thomas
the tank engine
- Location
- Woking/Norwich
Testing it in the weekend is a good idea...or just doing it when it doesn't matter how long it'll take. It's a good way to learn the route, get an idea how long it'll take...and a good excuse for a ride 
Advice for a potential London commuter
- Thread starter adampom
- Start date
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Hi all... Kind of forgot about getting back on here (although have been for a quite a few rides so I'm getting into it more and more).
A guy at work does 9 miles in 45 minutes and he isn't overly fit. I've spent the last couple of weeks concentrating on my 'cycling muscles' as opposed to basically running like usual, which made my ride on Sunday a lot easier.
An hour and half would be too long as a long term prospect, and when you put it in context of miles per hour, an hour seems more than doable, which is great!
I'm going to buy a bike in the next couple of weeks as I've just been using a friends very cheap mountain bike, but I'm thinking I'll purchase a hybrid on a ride to work scheme.
Thanks for all the advice and more words of wisdom are obviously welcome and appreciated!
A guy at work does 9 miles in 45 minutes and he isn't overly fit. I've spent the last couple of weeks concentrating on my 'cycling muscles' as opposed to basically running like usual, which made my ride on Sunday a lot easier.
An hour and half would be too long as a long term prospect, and when you put it in context of miles per hour, an hour seems more than doable, which is great!
I'm going to buy a bike in the next couple of weeks as I've just been using a friends very cheap mountain bike, but I'm thinking I'll purchase a hybrid on a ride to work scheme.
Thanks for all the advice and more words of wisdom are obviously welcome and appreciated!
Jeremy Parker
New Member
Hills make a difference, and the top of Hampstead Heath is about as high as you can get in London. One hundred feet of elevation gain is about equal to one extra mile, and downhills don't compensate for uphills.
Furthermore the bike paths on Hampstead Heath have an 8 mph speed limit, even downhill, and the parks people have been known to check cyclists with radar.
Jeremy Parker
Furthermore the bike paths on Hampstead Heath have an 8 mph speed limit, even downhill, and the parks people have been known to check cyclists with radar.
Jeremy Parker
Lozatron
Well-Known Member
Hi - I started commuting in by bike after not having ridden seriously since the age of 13 - some 20 odd years ago - from Ealing to the city (12 and a bit miles) on a pretty clunky hybrid bike. I was doing 1 hour - 1 hr 5 mins quite quickly - and I'm far from fit - so I don't think it would be a big problem.
Completely agree about sticking to main roads - you can go faster and I tend to feel safer when I'm moving with the traffic - in little back roads people can jump out on you and it's harder to have a sense of how fast the other guys are going when you're stop-starting.
And most importantly - have fun! Cycling in london is fun!
Completely agree about sticking to main roads - you can go faster and I tend to feel safer when I'm moving with the traffic - in little back roads people can jump out on you and it's harder to have a sense of how fast the other guys are going when you're stop-starting.
And most importantly - have fun! Cycling in london is fun!
Twanger
Über Member
- Location
- Crystal Palace, London
What I have seen over the past couple of weeks is that knowing the route and the intersections in particular probably adds 4-5 mph to your average speed, however fit you are. Still cycling down Brixton Road, still getting passed by bikes going half my speed...they more than make up at the lights and junctions what they lose on the straight.
scouserinlondon
Senior Member
- Location
- streatham, London
I too am a very new london commuter and haven't ridden a bike since my paper round circa 1992.
I've done the Streatham to Waterloo run about 20 times so far.
My learnings to date are:-
Find a route on quieter roads while you get used to it, the A23 by Streatham Ice Rink to Streatham Hill is effing scary so I've worked out a route via Clapham north.
Bus lanes are your friend
Practise cycling in a car park or something, looking behind you shouldn't result in veering into traffic.
Get a decent lock, and leave it at work, get a smaller one for buying your shopping on the way homw
Don't play with the bigger boys. People do crazy things on bikes, don't follow them.
Be VVV careful jumping red lights, in 20 attempts I've seen a couple of people come unstuck.
If you can't pull out to change lane because of traffic, don't stress, just get off and cross the road as a ped!
I've done the Streatham to Waterloo run about 20 times so far.
My learnings to date are:-
Find a route on quieter roads while you get used to it, the A23 by Streatham Ice Rink to Streatham Hill is effing scary so I've worked out a route via Clapham north.
Bus lanes are your friend
Practise cycling in a car park or something, looking behind you shouldn't result in veering into traffic.
Get a decent lock, and leave it at work, get a smaller one for buying your shopping on the way homw
Don't play with the bigger boys. People do crazy things on bikes, don't follow them.
Be VVV careful jumping red lights, in 20 attempts I've seen a couple of people come unstuck.
If you can't pull out to change lane because of traffic, don't stress, just get off and cross the road as a ped!
