“Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia, sometimes following beside the great high roads, but oftener taking their own more agreeable line amidst woods and crops and pastures; and there will be a wide variety of footpaths and minor ways. There will be many footpaths in Utopia.”

Chapter Two of A Modern Utopia,
HG Wells, 1905

If this is the case, what on earth is Leith Walk over a century later? It’s a cycling free-for-all, that’s what it is, a cornucopia of wheeled vehicles careering in all directions. Stuff Utopia, and red lights, let’s GO! On the Voi bikes, sometimes known as aVoid bikes…

You can tell a Leither as they look in every possible direction before crossing a road. You never know when a vehicle will suddenly materialise in front of you. The increase in bike traffic in Leith is significant: 67,572 cycle journeys recorded on Leith Walk in the month of May, a 25% increase on May 2025. Bikes officially outnumber cars on many commuting mornings. We need that tipping point, that critical mass of more bikes than cars, to reverse ‘motonormativity’. According to Wikipedia, motornormativity (or windshield bias, car blindness, or, pejoratively, car brain) is an unconscious cognitive bias in which the social norms of private car ownership and use, and their societal effects are assumed to be natural, universal, inevitable, and non-negotiable.

I built Griffen Fitness on the back of a bike, cycling around client’s homes and workplaces full-time from 2005 to 2010. Through two ‘big freezes’, back when we had ice and snow. Everyday felt like an adventure and there weren’t that many cyclists back then. Many of us knew each other from familiar routes. A “hello” and wry weather observation at traffic lights the most interaction we had.

Which is why Spokes is so valuable, an Edinburgh-based cycle charity that champions biking and wheeling, publishing the BEST cycling maps of the Lothians, available from selected bike shops. In addition, Spokes are the champion of Edinburgh cyclists, offering representation and information for anyone with wheels www.spokes.org.uk.

Additionally, Edi: Bike is a useful newsletter that rolls into my inbox every Monday morning. It’s got all the latest cycling events and news, plus useful stuff like diversions and consultations. Let’s not talk about the closed bridge to St Mark’s park – the bridge has degraded noticeably since the pandemic, perhaps from the weight of extra e-bikes zipping across it. I’m not a structural engineer, but that’s my personal theory. E-bikes are heavy, man www.edi.bike.

There are many excellent charities in Leith, and an outstanding organisation is Bikes for Refugees (Scotland). They’re a charity that literally offers freedom, helping support resettlement of new Scots through provision of free bikes – this offers independence and helps folk get to job interviews, meet new people and enjoy exercise to boot www.bikesforrefugees.scot.

Critical Mass is both a global phenomenon and also a local group bike ride – at the end of each month, and in 300 cities globally, a volunteer-run mass ride takes place with the simple message “We’re not blocking the traffic. We are the traffic.” edinburghcriticalmass.wordpress.com.

Cycling is freedom in so many ways. No need to worry about parking or fuel prices, but do check the weather forecast first as the wind speed and direction can make an easy ride gruelling. The thing about cycling is that it gives you freedom to go wherever you like. So like shoals of fish, bikes zip up and down the cycle lanes, footpath and roads, in all directions, all at once. Exercise wise cycling is excellent for leg and core strength, balance and proprioception. It’s a mood boost and you get to see the sights. Cycling is excellent for shopping too, just fit panniers to your bike and load up with groceries. You’ll find yourself venturing to more new places on two wheels. And everything is closer as you don’t have a windscreen between you and the world. Immersivelike.

One of my favourite cycling adventures is up Easter Road and over Abbeyhill to Holyrood Park, hillclimb up Queens Drive, past the lochs and down the other side to Innocent Railway tunnel. Keep going downhill on the path, past Craigmillar and Niddrie, all the way to near Fort Kinnaird. Then it’s over the hill down to Porty prom. Enjoy a cuppa beside the sea, then a perambulation back to Leith beside the sea at Seafield and the shared use path on Seafield Road.

The cycling routes in Edinburgh are slowly expanding – paths or not, cyclists will always find ‘desire lines’ (most direct route), just look at the paths worn in the grass in Pilrig Park. If you find yourself taking a desire line, remember to use your bell. It’s actually a polite thing to do, rather than sneaking up on folk.

I have never driven a car. Cars are for other people. I have always been, and always will be….

A cyclist.

bluesky: @tracygriffen

IRL@Griffen Fitness, 3 Balfour Street