As a cyclist, familiar with riding from Paddington to an office, the comparative times are of great interest. I cycled ten miles from Paddington due north on th

As a cyclist, familiar with riding from Paddington to an office, the comparative times are of great interest. I cycled ten miles from Paddington due north on the A5 Roman Road. The bicycle, naturally aspirated with no motor nonsense, was competitive going north, it took me to my destination quicker and more reliably. I just went into Google Maps and checked what the ride time would be going to Whitechapel. The bicycle would get there in 38 minutes, which is a lot more than the 16 minutes that Google says the tube would take. But would I leave the bike at home and take the tube? Well, no! It takes five minutes to get from the train to the platform, to wait for an underground train, which will be packed. At the other end, it will take me five minutes to get from the tube station to a nearby office. Then there is the need not to be late, so an added ten minutes would be needed - no rocking up at work at 8.59, I need that to be 8.50. Even though the journey from platform to platform might be 13 minutes, it is going to be half an hour. Now the 38 minutes of cycling time looks pretty good. Plus, once I have aced the route, I will cut that down to 30 minutes, with no reason excluding earthquakes or asteroid strikes to be delayed - bicycles always find a way and the timing is reliable. Tube trains mysteriously stop in tunnels to dwell there randomly, possibly even broken down. Then there is the cost. I have no idea what tube journeys cost nowadays, but say it was £4 or £20 expenditure a week to take the tube. Small change but there is opportunity cost with that - the bicycle is a mobile gym, and an hour a day of cycling at speed due to not wanting to be late would mean that I would not have to do stupid things such as pointlessly lifting weights in a gym so as to conform to society's workout expectations. So, how much does the gym cost? That would be ten hours a week, getting there, lifting objects pointlessly and poncing about having a shower. Oh yes, it might cost £5 to £10 too. By riding I would also be freeing a seat for the 70% of the population that are obese and effectively disabled as far as cycling is concerned. I would also be another cyclist on the road, therefore making it safer for others to cycle due to the safety in numbers effect. My eye health would be better too. If you have to look to the next set of lights and also the road in front of you or behind you, then that exercises the eye muscles - gyms don't do that and being in tin boxes and tunnels does not help with eye health either. There is also a physical buzz to cycling that you don't get from marching around tube stations. Hence, although the tube train sounds really good and sounds really fast, even with the lengthy dwell times, the bicycle is the far better option, just so long as you are not part of the 70% obese. Furthermore, the hour of sprinting across town with pedals getting actually pushed on, would mean that I would have no danger of getting obese. Plus I would never have to waste my life in those dark satanic mills known as gyms. Life hack number one for London - get a bike and ditch the tube.