Although I’m experienced getting around London on foot and on the Tube, yesterday was the first time since high school that I traveled around the city by bicycle.

I still have a hard time with the “Look Left” part of crossing the street here. So I was glad to follow a guide during a Fat Tire Bike Tour through the city. Especially when I was issued a baby blue bike named Luscious for my journey.

All went well and, even though it was blustery and rainy, we encountered plenty of other city cyclists along the way.  A lot of those folks were using one of the 6,000 public bikes stationed around the city as part of the bike-sharing program London launched this past July.

Dave Phillips, our Austin, Texas-born guide for the Fat Tire Bike Tour, is a big fan of this city-sponsored bike-sharing program. From his street-eye view, he says the program seems to be working out just fine. Especially since anyone with an annual membership gets to use the bikes for free if the check-out time is less than a half hour.

Brilliant!