Travelling around Cambridge

Before moving here I was under the impression that Cambridge was a small, peaceful, pretty, gentle kind of place which everyone cycled around, where traffic would not be a problem and different forms of transport existed in perfect harmony! Could I have been more wrong?! As many will have experienced, traffic in Cambridge is an absolute nightmare.

Since being here I've spent a lot of time on my bike, and have really come to enjoy cycling in and out of college (well - most of the time!) and around town etc. (even managed to lose some weight since being here - can't be a bad thing). However I do feel like I'm taking something of a risk every time I go out. For a city and area that's so reknowned for cycling its amazing how little awareness and regard drivers seem to show. On my way in and out of college the bikeway I follow crosses the slip road on to the M11 at a roundabout - I spend so much time there sometimes waiting to be sure it is safe to cross because of the number of cars that seem to accelerate off the roundabout on to the slip road at crazy speeds and without any indication at all! Why is using an indicator so difficult?! Elsewhere, one of the colleges that we go to sometimes for lectures has its entrance off a busy roundabout, and cars just seem to forget to look for bikes at the junction - 2 people from college have been hit on their bikes by cars there this term, and myself and a number of others have had various near misses there. Also, fortunately no damage was done once when a car decided to pull in to park without noticing that I was cycling level with his bonnet and did a fairly good job of jamming me between the car and the curb. The one time i did actually fall off my bike properly was when a car stopped suddenly with no warning, indication or any obvious reason right in front of me and I had to swerve round it (the driver then carried on without even noticing me!) - no damage apart from a couple of grazes but glad I had my helmet. Scary stuff sometimes! My idyllic views have been shattered!

Just to show that I'm not a bitter twisted cyclist though - I do drive as well, and there is nothing more annoying than seeing the hordes of cyclists riding down roads 3 or 4 abreast sometimes! Also, especially now its dark so much of the time - it constantly amazes me how many people cycle without lights! I heard a story fairly recently of someone who asked a uni student here why they were cycling without lights and got the reply that they didn't need them because they could see ok with the street lights! Has the idea that intelligence and common sense don't always go hand in hand ever been more appropriately exemplified?!

Finally, as much as I've come to enjoy the cycling here let me dispel another myth. Have you ever heard it said that Cambridgeshire is flat? It's a lie! Whoever says that has obviously not spent much time on a bike!