
‘I haven’t looked back’: the women who discovered cycling in lockdown I The Guardian
Jessica Murray
Fiona Forster had never felt comfortable cycling on the busy roads near her home in St Albans, but when the cars disappeared during lockdown last year it opened up a whole new world.
“I would never have gone out in the traffic levels like they are now. I was too worried that I’d get knocked off by a car or someone would drive past me too quickly, I just never had the confidence,” said the 40-year-old who is self-employed. “But I never saw a car probably for most of April.”
She started cycling longer distances, taken part in a 100km sportive, and over a year later she continues to cycle twice a week, despite traffic levels going back up. “I don’t feel vulnerable now on the road where as I would have before,” she said. “And without the lockdown, I don’t think I would ever have done it.”