Back in the saddle again - Irish Independent

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/health-fitness/bac...

It's convenient, cost-efficient and healthy, so are we about to swap four wheels for two, asks Pól Ó Conghaile

Monday August 24 2009

It's three years since I last rode a bike in Dublin. I moved from the city in 2006, and my memories of cycling in it are mixed -- it was a fast, cheap and healthy way of getting around, sure. But it was also prone to filthy weather, unthinking drivers, agile thieves and thundering, bone-crushing HGVs. 

In those three years, much has changed. The Port Tunnel has opened. Dublin City Council has appointed its first dedicated Cycling Officer. A National Cycling Plan has been signed off on and the government Bike Scheme has been launched.

Some 66pc of respondents to a recent survey by bike retailer Halfords felt cycling to work was a great way to beat the recession. So with Dublin City Council to offer free bikes next month, and 200km of cycle lanes, have we finally decided two wheels good, four wheels bad? 

I returned to the saddle for a day to see.

8am

Fresh air, freedom, speed. My memories of cycling seem to be quite selective. The day begins with a patchy weather forecast. 

The sky is the colour of an egg carton; the air muggy as a blanket. I feel that old cyclist's righteousness rising within me and, along with my helmet, pack my wet gear. 

9.30am

Halfords have provided me with a bike for the day, and I meet the courier at Trinity College. My first reaction is one of dread. 

The bike is awesome, an €800 Boardman Performance Hybrid with hydraulic disc brakes. I can lift it with my little finger. Unfortunately, so can bicycle thieves. Will it even last until lunchtime? 

10am

I've arranged to meet Dr Mike McKillen, chairman of cyclist.ie, at Trinity College. He's been cycling since 1971, and is actively involved in the Dublin Cycling Campaign. 

With a hi-vis vest, tucked-in trouser legs and helmet cam, he's also easy to recognise.

Wait a second -- helmet cam? Have I really been gone that long? Mike uses his to record taxis and vans parking in cycle lanes, and also any close shaves.

There's a good reason for this. In 2006, he came across a cyclist who had been crushed beneath a cement mixer. 

"I did CPR on him while he was lying under the truck, kneeling in the gutter. Rain and water were cascading down Gardiner Street. He died one minute after I initiated CPR. That stays with you for the rest of your life."

His bugbears are education (of both drivers and cyclists) and enforcement. "We think that would revolutionise people's perception of cycling. Government has to get on with removing the fear factor."

"We don't need safer cycle lanes. We need safer roads."

10.45am

Leaving Trinity College for Ranelagh, I see why helmet cams make sense -- getting from George's Street to Wexford Street is like competing in an episode of Gladiators. There are vans unloading, buses pulling in and out, taxis using cycle lanes as drop-off points. 

On the hierarchy of road-users, I muse, cyclists seem to rank somewhere between pigeons and clampers. That said, I do make it to Ranelagh in a miraculous nine minutes.

11am

Laura Mannion, client executive at Drury Communications, is not your average cyclist. Looking elegant in a black dress, the only evidence that she bikes a 5km commute is the helmet sitting obediently on her handbag. 

I meet her in Ranelagh to see how she does it. 

"The 15-minute cycle would take an hour and a half on the bus," Laura explains. But what about the weather? "There's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people," she laughs. 

Like most city cyclists, Laura has had her close shaves -- a few "near-squishings" with buses, a "dooring" and an accident involving a pedestrian stepping out from behind a van on Exchequer Street. 

Ultimately, though, she finds cycling convenient, cost-effective and healthy. 

"You get ballsy pretty quickly on a bike. You get assertive, you're not afraid to own your piece of the road. The cyclist in me scares the driver in me now!"

12.30pm

My next appointment is at Dublin City Council, and I take a route along the Grand Canal. 

I'm beginning to notice bad old habits returning. In a car, I would never break a red light. On a bike, I do -- why is this? 

1pm

Ciarán Fallon is Dublin City Council's Cycling Officer and, over lunch, he talks me through progress made. Dublin's first cycling lane appeared 14 years ago, and though there's "room for improvement", an expanding infrastructure, a National Cycling Plan and the HGV ban have made it safer for cyclists, he believes.

Today, the challenge is to foster a cycling culture. The NCP aims to have 20pc of all work journeys made by bike by 2020 (the current figure is 3pc).

He sees no reason why Dublin shouldn't be as bike-friendly as Amsterdam or Copenhagen. "There is no mystery. It's not genetic. It's all created, all planned." 

2.30pm

The remainder of my afternoon is spent on a cycling tour of the city. I don't need my rain gear, and I don't suffer (or cause) an accident, but there are endless casual dangers. Along Eden Quay, two coaches have parked in the cycling lanes. Nearing Gardiner Street, I notice my tyres are a perfect fit for the Luas tracks. Crossing the river towards Merrion Square, a garda is using the cycle lane to check his motorbike.

Ciarán Fallon evokes Bertie's old slugline -- a lot done, more to do. He's right. Best of all, despite locking and leaving it countless times, the €800 Boardman has not been stolen. As I loop back towards Trinity College, that seems cause for hope indeed.

- Pol O'Conghaile