Cycling through the City of London to work on a dark morning last week, I was overtaken by a man in a black coat with no helmet, no lights, and listening to music through headphones.
不久前的一天早晨，天阴沉沉的。我骑车穿过伦敦金融城去上班的时候，一名穿着黑色外套的男子骑车超过了我。他没有戴头盔，没有开车灯，戴着耳机在听音乐。
Idiot, I thought. As he disappeared into the underground parking of a large bank, I wondered: what sort of banker does a man like that make? Either he is boneheaded in his assessment of risk – or he wants to die. Both are unfortunate traits in someone who handles someone else’s money.
我心想，这个白痴。看着他消失在一家大型银行的地下停车场入口处，我不禁产生疑问：像这样的人会是个什么样的银行家？他要么是个低估风险的笨蛋，要么就是活得不耐烦了。但这两种特质，都不应该出现在一个专门管理他人钱财的人身上。
He got me thinking about the things we reveal about ourselves when we are on two wheels, and how useful that data could be to our bosses.
他让我思考起这样一个问题：我们骑自行车时会暴露出自身的哪些特点，而这些数据对我们的老板又有多大用处？
I’ve always fancied that as a group, cyclists make relatively good employees. All of us are vaguely fit. We have the wherewithal to be reliable and punctual. When the trains stop running as a result of a little wind – as they did in London last Monday – we still get to work on time. We are risk-takers and ever so slightly rebellious, which works quite well – especially in a job like journalism.
我总以为，骑车的人是相对不错的员工。我们都算得上健康，也有必要的工具让自己可靠和准时。如果火车因一点风而停运（正如伦敦不久前的情况），我们仍能准时上班。我们愿意冒险，有一点点叛逆——这相当有用，尤其是对记者这个工作而言。
Only 10 minutes on a London road shows that we aren’t a group at all. Some of us are fast, some slow. Some wear helmets, some don’t. Some break all the rules, some break none. If employers really want to know what prospective employees are like, they should forget psychometric testing and watch them ride a bike. Some cyclists may protest that they are aggressive in the saddle only to become pussycats at their desks, but I don’t agree: on a bike you are close to death and so become a more intense version of your true self.
但仅在伦敦的街道上骑了10分钟，我就发现，我们根本不能被归为同一类人。有些人骑得快，有些人骑得慢。有些人戴头盔，有些人不戴。有些人无视一切交通规则，有些人遵守所有交通规则。如果雇主真的想了解潜在的雇员是个什么样的人，他们就应该忘记心理测量测试，改为观察应聘者怎样骑车。有些骑车者或许会抗议说，正是因为他们骑车时霸气，他们在办公室里才更甘于俯首帖耳。但恕我不能苟同：人们在骑车时离死神很近，因此会更多地展现出真实的自我。
After I left the banker who didn’t get risk and proceeded to work, I saw three other cyclists showing traits that should have interested their HR departments. The first had his right trouser leg rolled up to reveal a meaty calf. Such resourcefulness in the absence of a clip impressed me: I’d hire him as a problem solver. The next was a man balancing, stationary on a “fixie” at the lights – no one likes working with a show-off.
目送那名银行家安然无恙地上班去以后，接下来我又看到三名骑车者，他们表现出来的特征应该引起他们公司人力资源部门的兴趣。第一个人把右边裤腿卷了起来，露出了肉乎乎的小腿肚。他在没有别针的情况下展现出来的机智让我印象深刻：我会雇佣他来解决问题。第二个人在红灯时没有下车，而是努力让他那辆单速自行车保持平衡——没人喜欢和爱炫耀的人一起工作。
And then there was a woman on a baby-pink Brompton going through a red light just by St Paul’s Cathedral forcing pedestrians to step out of her way. One of them yelled “Asshole” into her oblivious ears.
