Web editor David Chana cycled in this morning, and I stood by the gates and clapped him in.

He came more than 10 miles from St Helens in around an hour and that included a short diversion when he got lost.

He emailed me to say: "Thank you for inspiring me to bike in. It was awesome."

I don't think he will keep it up in the future.

It's a long way to go on mostly 60mph roads and he only has an old mountain bike to use.

But the key point is he really enjoyed his first ride.

I did too, despite the inevitable pain and mishaps.

How many people can say they felt exhilirated the first time they drove their commute?