[reti]

I cycle around 3 times the distance he does daily to and from work in London. I've been doing this for 5 years. It's probably fair to say I take more days off than he does though (I leave the bike at home if going for a drink).

I suppose the same could be said for any form of regular exercise, but it makes such an improvement to how I feel when I get to work, and my general well-being. The pollution in London has always been a bit of a concern, however I hope the exercise outweighs this for the most part. I save around £8 a day by not taking the train.

I wish more people would give it a go. More people riding would result in better and safer infrastructure here. I do however, regularly see people get knocked off bikes and can understand the perceived risk and reluctance from others to try it. I'm envious of cities such as Copenhagen with great safe infrastructure, and where riding is the norm.

[vivan]

I live in London and I'd love to cycle to work, but the infrastructure (for my route) just isn't there. And for people who aren't experienced cyclists, it is even worse as lack of confidence actually leads to more accidents.

[codeulike]

Maybe try it? Once I started cycling in London there was no looking back, even if I had to be on busy roads. Many residential roads in London are very quiet during the day so there may be a windy circuitous route that is very pleasant to be on. Or a busy direct route that is not as bad as you think. When theres a proper cycle lane that's nice but it is by no means vital.

[lmm]

I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the route to work a cycling route planner gave me in London was. There are less nice parts at the beginning and end (as I get onto and off the cycle-friendly streets), but the majority of the route (some on Q2, some on quiet 20mph roads with no specific cycling provision) is not bad.

[ZeroGravitas]

https://www.cyclestreets.net/ is one such planner that may have bike only shorcuts that aren't marked on other map sources (it's based on OpenStreetMap and feeds cycle specific data back I believe).

[kqr]

Absolutely true. Once you're confident, you realise how to get good infrastructure anywhere: share the road with motor vehicles if the dedicated infrastructure sucks.

Sure, some people will hate you for that, but I prefer disliked over smeared onto pavement any time of the day.

[rhys91]

I cycle commute in London every day and you don't need dedicated cycling infrastructure. It's great to use if it's there but otherwise you make do. Rather than trying to take the most direct route, I cut through small laneways and alleys and ride through a couple of parks. Get on a bike and start exploring. There's nothing more soul crushing than London's public transport during peak hour.

[4509]

BRouter might find you a better route

http://brouter.de/brouter-web/#zoom=13&lat=51.5097&lon=-0.12...

[petre]

Yet you have quite some cyclists that ride in crazy traffic among double deckers and fast cars. Most of them wear neon yellow clothing. Is it required by law?

[adrianN]

I have a face mask (Respro City) that filters out a good part of the particulates. Those are of course only part of the pollution and the mask does look a bit silly.

[djhworld]

I'm quite an anxious person and even just the thought of cycling in London puts me off it.

I've looked at the route map and most of it is on incredibly busy roads, including Henleys Corner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henlys_Corner) one of the busiest junctions.