"Cycling in London is often weirdly competitive. For Tube strike days, it's worse"

The Doc wilts in the ferocity of the commuter games

- Michael Hutchinson

I rode across central London last week in the middle of a Tube strike. I've experienced this before, and it's always the same. On the one hand, there are cycling groups saying it's an opportunity to promote cycling. And on the other hand there is reality.

Cycling in London is often weirdly competitive. For Tube strike days, it's worse. On the Embankment, I saw a group of six riders on road bikes jostling for prime spot on the wheel of a Deliveroo rider on an illegal e-bike. The only things missing was Sirs Jason Kenny and Chris Hoy, but if they had been there, they'd have been swamped. Inexperience joins forces with rage and produces a level of sporting aggression that would make Marianne Vos politely ask if she could be excused.

I enjoy trying to look at it through the filter of real race formats. I think it can help explain what's going on. It's clear, for instance, that there's a points race in progress. There are 5, 3, 2 and 1 points available to the first four riders across the line at any set of traffic lights.

There's an extra tactical element that in some respects makes it even better than on the track, because as a rider you have the choice between sprinting for the line from 150 metres back, or letting the lights go red and just barging your way through the riders waiting so that you're at the very front when they change again.