my name is mwd

As a relatively new biker I’m still exploring the advantages of the bike. On Friday I had to dash to King’s College in town, and parking in town can be a bit of a pain at times in the car. The Backs (the bit of land that backs onto the main colleges in the town centre) is usually okay, but assuming you have change to hand, and at 50p per 20 minutes it’s not cheap. Let’s face it, being an old town the centre of Cambridge isn’t designed for cars (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing).

Anyway, the bike you can park in places where you might not fit the BMW…

The other thing I did, which I’m not sure is approved of or not, is cut through the bollards that restrict traffic into the town. These bollards are designed to allow just vehicles with an appropriate transponder on them through, sinking into the road as such an enabled vehicle pulls up. Typically this means just taxis, buses, and emergancy vehicles can use these routes. However, the bike is a bit narrower than your average car, and so I went to cut through. Much to my surprise the bollard sank as I went to cut past, which is a bit confusing. So, I’ve no idea if bikes are tolerated (c.f., no congestion charge for motorbikes in London) or I’m just waiting on a letter asking me to behave :)