Roads you can ride on, but really shouldn’t

[NorthernDave]

Just round the corner from me there is a section of the former Leeds Outer Ring Road that is grade separated dual carriageway with a 70mph speed limit. No hard shoulders or anything though.
The Ring Road has now been rerouted along a brand new road, so this has been downgraded from a A road to a B road but retained the 70mph limit.
It's only around half a mile in length and is a bit of an oddity as the speed limit drops to 40mph at either end.
I've cycled on it once, downhill, and wouldn't attempt it again but you do see cyclists on there even riding the up the hill which must be torture even without the traffic. Fortunately there are several alternative routes on quiet residential roads.

 

[Beebo]

If it's the same bit I'm thinking of I once went wrong and found myself on a lane that joined the A249 at the top of that hill. You are almost in the village of Detling there, it's less than a mile, but I looked at the road and decided that I may not make it there alive, so I doubled back. Unfortunately there's no real way to continue on a bike. I had to take a steep, extremely muddy footpath to eventually get on to the road and continue my ride.

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Yes. The same bit.

The photo doesn’t really do it justice, but it’s very narrow and steep with lorries doing 60mph.

Imagine being on the inside of that car.

 

[Ridgeway]

Puy de Dôme earlier this year 😉

I went up early doors after climbing over the barrier.

Couldn’t resist it anymore after it was on this years TDF.

 

[Baldy]

Yeah I've driven it many times but it does seem to dump you in the most awkward of places and the road works from Perth northwards look awkward to negotiate.

Lots in-between look awesome, which is why I've thought about doing it for a while now.

As I'm coming from Stirling I tend to go up to Killin and across to Blair Atholl before heading north. So I've not done the bit out of Perth in quite some time, certainly since the road works started. So I can't really say how they've affected the cycling. From Atholl North is well worth doing and mostly traffic free.

 

[robjh]

Our old group leader had no qualms about taking us down a busy road like the A47 if he needed a more direct route. He moved to Norfolk a few years back and after about 6 months he met up and took us to his new place by the route he found best. Straight down another section of his favourite road, the A47 and another direct to the coast A road.

There are quite a few busy and borderline dangerous roads that I will do on my own, but wouldn't dream of taking a group on.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Erm ...

I time-trialled on the A19/A168 this year, as did son no. 2, on a 25 mile TT. We added extra rear lights just in case even though it was early on a bright Sunday morning. I've done a 50 on it as well which uses a long stretch north then southbound.

Other stupidly busy roads we've raced on include the A46 dual-carriageway (I'm so daft I did it twice) and son no. 2 plus a few others took a shortcut on the A1 near Grantham this summer after a race.

Oh, and I've used the A55 from Holyhead on the Llanfair 400 audax through to near Conwy, but only in daylight. Bit scary that, particularly when I stopped and realised my rear lights had gone flat one time. I've used the A38 a couple of times on an audax as well to short-cut longer sections.

Nothing matches the stupidity of two cyclists going the wrong way up the A1M near Ferrybridge I passed last month, with a police car pulling up as I went by, lights flashing.

Or my cycling club taking a wrong turn onto the A19/A168 as a group of about 30 a few years back because they dashed ahead and missed a vital turn. 15 miles of through-and-off at speed was required that day whilst I'd been sensible and waited for the ride leader.

Is now the wrong time to suggest you could join once of the TT's next year?

is that the A46 stretch near Leicester? I think they do them at Six Hills, crazy road to do them on.

Mind you they also do them on the A63 which is worse as it connects the M62 to Hull and every driver treats it as part of the M62, I don't even like driving on it, no way would I ride on it.

 

[robjh]

Pretty sure I rode on a motorway in Bulgaria. Well it looked and felt like a motorway although I saw no signs on the sliproad warning me. At least it had a hard shoulder though which gave space to cycle. I was glad to reach the next junction and get off it!

 

[Dogtrousers]

There are quite a few busy and borderline dangerous roads that I will do on my own, but wouldn't dream of taking a group on.

I remember riding down the A23 from Pyecombe into Brighton with the Fridays early on a Saturday morning. Pretty much a 3 lane motorway. My only thought was "stay in the middle of the group, then they'll have to plough through a fair few cyclists before they get to you". Not an experience I'd repeat. Nor one that I would have done at the time if I'd been a bit more alert and forewarned.

