Being half term, and with a little time on my hands, I have enrolled
in a bike maintenance course in Brixton. This invovles a longer
commute than I am used to.
I looked up a cycle only route from Lee Green to Brixton using TfL's
journey planner, and immediately discounted the suggested route as
being too slow using side roads. Instead I chose a less direct route
using major roads:
Lee Green to Lewisham (A20)
Lewisham to New Cross (A20)
New Cross to Peckham (A202)
Peckham to Camberwell (A202)
Camberwell to Brixton (Side roads & A23)
This would be a particularly unremarkable commute, except for one
fact... I was haulling a trailer with four children's bikes aboard in
urgent need of a service.
The A20 is a major trunk route into central London, it is wide and for
about half the length of the commute above it has bus lanes. Cycle
lanes were evident for parts, but with a wide trailer they were of no
use to me.
Soon after I set off I was overtaken by a Virgin Media van. I passed
this van in Lewisham, and was passed again by it shortly before New
Cross. We then passed each other several more times, me passing the
van in bus lanes while it was held up in traffic at lights, and it
passing me when the traffic was flowing more freely. At the point
where I turned off the A202 the van was nowhere to be seen - though I
suppose it may have reached its destination or turned off somewhere
between Peckham and Camberwell. I would prefer to believe that I was
faster than the van even with my load.
The commute was pleasant. I was rarely held up, found car drivers
polite and good mannered, and never had a problem moving from the bus
lanes to main lane to pass stopped busses.
Haulling such a load, a Rohloff hub is a boon. Approaching red lights
I was able to coast to a stop in a low gear, usually 3, for a steady
acceleration through the gears after the lights changed to green.
Hills are a slow effort, but fortunately there is nothing too long
between home and Brixton - the worst being the climb from the
Ravensbourne Valley in Lewisham to New Cross. I simply changed into
first gear and spun my legs all the way to the summit.
The six and a half miles took me 45 minutes.
My unladen return journey took me 30 minutes. I wasn't pushing myself
either way, though with the traffic and the lights, I don't suppose I
could have shaved much time off my return journey.
The course itself is excellent.
I learnt how to service and clean hubs, remove casettes, how to
replace wheels correctly, how to strip and service V-brakes, replace
rear brake cables and recycle the old rear brake cable as a front
brake cable. Day off tomorrow. Wednesday is servicing gears and
other types of brake. I'm not yet sure about Thursday and Friday, but
should be returning the older Raleigh bikes to schools and taking in
four Islabikes: a Beinn 20, a Beinn 24, a Beinn 26 and a Luath 700.