My brother offered a me a glimpse of I might be in a year, and I don't mean his ludicrous haircut.

I saw him and a his four inch high bouffant in Brixton on Saturday.

He started cycling to work around a year and a half ago on a Specialised Sirrus, ( www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=70093 ) a popular commuter bike, probably a bit better than my Giant FCR3.

Now he also has a Felt 80 ( www.feltracing.com/06/06_bikes/f80/geo.html ) with Shimano 105 gears that he appears to love more than our mother.

He has also got good enough, and confident, to take part in his club ride on Saturday with a cycling club. ( www.dulwichparagon.com/ ) I hope I'm in a similar position in a year.

Commuting is good fun and I'm gettng fit but I'm already getting a bit carried away and dreaming of better bikes and faster rides.

Saying that, my last sight of my brother, his enormous head of hair and his bike was not so professional.

He was cycling past me, erm, possibly over the drink/drive limit, at 1am on Sunday, with no rear light, on his way to open up his house.

I hoped I'm still more sensible than that in a year's time.

On a serious note, it was a pleasure to see how many people cycled in London.And a pleasure to see the cycling facilities - bike stands, cycle lanes (love 'em or loathe 'em) and cycling shops.One thing occured to me though - the traffic was still appalling.I don't think people were cycling or taking the tube out of choice. I'm sure they were just driven to it by the congesiton level.I wonder if the same will be true here.No matter what 'soft' measures you put in place, most people will mostly use cars until the roads are full.