It was Nov 16 2013.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

We've had busy roads, how about surfaces unsuitable for most bikes?

This is Broom Field Lane in Kirklees, the top picture is 2009 and so it was in better condition a few years back. However as the bottom picture shows it's unpassable for most bikes (and Audis!) now due to being washed away by rain.



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I rode from Leicester to Beverley and decided to use parts of route 1 of the national cycle network to get by Humberside (spits) airport and had to ride miles of track like this:

I winged it on the way back

 

[robjh]

I remember riding down the A23 from Pyecombe into Brighton with the Fridays early on a Saturday morning. Pretty much a 3 lane motorway. My only thought was "stay in the middle of the group, then they'll have to plough through a fair few cyclists before they get to you". Not an experience I'd repeat. Nor one that I would have done at the time if I'd been a bit more alert and forewarned.

It was Nov 16 2013.

But on the other hand @ianrauk showed me that riding on A23 around Gatwick and up to Purley is quite doable for a small group of fast riders and can be really quite fun.

 

[DCLane]

is that the A46 stretch near Leicester? I think they do them at Six Hills, crazy road to do them on.

Mind you they also do them on the A63 which is worse as it connects the M62 to Hull and every driver treats it as part of the M62, I don't even like driving on it, no way would I ride on it.

It's the Six Hills bit we did, deciding 'never again'. I also did one north from Bingham, which was a wider road but still felt unsafe.

Time trials on the A63 are no more sadly after someone taking part in a TT died in 2013, having ridden into a car/caravan which had a flat tyre.

 

[presta]

I don't generally use dual carriageways, but I will if the alternative is a long diversion and time or energy is short, and then there are also occasions when the navigation goes awry and I end up where I didn't intend to. The Stansted Airport junction on the M11 is an entertaining ride, at nearly half a mile round the loop. You could be forgiven for thinking that this is not a roundabout, but the left turn is the airport exit, straight ahead is the circuit of the roundabout, and the right turn is a three lane shortcut through the middle of the island.

Nothing matches the stupidity of two cyclists going the wrong way up the A1M near Ferrybridge

Cycling from Bangor to Chester via the coast and Dee estuary, I got as far as Connah's Quay and then found myself heading over the new Dee bridge by mistake because it wasn't marked on my old map. After I realised, I kept going as far as the crest of the bridge, but when I got there the new road appeared to be heading out across the Wirral towards Birkenhead, so I decided I didn't have time or energy for a wild goose chase, and turned back. That was fine on the walkway as far as the end of the bridge, but then I was cycling in the concrete rain gutter, so I stood in the fast lane lifting a fully laden touring bike over the Armco to get onto the right carriageway.

you’ve got to be a nutter to the cycle the A689 between Billingham and Stockton!

Like this you mean?

sometimes signs should give an indication that bikes should use a safer route rather than just put up signs for cars and lorries

The same applies to asking for directions, I quickly learnt never to ask the way unless you want to be sent down the dual carriageway that all the motorists use.

 

[Dogtrousers]

But on the other hand @ianrauk showed me that riding on A23 around Gatwick and up to Purley is quite doable for a small group of fast riders and can be really quite fun.

Ah, well there you have me!

 

[Bollo]

I live on the A34 in South Oxfordshire and it doesn't half get in the way of making cycling routes. If I dared to use just a short section then it would make life much easier, but I just won't. The stretch here is notoriously dangerous, with numerous accidents and fatalities. A friend of mine has ridden this stretch but I won't.

A couple of years ago I was heading south on the A34 just south of the M4 and saw a bikepacker with huge trailer cycling along the opposite carriageway. Not for me, thanks.

I know that stretch of the A34 between the M3 and M40 far too well. It grips my poo that the narrow hard-shoulder section on the Newbury bypass is designated as a cycle path. It counts towards the stats but you have to have genitals of steel to ride it. I’ve seen one rider since the bypass was built and it was one more than I expected. The rest of that stretch of thr A34 is nasty post-war trunk road with some of the most lethal slip roads in the country. For the connoisseur, try the variations of the A34-A303 junction.

 

[Drago]

At risk of preaching to the choir, its not the roads that are dangerous - its the motor vehicle driving prats that we share then with.