y o u b i k e l o n d o n; Victoria from Hackney

Name & age?
My name is Victoria and I'm 28 years old.
Where do you live and ride to?
I live in Hackney and would bike to the moon if I could!
What do you ride?
A refitted late 70's Dawes frame - his name is Cecil Aloysius and he's a ruddy-cheeked ginger-haired school-boy type, you know?  I don't let him give me too much cheek.

How often do you ride?
Every day.
Helmet or no helmet?
No helmet.
What's your primary reason for cycling?
I really hate transit [public transport], plus it saves time, it's fun and it's an adreneline rush too - it gets you to work awake before your colleagues and gives you a buzz for the day.
Least favourite aspect of cycling?
Prolems with cycling aren't taken seriously enough by the prosecution system: people shouldn't be allowed to hit cyclists with their vehicles, drive away and get away with it totally scot free.  That's what happened to me; I reported the accident but the authorities just weren't interested.
Most favourite aspect of cycling?
Going fast, beating traffic.  There's nothing better than doing something that takes an hour by transit in only 10 minutes on a bike.
What advice would you give to an aspiring cyclist thinking of cycling in London for the first time?
Friend, offside: Write a will?!
Victoria:  No!  You can't say that!  Besides, it's safer and not nearly as scary as you might think - people who don't should just do it.  It's only people who don't who think it's really dangerous.
What could be done to improve the lot of the London cyclist?
The really crap cycle lanes have got to go!  The Police need to tackle cycle theft and treat bikes being stolen more seriously; we shouldn't have to ride shitty bikes all the time.  No one has a nice bike out in London 'cos you can't leave it anywhere.  It's ridiculous.