In celebration of Cycle to Work Day we caught up with Nick Woolley, Transport Modelling Consultant in our Birmingham office, to find out why, come rain or shine, he’s making his commute to work by bike.

Why do you enjoy cycling to work each day?

I’ve always enjoyed cycling, and having had a rust bucket of a car that was always breaking down it’s nice to know that if something breaks on my bike it’s a lot easier and cheaper to fix and get going again!

I also like sitting down at my desk knowing that I’ve already done some exercise for the day and as a transport planner it’s always good to know your way around the local roads. Having a cyclist’s point of view of them is quite beneficial I think.

I think it’s also worth mentioning that I’m quite lucky at PJA, as the traffic around the office isn’t too bad (compared to the centre of town anyway), there are showers, and there is somewhere safe to store my bike during the day.

How long is your commute?

My cycle to work is about 12 miles each way, luckily mostly downhill and usually a tailwind on the way home!

Other than your commute, do you cycle anywhere else?

I’ve done all different types of cycling, so started off mountain biking but now mainly cycle on the road. I do still do the odd cyclocross race and triathlon as well, and was also dragged on a cycle touring trip through the Outer Hebrides and the Highlands this year.

I’m lucky to have been able to cycle in quite a few places in Europe – Alps, Dolomites, Mallorca and Scotland, but on a nice sunny day I really don’t think you can beat England – specifically where I grew up in the North York Moors.

What would your top tips be for anyone thinking about starting to commute to work by bike?

My tips would be:

• Try to minimise the amount of stuff you carry to work everyday. I leave my work shoes and a towel at the office to keep my bag as light as possible.
• A basic level of maintenance skills is always useful – I use the GCN videos all the time.
• Don’t feel like you need to cycle to work every day, even once a week is better than nothing.
• A good waterproof jacket is definitely worth splashing out on.
• Finally I like to think of the savings of cycling to work, I worked out that by cycling to work everyday instead of driving it saves me almost £1000 a year in fuel alone.

Nick is a Transport Modelling Consultant specialising in the use of VISSIM microsimulation modelling software.

Contact: [email protected]