cycling in London, help required

I'm temporarily working in London until the end of September. I've been here for a few weeks and have yet to bring my bike down with me as I've listened to too many horror stories about cycling down here. I now intended to have it brought down for me.

The local central London ctc group meet on Sundays and travel out by train to do an all day ride. As I'm only down here for a few months I want to do all of the tourist things as well so an early morning ride is what I want (7ish for about 3-4 hours).

I'm quite prepared to cycle for about an hour quite early to get to some quiet, relatively traffic free lanes/roads.

I'm currently staying in Pimlico central London.

Can anyone suggest a route or two that I could take to get me out of central London (up to an hour) to get me to some quiet lanes/roads.

Michael Anderson

 

"anderson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm temporarily working in London until the end of September. I've been here for a few weeks and
> have yet to bring my bike down with me as I've listened to too many horror stories about cycling
> down here. I now intended to have it brought down for me.
>
> The local central London ctc group meet on Sundays and travel out by train to do an all day ride.
> As I'm only down here for a few months I want to do all of the tourist things as well so an early
> morning ride is what I want (7ish for about 3-4 hours).
>
> I'm quite prepared to cycle for about an hour quite early to get to some quiet, relatively traffic
> free lanes/roads.
>
> I'm currently staying in Pimlico central London.
>
> Can anyone suggest a route or two that I could take to get me out of central London (up to an
> hour) to get me to some quiet lanes/roads.
>

Why not jump on a train? Cycle around Epsom Downs or around Dorking or Guildford ...

Dangerous roads occur everywhere, and I don't think London is more dangerous than anywhere else. You
just have to adjust your senses to the surroundings your in.

 

anderson wrote:

> Can anyone suggest a route or two that I could take to get me out of central London (up to an
> hour) to get me to some quiet lanes/roads.

fairly easy reach of the centre of town.

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

 

> within fairly easy reach of the centre of town.

I second that, and also the neighbouring county of Hertfordshire as well. I found some wonderfully
rural roads in Herts on Sunday - not that many miles out of London. I might try and make some more
specific suggestions later.

~PB

 

Pete Biggs <pLime{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc> wrote in message
news:bavv[email protected]...

> > within fairly easy reach of the centre of town.
>
> I second that, and also the neighbouring county of Hertfordshire as well. I found some wonderfully
> rural roads in Herts on Sunday - not that many miles out of London. I might try and make some more
> specific suggestions later.
>
> ~PB
>
>

Can I third it? If you can get to the Castle PH in Woodford for 9am Sunday mornings you are more
than welcome to join our club ride that heads out through Epping towards Harlow or
Hertfordshire...usually about a 100k ride. Alternatively there is a CTC group that meet 100 metres
away at the same time. If you need any info re this give me a shout.

--
Mark
____________________________
Practice does not make perfect... Perfect practice makes perfect

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"anderson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm temporarily working in London until the end of September. I've been here for a few weeks and
> have yet to bring my bike down with me as I've listened to too many horror stories about cycling
> down here. I now intended to have it brought down for me.

Cycling is an _excellent_ way of seeing the sights of London. I've lived here for years and still
explore and find new things in Central London. I also think cycling in Central London is very safe
- traffic is quite slow, the main danger is pavement lemmings. Then outside of Central London
there's a big doughnut of connurbation which IMO is largely unrewarding to cycle, which, as other
posters have said, you can skip in no time by getting on a train to some great places.

Dransfield

 

"elyob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> "anderson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
<snip>
> > Can anyone suggest a route or two that I could take to get me out of central London (up to an
> > hour) to get me to some quiet lanes/roads.
> >
>
> Why not jump on a train? Cycle around Epsom Downs or around Dorking or Guildford ...

At 7am on a weekend, there won't be much traffic, so just head out on the main roads. From Pimlico,
the best way to go is South. If you like hills, then the North Downs are on the edge of London.
Alternatively, if you like it flatter, then South from the South side of the North Downs is also
very nice. If you stick to unclassifed roads (yellow on OS maps, maybe white on a road map) then
there will be very little traffic - the B roads take most of it. If you fancy the train, then there
are lots of stations on the North and South side of the North Downs which are serverd direct from
Victoria, which is very close to you. Stations I use include Caterham, Woldingham, Oxted, Coulsdon.

 

anderson wrote:
> Originally posted by Dave Larrington anderson wrote:
>
>> Can anyone suggest a route or two that I could take to get me out of central London (up to an
>> hour) to get me to some quiet lanes/roads.
>
> fairly easy reach of the centre of town.

