Prudential Ride 100 prep.

[ginormousgiant]

Hello all
Some advice please.
I am travelling from Belfast into Heathrow to attend a wedding in Maidenhead and then travel back to Tower Bridge area 2 days before taking part in the Prudential Ride 100 bike ride.
Any advice please on best way to travel (2 people, one large suitcase and one Bike Box Alan)?
I am unfamiliar with London area, trains, buses etc so any advice appreciated.
Thanks

 

[S-Express]

Can you not hire a car?

 

[ginormousgiant]

Don't really want to have a car if I could at all avoid it.

 

[S-Express]

Don't really want to have a car if I could at all avoid it.

Car hire is the obvious choice. Anything else involves lugging a large suitcase and a bikebox around on public transport. In London. During the summer. When it's full of tourists.

 

[Deleted member 35268]

Maidenhead is on the main line into Paddington, be silly not to just hop on the train.

Then spoil yourself and get a Taxi across to Tower Bridge.

 

[S-Express]

Is it a straight choice between that and driving a car around London? During the summer? When it's full of tourists? What happened to coming out of the station and getting a taxi? The OP is asking for practical help with a journey in an unfamiliar city.

Except if you drive, you won't need to cross central London in order to get to Hackney/QE park. The obvious practical choice is going to be a hire car.

 

[srw]

Don't drive. Driving in London is a nightmare and parking for two days stupidly expensive.

You have two people and two bits of luggage. Time it outside rush hour, take one bit of luggage each, get a train from Maidenhead to Paddington and the circle line to Tower Hill.

 

[S-Express]

Driving in London is a nightmare and parking for two days stupidly expensive.

Parking in one of the nominated event car parks will be between £12-20 for the day, depending on which one he uses.

 

[ginormousgiant]

Really don't want to drive/park in London.
Need two bits of advice if poss.

1. Journey from Heathrow to Maidenhead possibly by train but bike box alan is very bulky and I doubt in standard taxi would carry so looking for easiest alternative.
2. Journey back to Tower Bridge area for 3 days and then back to Heathrow.

What concerns me is the practicalities of lugging a large bike box onto/off trains tubes etc.
I'm sure there will be a way but like I said London is very unfamiliar to me.

Thanks

 

[S-Express]

Really don't want to drive/park in London.

Really don't see why not. Lots of people do it every day. It's not like you're gonna be driving through Kings Cross/Oxford St/Piccadilly Circus/etc - you can use the M25 to come into QE Park from the south east and avoid all the central London traffic.

 

[ginormousgiant]

I think you misunderstand.
I want to travel from Maidenhead to a Tower Bridge Hotel on the Friday then I will cycle to the event start two days later.
After the event I shall cycle cack to hotel and next day travel from Tower Bridge back to Heathrow.
So to have a car would mean some unfamiliar driving for me as well as just parking up for nearly 3 days

 

[S-Express]

I think you misunderstand.
I want to travel from Maidenhead to a Tower Bridge Hotel on the Friday then I will cycle to the event start two days later.
After the event I shall cycle cack to hotel and next day travel from Tower Bridge back to Heathrow.
So to have a car would mean some unfamiliar driving for me as well as just parking up for nearly 3 days

You don't need to hire for the entire period - just for when you need to make the journeys. Most mainstream hire companies will collect from wherever you leave it.

 

[smutchin]

Lots of people do it every day.

Isn't that part of the problem?

 

[Globalti]

We faced a similar problem when we went to that London with my dhb bike box for the Ride 100. In the end we took the train to Euston then bit the bullet and the three of us took a taxi to the hotel at County Hall. There was no problem in taking the bike box and one large case on the train or in the taxi, where it fitted easily across the deck but next time I do it I won't even bother boxing the bike up because the box was heavy, bulky, took up room in our hotel room and assembling the bike in the room was a pain. I will simply wheel the bike onto the train, maybe remove the pedals, and either taxi to the hotel or even let my family take the taxi and I follow on the bike, ready assembled and more importantly, road-tested for the ride.

To get from Heathrow to your hotel and back there are stacks of airport transfer companies who operate minibuses and MPVs. I would call the hotel and ask who they recommend locally. Having a driver and an air-conditioned ride will make the difference between a stressed sweat-fest and a pleasant relaxing trip across London seeing all the sights as you go. For example I recently chose this company at random to collect business visitors from east London and drive to Heathrow very early one morning and everything went smoothly: https://www.excelexec.co.uk/

 

[smutchin]

I want to travel from Maidenhead to a Tower Bridge Hotel on the Friday then I will cycle to the event start two days later.
After the event I shall cycle cack to hotel and next day travel from Tower Bridge back to Heathrow.

Although the idea of taking a bike box on the Tube fills me with dread, I think it's your best option. Train from Maidenhead to Paddington (I'm assuming that's where trains from Maidenhead terminate), then on to the Circle line. Fortunately, it's a straightforward journey from Paddington to Tower Hill, and being the Circle line it will have fewer steps to deal with than deeper lines.

Tbh, I'm wondering why you need to actually box the bike up for that journey. You can take unboxed, unfolded bikes on the Circle line, as long as you don't want to travel during peak hours.