Why I donated my bike to people at Calais refugee camp

Like 150 other cyclists I rode from London because I hoped it would make someone's life a little easier and to offer a small gesture that there are people who care

Critical Mass is not a conventionally political movement. In cities around the world, the monthly bicycle event sees cyclists - from London to New York and Sydney - convene in a regular place, on the last Friday of the month, and ride the streets of their city in the safety and camaraderie of a group.

With its mildly anarchic origins in the idea that cities should be designed around human beings rather than motor vehicles, and that those human beings have a right to free movement on the roads of their cities, perhaps I should not have been so surprised to learn London's August ride would see bicycles taken from the capital to Calais, where they would be donated to people at the refugee camp known as the Jungle.