling that cyclists were accepted as normal members of the travelling public.

Mostly the only cyclists I met were people who cycled as a sport or as a leisure activity, who didn’t cycle as a way of life, without special clothing, any day of the week, as a way of getting from A to B. So finding a place where I felt I belonged, as an everyday cyclist, was not on my list of priorities. I thought it was a lost cause.

Cycling in Oxford was an absolute revelation. I couldn’t believe the Marston Ferry Road when I first cycled down it – loads of bikes! on their own little road! young people on their way to school! I felt great, on my bike, with lots of other people on their bikes, just getting on with the day. Where cycling was just a way of life and considered a normal way to get about. And there were bike-friendly features all around the city - Donnington Bridge had it’s own bike road; traffic lights had Advanced Stop Lines; The Plain had a separate bike lane going round it; cyclists could go down Little Clarendon Street THE WRONG WAY. Oh and best of all, the traffic lights on the junction of High Street with Longwall Street had a green light specially for bikes. I was utterly convinced that this was where I wanted to be.

Having lived here for a while, and calmed down a bit, I realise that Oxford could be lots better for cyclists – will we ever get London-like Superhighways or enough bike-parking? Will people who don’t cycle because they feel it’s not safe enough ever feel confident enough to get out there on their bikes? Will there ever be cycle training readily available for everyone? Will the air quality ever improve? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Oxford was the best place for cycling in the UK and when you entered the city there was a sign saying ‘Oxford – the UK’s Cycling Capital’. And alongside the sign, rows and rows of bikes to hire for people to explore the city.

No, provisions for cyclists in Oxford are definitely not perfect but I was won over as soon as I took that first bike ride down Marston Ferry road and now I only need to cycle down the High Street at rush hour with cyclists all around me to remind myself why I decided to make this my home.