接下来是一名骑着浅粉色Brompton折叠自行车的女子。她在圣保罗大教堂(St Paul’s Cathedral)旁闯红灯，逼得行人纷纷避让。有名行人冲她喊“混蛋”，但她充耳不闻。
Clearly, it is the red light that is the richest point for data gathering. This woman comprehensively failed the job test, while other red-light skippers – who do so without inconveniencing anyone – possibly pass. Red lights also sort out leaders from followers. When there is a big group of bikes together at a light, it takes a particular sort of cyclist to break the consensus and ride off, but once he has done that, others follow, leaving just one or two behind. I would hire these red-light refuseniks at once – but only for jobs in audit or compliance.
显然，红灯前能收集到最丰富的数据。这名女子的工作测试根本不及格，而其他一些在没有妨碍他人的情况下闯红灯者，还有一点可能通过测试。红灯还能区分出领导者和追随者。当有一大群人停在红灯前时，只有某种类型的骑车者才能打破一致等待的局面、率先闯红灯，但一旦他闯红灯，其他人就会效仿，只留下一两个人待在原地不动。我会立刻聘用这些拒绝闯红灯的人，但仅限于审计或合规工作。
The two-wheel test also weeds out those who are not team players. All cyclists view cars, lorries and buses as natural enemies, but the cyclist who is hostile to his own kind, and who squeezes past others on the inside is suitable only for solitary working.
自行车测试还能区分出那些没有团队精神的人。所有骑车者都把汽车、卡车和公交车当作天敌，但有些骑车者却敌视其他骑车者，在自行车流中使劲往前挤，这些人只适合单独工作。
Not only does cycling show how competitive someone is, it shows how men feel about women being faster than them. On the (increasingly rare) occasions when I overtake a man on a bike, he almost always overtakes me back at once, just to make the point.
骑车不仅能显示出一个人有多好强，还能显示出男性在被女性超越时的感受。我超过一名男性骑车者的时候（这种时候越来越少），他几乎总会立刻反超我。
It is not just the behaviour on the bike, it is the bike itself. The person with the carbon racer wants to impress. The person on the hybrid just wants to get the job done. The not terribly fit man in Lycra is all talk, no trousers. The person who wears no helmet or reflectors is mad, but so too is the person who has so many lights and mirrors on the bike that there is hardly room for a person on it too.
值得注意的不仅是骑车者的行为，还有自行车本身。骑碳钢赛车的人喜欢哗众取宠。骑着多功能自行车的人只想把活儿干完。身材一般、却穿着莱卡(Lycra)紧身运动衣的人，只会夸夸其谈，没有实际行动。不戴头盔或者不装反光镜的人是疯子，而装太多车灯和反光镜、甚至连坐的地方都快没有了的人，也是疯子。
To check my theory about the connection between personality and cycling style, I have just conducted a little control test. A reader had been offering for a while to take me for a ride on his tandem, and so last week I climbed on the back and was forced to cycle as him – which turned out to be safely, confidently and courteously. I definitely would have hired him. And yet I was terrified: to be on a bike without being me felt all wrong.
为了检验我这个“性格与骑车风格息息相关”的理论，我刚刚做了一个小小的受控实验。一名读者一直邀请我同骑他的双人自行车出去兜风，所以上个月底，我就坐在了这辆自行车的后面，被迫迁就他的骑车风格。事实证明，我们骑得安全、安心并且谦谦有礼。我当然会雇佣他这样的人。但我还是被吓着了：按照别人的风格骑车感觉完全不对劲。
So what does cycling as me show? That I like being in control. That I’m cavalier about some rules and fairly selfish, but try not to be flagrantly obnoxious. I wear a helmet, a nasty fluorescent tabard and high heels – but to prevent any more pairs being destroyed by the pedals I have invented a heel condom made out of an old inner tube. Which shows I can be creative – but only when really desperate.
那么我的骑车风格说明了些什么？首先，说明我喜欢掌握控制权。其次，说明我不把某些规则放在心上，自私程度中等，但我努力避免明目张胆地干讨人嫌的事情。我戴头盔，穿显眼的荧光马甲和高跟鞋，但为了防止我的更多双高跟鞋被自行车踏板毁掉，我用内胎皮做了只鞋跟保护套。这说明我有潜力变得富有创意，但这种潜力只有在实在被逼无奈时才会发挥出来。