their eyes wide open. The test of whether cycling has really taken off in a city is who does it. In New York, it is urban warriors, young men usually, who zip aggressively between lanes. In London, it's a bit of that, but also, I suspect, eco-zealots who are asserting their credentials -- though the Boris bike scheme may be taking it more mainstream. In Berlin, it is the people. Old ladies cycle in stately and elegant fashion, old men pedal so slowly that it's a wonder the bike doesn't fall over. Young mothers tow toddlers in trailers -- I followed one on a crisp autumn morning down Bernauerstrasse. The baby couldn't have been much more than a year old. Every time we all stopped at a red light, the infant in the trailer would whine a little. The mother would turn and comfort the baby who would then stop crying as the bike and the buggy took off smoothly again. The rise of the bike follows a decision by the city senate in 2005 to promote it. So Berlin now has about 400 miles, or 600km, of bike lane. Woe betide any tourist who strays from the walking bit of the pavement to the red cycling bit. "What you really need to get people like me on their bikes is a general atmosphere of safety and tolerance of cyclists. " The city is also integrating bikes into the whole transport system -- you can take a bike on a