Be alert

• be aware of everything going on around you
• watch out for pedestrians stepping off the kerb
• watch out for vehicles pulling into the kerb or turning left
• look up and around, rather than just in front of your bike
• practice looking behind without wobbling or swerving
• watch out for vehicles coming out of side streets - they may not see you

Watch your position on the road

• ride further out, away from the kerb. You'll be more obvious and easier to avoid
• allow at least a full door width's space between you and parked cars - and watch for open doors
• if the road is too narrow for a vehicle to pass you then it may be safest to ride in middle of the road

Wait ahead at lights

• wait in front of other vehicles when you're at traffic lights
• make sure you are well in front of large vehicles such as HGVs and are not waiting on the left - make eye contact so they know you are there. If you can't get to the front safely, wait behind the vehicle

Be seen and be safe

• a bright jacket or rucksack can make you easier to see
• by law, after dark you must have white lights at the front and red lights at back of your bicycle
• put reflective strips on your rucksack, panniers, jacket or wrist bands for better visibility at night
• it is not the law to wear a helmet but many Londoners choose to - if you wear a helmet, make sure it fits - tighten the straps so that you can't push the helmet up your forehead, side to side or up at the back
• try Safe Turn for your indications

Make eye contact

• make eye contact with drivers to ensure they know you're there - it will make them give you the space on the road that you deserve

Ride confidently

• know where you should be on the road and stick to your guns
• in heavy traffic go at the same speed as other vehicles
• look out for drivers trying to move onto the road you're on
• be assertive, not aggressive

1 Camden to the British Library and beyond
This is from my friend Eliane Glaser: "Starting in Royal College Road or College Place, you can cycle through Somerstown, which is almost entirely barred to cars, or if they are allowed, for some reason they avoid it. You may need a map the first time since the sign-posting is hit and miss, but you pop out just by the British Library, which is your gateway to central London. There's a special traffic light for you, which is a symbol of a bike. (There's one of these at the end of Wellington Street on the way to Waterloo bridge too. They are funky.)

2 Camden to the west
Take Gloucester Crescent and you will hit the Outer Circle of Regent's Park, which is the only bit you can cycle without getting harassed by a parkie. This is like a hub of the western entry point to central London.

3 The Greenway
Jack Thurston, who does a bike show on Resonance FM, recommends the Greenway, which runs along the northern outfall sewer pipe, from Victoria Park out to Beckton Alp and Barking Creek. The whole sewage network is a cyclist's playground: "There's a map of all the sewage outflow pipes. When they had the great stinks in London, they built these sewage pipes. Because shit has to flow downhill, they make terrific cycle routes. Some of them already have thoroughfares along them, like the one from Notting Hill to Marble Arch."

4 Oxford Street
Matt Seaton, the writer of G2's weekly cycling column, says: "Take any route at all to avoid this. You either get stuck in a canyon of double-decker buses or you run over a tourist." If you're going north to south, he says, stick to Wigmore Street for as long as you can, dropping down Orchard Street at Portman Square, feeding you into North Audley Street, which will in turn lead you round Grosvenor Square and pop you out in Park Lane by the cute Animals at War memorial ("They had no choice") and into Hyde Park.

5 Hyde Park
The park's broadwalk is a good way to avoid the fiendishly fast Park Lane, though Seaton says that at weekends the soap boxers get in the way. I suggested he set up a soap box to warn of the dangers of getting in the way of a cyclist on a cycle path.

6 South to east
On any journey to Tower bridge or farther east, from the south-west or south, you are actually better off dropping south and crossing Old Kent Road closer to Peckham, rather than tootling around all the monster roundabouts of Elephant and the Bricklayers. Even if you're coming from Clapham or Stockwell, get to the Walworth Road however you like, take Albany Road and duck straight over the A2, behind Tesco's, take a right up to Bermondsey, past that underwear bar with the blacked-out windows (the Fort), right again into Tower Bridge Road and there you are. Incredibly direct and quiet.

7 Woolwich ferry
Thurston reminds us: Woolwich ferry is free. And Greenwich foot tunnel is nice.

8 Southwark bridge
Easily the quietest and safest, given the choice between that, Waterloo and Blackfriars

9 The South Bank
Black Prince Road pops you out on the South Bank if you want to get away from the high-speed Kennington arterial roads. Watch out for dozy tourists.

10 Dulwich
If you want to do interval training, Dulwich Village into College Road into Fountain Road (this is really all one long road) is traffic-free in parts, goes through some pretty bits of park and, crucially, only has one traffic light after Dulwich Village, so you can have 10 minutes' unbroken uphill cycling.

... and five places where you'll need a strong lock:

1. Outside the White Cube, Hoxton Square

2. Liverpool Road, Islington, outside Sainsbury's

3. Kellett Road in Brixton

4. Brewer Street in Soho

5. Paddington station (in the bike-parking area)

Cycling is often perceived as a dangerous activity; part of the problem is that cycling on roads is often a less than pleasant activity because you can feel the potential for serious accidents. However, it is a shame because the risks of cycling are often exaggerated and there are of course many benefits

Some Basic Cycling Statistics

• The number of cyclists killed on British roads in 2007 was 136.
• The total number of people killed in road traffic accidents was  3,172 people.
• The number of people who died of heart disease in the UK was 70,000

Risk Decreases the More People Cycle.

Cities with a higher density (%) of people cycling have lower mortality rates. For example, in 1994, London had 19 fatal cycling accidents. In 2007, the number of cycle journeys had increased 91%, yet, fatalities fell to 16. This is a small sample, but, it suggests that as more people cycle, motorists adjust their behaviour to compensate for the increase in number of cyclists.

• In countries like the Netherlands, where cycling takes more than 30% of all journey, fatalities are a much smaller %.
• The UK sees less than half the cycling fatalities per 100,000 people than in Germany. However, Germans make five times as many journeys by bike as Britons.li>

Cycling vs Other Forms of Transport

I have seen various different data on the risk of cycling. But, this seems a comprehensive study about the relative dangers of different types of transport. Cycling is more dangerous than driving a car or going by bus. But, it is less dangerous than pedestrians.

Health Benefits of Cycling

Although cycling incurs a certain risk, it is definitely worth mentioning the advantage of cycling in improving fitness. Cycling helps to improve aerobic fitness and reduce obesity. This makes a significant contribution to reduce heart disease and other obesity related diseases. The number of deaths from heart disease in the UK is a staggering 70,000 a year. This easily dwarves the fatalities of cycling (126). Whilst a cycling accident makes a newsworthy story, a heart attack doesn’t. But, it is important to weigh up the benefits as well as the cost. Yet, in deciding whether to cycle or drive, most people tend to focus on the dangers.