> ================================
> Dave, I didn't understand what you meant.
>
> Michael Anderson.

Strange. Some of the post has clearly been snarfed by the quasi-mythical Line Eater. It came out OK
on my news service thingy. Anyway, what I *actually* writted was:

fairly easy reach of the centre of town.

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

 

> Can anyone suggest a route or two that I could take to get me out of central London (up to an
> hour) to get me to some quiet lanes/roads.
>
I hope you have collected all the the free maps of quiet routes. It takes 19 maps to cover all of
London, but you will find your local map at tube stations, libraries etc. You can get them by phone
by calling the bus map number, 020-8222-1234.

There's also a single map covering the whole London bike route network. Get it at your library.
However you may find the officials' ideas of optimum routes not the same as yours.

There are a couple of guide books, both with a number of radial routes to get you out of town in any
direction. Both are out of print, but you might be able to reserve a copy from a library. They are,
Arnold Robinson, "Cycling in London and the Home Counties", Stone Industrial Publications, and John
Franklin ed. "The Bart's/CTC Guide to Cycling in London", 1981. The books are old, but the routes
still generally good.

John Franklin is the same John Franklin who wrote "Cyclecraft", which ought to be your bible if you
are riding round London.

Actually, I like just using the Philip's Navigator "London and M25" map. The best bike routes are
those designed by the Turnpike Commissioners for stage coaches, back in about 1800. Those routes are
direct, graded for horse drawn traffic, go to lots of interesting destinations, and the faster
traffic has usually been diverted to a 1930s bypass. With luck, they even still have their
mileposts, to calibrate your bike computer, but the drinking fountains to refill your waterbottle
alas are gone.

Jeremy Parker

 

Thus spake Jeremy Parker <[email protected]>

> >
> > Can anyone suggest a route or two that I could take to get me out of central London (up to an
> > hour) to get me to some quiet lanes/roads.
> >
> I hope you have collected all the the free maps of quiet routes. It takes 19 maps to cover all of
> London, but you will find your local map at tube stations, libraries etc. You can get them by
> phone by calling the bus map number, 020-8222-1234.

> There's also a single map covering the whole London bike route network. Get it at your library.
> However you may find the officials' ideas of optimum routes not the same as yours.

> There are a couple of guide books, both with a number of radial routes to get you out of town in
> any direction. Both are out of print, but you might be able to reserve a copy from a library. They
> are, Arnold Robinson, "Cycling in London and the Home Counties", Stone Industrial Publications,
> and John Franklin ed. "The Bart's/CTC Guide to Cycling in London", 1981. The books are old, but
> the routes still generally good.

> John Franklin is the same John Franklin who wrote "Cyclecraft", which ought to be your bible if
> you are riding round London.

> Actually, I like just using the Philip's Navigator "London and M25" map. The best bike routes are
> those designed by the Turnpike Commissioners for stage coaches, back in about 1800. Those routes
> are direct, graded for horse drawn traffic, go to lots of interesting destinations, and the faster
> traffic has usually been diverted to a 1930s bypass. With luck, they even still have their
> mileposts, to calibrate your bike computer, but the drinking fountains to refill your waterbottle
> alas are gone.

There's also the excellent (if flawed) 'Rough Guide to Cycling in London' that TfL & LCC are
distributing. (I got one at the Barnet Cyclists' meeting last night. Shame you had another
engagement, Jeremy


--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected] Edgware.

 

On Thu, 29 May 2003 10:59:55 +0100, Dave Larrington wrote:

> anderson wrote:
>> Originally posted by Dave Larrington anderson wrote:
>>
>>> Can anyone suggest a route or two that I could take to get me out of central London (up to an
>>> hour) to get me to some quiet lanes/roads.
>>
>> fairly easy reach of the centre of town.

You could do worse that look at the London Cycling Campaign events page:
http://www.lcc.org.uk/news/events2.asp

Find a ride you fancy, and just turn up!

 

I spoke to a couple of people recently and they suggested Richmond Park on a Saturday morning.

I duly turned up and by the time they cyclists were ready for the off they were organised into 4 groups. I joined in with the "slow" group for 3 laps of the park. I was expecting a touring sort of pace but it was much quicker.

On the final lap as the pace increased due to lots of 'through and off' (i think that's what they called it), we were doing between 17 and 23 mph. I managed to stay with the pace but could not contest the inevitable sprint.

On the whole all the people were dead friendly and I will definately be back.


Michael Anderson.