IN the words of that great Swindon band, XTC, I’m bugged!

But it’s not as creepy-crawly as you might think.

I was contacted by a nice lady called Becky who said she had read here that I am a keen cyclist, and could I take part in a survey organised by the Swindon Cycle Campaign, which is also known as BUG.

As BUG stands for ‘Bike User Group’, and I am a bike user, I gave the survey my twopenneth.

In fact, the people they really need to hear from are those who are would-be regular cyclists, but haven’t got round to it, more than the converted, like me.

So if that’s you, type ‘Swindon cycle survey’ into Google and help them out.

When I took the survey, I found myself struggling to say much that was critical of the Swindon cycling experience, and wondering why there should be a ‘campaign’.

We are well served by cycle paths and, while cycling around town, like anything, is not perfect, it is generally quite safe and often a pleasure, especially in west and north Swindon.

That’s as long as you keep your eyes open for the minority of people who haven’t given a single thought to the fact that when they are walking their dog they might also have to share the path with me.

They are oblivious to the dangers this might pose to fast-moving cyclists, themselves and - most catastrophically - to their unsupervised dogs.

While you might also get the impression that motorists and cyclists are somewhat at odds with each other, my experience (albeit from the limited time I venture on to busy roads) is the overwhelming majority of Swindon drivers give cyclists enough room and consideration to keep us safer than you might imagine. So thanks.

So here’s the problem: If Swindon is so conducive to cycling - and I haven’t even touched on it being the perfect antidote to the relentless traffic jams, roadworks and parking difficulties yet, nor the obvious health benefits - then why aren’t more people doing it?

I suppose this is ultimately the question the aforementioned survey is asking.

I often cycle from home into town, which is a distance of exactly 5km and takes me a quarter of an hour, and I often do it without seeing even a single cyclist coming the other way.

I can only assume the reluctance of would-be cyclists has something to do with the main problem with Swindon as I see it, which is: Not only do we do bad things badly, but we even do the good things badly.

I am talking about those things that Swindon really has going for it, but which we don’t make enough of.

Like Swindon’s heritage, an asset that councillors treat as if it were a liability, and our wonderful parks and green spaces, such as Lydiard, which some councillors saw as a millstone that they would rather not have the bother of dealing with.

Both could not only be harnessed for the greater benefit of the town, but also to boost Swindon’s flagging image.

The same goes for cycling.

With such a good cycling infrastructure and good reasons to switch to cycling from driving, Swindon could easily be promoted as a cycling town, just as Bristol has been able to promote itself, using grants from central government, as a ‘cycling city’.

Then more of you might realise what you are missing.

Think about it. And in the meantime, if anybody wants me, I’ll either be on my bike or watching the Tour de France.