Three cheers for Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and Chris Froome!
The media here is talking about the greatest sporting achievement ever – an over-statement, surely, but the performance of these three outstanding British cyclists in the Tour de France cheers the hearts of ordinary British cyclists like me. Maybe if I were 20 years younger and did more than cycle to the shops at a leisurely pace, I could be in with a chance of winning the Tour.
More importantly, this great result raises the profile of cycling in this car-obsessed country, and it may even have an effect on this car-obessed city. Who knows? Even if the euphoria only lasts a day or two (although maybe Olympic success will prolong it), it’s a boost and lifts us out of our general feeling of being unloved, oppressed and endangered.
As someone said on the radio this morning:
“Cycling is the future!”
Perhaps now is a good time to get ready for that future.
Drivers of the world, get on your bikes! You have nothing to lose but that middle-aged paunch.
Alex Mabbs 
lovely idea, but where do you put the elderly Mother, five small grandchildren, a ton of shopping to feed them all, 2000 leaflets for Church
etc. etc.
Fair point. I’m tempted to say in your bike trailer, but I suspect you wouldn’t think that feasible, especially for the elderly Mother.
We Mabbses would find it difficult to do without a car, and that’s in a city. On holiday in rural Devon, when we needed a doctor, it was a 20 mile round trip, with 20 miles in the other direction to the nearest pharmacy. Impossible without a car.
The problem is that over the past 70 years or so, we have adapted our whole way of life to having a car available, and it being our basic means of getting around. As oil becomes more scarce and thus expensive, we’re going to have to adapt again, which is going to be very difficult for us all. We can ignore pollution-related climate change & carry on regardless (perhaps up to a point?), but we’re not going to be able to ignore the oil running out. I’m interested in how we can start adapting now to a way of life that is less dependent on fossil fuels, not as a romantic ideal but as preparation for living in a different kind of world.