As it gets colder and darker cycling around can become increasingly an unattractive option to get around town. Read Kit's blog post on his biking thoughts:
Recently I have fallen off my bike on black ice, had to walk up to the main road pushing the bike through snow, and got thoroughly wet from cycling through sleet and rain.... so why do I carry on coming to work on my not so trusty steed? Well, read on....
My route is from Summertown, so I have the great advantage that it's pretty straight, and more importantly, dead flat. It's mostly along the Banbury Road. There is a kind of a cycle lane most of the way, but you have to take care when this lane suddenly gets wider as this means you are sharing with buses, and the buses have got more numerous and wider over the years. They also swoop in front of you to access their all-too-frequent bus stops. But actually if you allow a couple more minutes for the trip, you can avoid the Banbury Road and its ghastly buses altogether. There is a cycle track all the way to the University Parks from north of the Summertown shops, and then you can reach the High St through the relatively quiet science area. Speaking of Summertown though prompts me to add a note of caution: when they redid the shopping area a couple of years ago, the Council clearly forgot about bikes. When we complained, they didn't change the new layout and instead simply painted large cycle signs in the main carriageway. This means you can have great fun quite legally holding up all the traffic in the Banbury Road by cycling sedately along the middle of the road. As everybody always overtakes me anyway (despite the average age of North Oxford cyclists being seemingly about 89) I get more than my share of angry hoots whenever I try this.
There are other advantages for me too. Although there are lots of buses, by cycling I avoid a 5 minute walk to the bus stop, and another walk from Magdalen St to OISE. I park my bike in the Covered Market, so it's pretty safe, and dry and right by the school. It's also convenient for use in the lunch hour; it's a bit far to take a sandwich in the Parks on a summer's day on foot, but using the bike I can park at the Keble gate and get in a spot of cricket too.
In short I can thoroughly recommend cycling to OISE. We've had students here for just a week who've really enjoyed the experience, hiring a bike from a city-centre bikeshop, or borrowing one from a host family. OK, so we don't have cycle lanes like much of continental Europe, and unless you're from Japan, Thailand or Indonesia you've got to adjust to pedalling on the other side of the road. I suppose you also lose the chance of honing your conversational skills in negotiating your bus pass with the bus driver, but all of these drawbacks are minor compared with the joys of the independence of cycling. Just think - if you've got a bike you can use it at weekends too. Woodstock and Blenheim Palace, for instance, are close enough to get to even for an amateur cyclist.
Finally though you should remember that in the UK cyclists have to obey the traffic laws. You have to stop at red lights (although some of them seem pretty pointless, e.g. the lights between the Broad and George St), have bike lights at night, and not cycle along pavements; it's a good idea to wear a crash helmet too.
Enjoy your cycling, and get fit too!
Author: Kit Villiers (OISE Oxford's specialist legal tutor)
Recently I have fallen off my bike on black ice, had to walk up to the main road pushing the bike through snow, and got thoroughly wet from cycling through sleet and rain.... so why do I carry on coming to work on my not so trusty steed? Well, read on....
My route is from Summertown, so I have the great advantage that it's pretty straight, and more importantly, dead flat. It's mostly along the Banbury Road. There is a kind of a cycle lane most of the way, but you have to take care when this lane suddenly gets wider as this means you are sharing with buses, and the buses have got more numerous and wider over the years. They also swoop in front of you to access their all-too-frequent bus stops. But actually if you allow a couple more minutes for the trip, you can avoid the Banbury Road and its ghastly buses altogether. There is a cycle track all the way to the University Parks from north of the Summertown shops, and then you can reach the High St through the relatively quiet science area. Speaking of Summertown though prompts me to add a note of caution: when they redid the shopping area a couple of years ago, the Council clearly forgot about bikes. When we complained, they didn't change the new layout and instead simply painted large cycle signs in the main carriageway. This means you can have great fun quite legally holding up all the traffic in the Banbury Road by cycling sedately along the middle of the road. As everybody always overtakes me anyway (despite the average age of North Oxford cyclists being seemingly about 89) I get more than my share of angry hoots whenever I try this.
There are other advantages for me too. Although there are lots of buses, by cycling I avoid a 5 minute walk to the bus stop, and another walk from Magdalen St to OISE. I park my bike in the Covered Market, so it's pretty safe, and dry and right by the school. It's also convenient for use in the lunch hour; it's a bit far to take a sandwich in the Parks on a summer's day on foot, but using the bike I can park at the Keble gate and get in a spot of cricket too.
In short I can thoroughly recommend cycling to OISE. We've had students here for just a week who've really enjoyed the experience, hiring a bike from a city-centre bikeshop, or borrowing one from a host family. OK, so we don't have cycle lanes like much of continental Europe, and unless you're from Japan, Thailand or Indonesia you've got to adjust to pedalling on the other side of the road. I suppose you also lose the chance of honing your conversational skills in negotiating your bus pass with the bus driver, but all of these drawbacks are minor compared with the joys of the independence of cycling. Just think - if you've got a bike you can use it at weekends too. Woodstock and Blenheim Palace, for instance, are close enough to get to even for an amateur cyclist.
Finally though you should remember that in the UK cyclists have to obey the traffic laws. You have to stop at red lights (although some of them seem pretty pointless, e.g. the lights between the Broad and George St), have bike lights at night, and not cycle along pavements; it's a good idea to wear a crash helmet too.
Enjoy your cycling, and get fit too!
Author: Kit Villiers (OISE Oxford's specialist legal tutor)
