Sport & Fitness

The BMXer
Billy Prendergast, 21
I’ve been riding for eight years. People I knew were doing it, and I’d seen it on telly a few times. Seeing BMX videos really got me into it. We used to build dirt jumps in parks.

There are about six or seven disciplines under the general heading of BMXing. Some people are into half of them, others are into all. Out of the city, a lot of kids just ride dirt jumps; there aren’t as many interesting rides. Flatland is where you do interesting tricks on the floor. Feature continues

I do street riding, so I’ll meet up with friends in central London and find hand rails that run along stairs and ledges, or go to housing estates which are full of banks on the side of buildings and weird architecture. Stuff that’s not meant to be ridden on by bicycles. I ride at Brixton at least three or four times a week, and do lots of riding in skate parks: ramp riding, basically.

I often go to the South Bank, which is known as a skater spot. Along the river generally there are some good places. Wandsworth Roundabout, for example – there are lots of banks in the middle of it. It’s been skated on since the ’80s.

It’s seems like more and more people are getting into BMXing. It’s getting more coverage on telly. It’s definitely growing, and BMX racing will be an Olympic sport in 2008. I’m not quite at that level, though. I haven’t ridden in many competitions: I’m a bit shy. My friends and I film stuff; that’s kind of what we do.

Cycling in London is pretty hectic. You have to be on the ball. If I go into the city, it’s usually at night. It’s quieter, there are fewer security guards. At night, no one’s walking up and down the South Bank, so it’s easier to get about. I love the freedom of having a bike in London. Whizzing around, not relying on anything.

Des Kay in Southwark Park

The campaigner
Des Kay, 55
I love cycling in London: you see the city so much better – and the best thing is when you ride along past a huge traffic jam. But I do understand why other people don’t. It’s scary. This is part of what Critical Mass is about – reclaiming the streets for cyclists. It’s a celebratory party for cycling, but people come with all sorts of agendas, from saving the environment to getting fit to taking revenge on the motorists! I’ve been doing it for 12 years, and there are 350 cities taking part now, and over 2,000 of us who ride in London. When the Chief Inspector told us it might be illegal last year, our numbers were huge, with people wanting to show their support. We recently won the right to continue to do it.

Our slogan is, ‘We aren’t blocking traffic – we are traffic!’, because bikes really are part of the normal traffic, and should be treated as such. Most car journeys are for less than two miles. That’s a ten-minute bike ride. The oddest thing to me is when people drive to a gym and then get on an exercise bike – that’s madness, isn’t it? Des Kay’s charity is www.savetheworldclub.org. Critical Mass is a group of cyclists who meet on the last Friday of every month near Waterloo Bridge to cycle the streets of London.