TFL Cycling route option

chuckcork

Any body else tried to use this?

Just tried and took something ridiculous in time to get a not very useful result, tiny little maps that if I want to see the route (about 10 miles long) I have to look at in half mile sections that takes forever to load.

I seem to remember trying it a few years ago and there was a good result, it would give you a PDF of the suggested route from start to finish that you could download? I tried that and just got a little diagram stating "start - end" as if that was any use.

The result I got also suggests that the 10.4 mile route it came up with would take 69 minutes! Anyone know what speed or other parameters they use to generate this kind of result on? A heavy mountain bike with knobblies ridden by a 15 stone smoker?

il_principe

I use googlemaps or bikeroutetoaster.

10 miles in London should take between 30 - 45 mins depending on traffic I reckon - however I'm not a 15 stone smoker...!

chuckcork

Neither am I, cycling in to work the 14 miles each way plus Sunday club runs (c.300km a week) I've gone in a bit over a year from a hefty 93kg down to 79kg, ironically since being made redundant I've lost something like 2kg when my weight had been stuck on 81kg for months!

Been eating the wrong things I think, not enough cereal at breakfast leaving me hungry by lunch, too many cakes etc on the weekends, I could have been down to my target weight of 75kg by now?

lost_in_thought

+1 for google maps.

And yes, 10 miles in london a max of about 45 minutes depending on route/traffic of course.

I think they err on the side of caution to avoid enraged 15 stone smokers beating their doors down and shouting at them...

wgwarburton

jashburnham writes:

> 10 miles in London should take between 30 - 45 mins depending on traffic I reckon - however I'm not a 15 stone smoker...!

Really? I'd have thought it'd be Very Hard to sustain a 20mph average through junctions/lights & traffic- that's more than twice as fast as the traffic around you, which suggests some pretty aggressive filtering would be needed.
Even the bottom end of your range strikes me as Experienced Cyclist territory, which presumably isn't what the TFL guides are aiming for.... apart from anything else, navigating from a route guide in traffic at 15mph would be.... challenging?

Cheers,
W.

il_principe

chuckcork wrote:

Neither am I, cycling in to work the 14 miles each way plus Sunday club runs (c.300km a week) I've gone in a bit over a year from a hefty 93kg down to 79kg, ironically since being made redundant I've lost something like 2kg when my weight had been stuck on 81kg for months!

Been eating the wrong things I think, not enough cereal at breakfast leaving me hungry by lunch, too many cakes etc on the weekends, I could have been down to my target weight of 75kg by now?

Ah sorry I totally missed that! Good loss fella! I've hovered around the 75-80 mark since I was 18! Regardless of what I eat. Sure that'll all change when I hit 30 next year...

Totalnewbie

lost_in_thought wrote:

+1 for google maps.

And yes, 10 miles in london a max of about 45 minutes depending on route/traffic of course.

I think they err on the side of caution to avoid enraged 15 stone smokers beating their doors down and shouting at them...

You are much faster than I!

My 5 mile commute takes just under 30 minutes. It only ever varies by about 5 minutes, it seems really dependent on traffic lights of which there are many, although being faster and being more daring when it comes to filtering would probably help...but I like to be cautious.

wgwarburton

jashburnham:

> ...I've hovered around the 75-80 mark since I was 18! Regardless of what I eat. Sure that'll all change when I hit 30 next year...

You may be pleasantly surprised- if you keep active then the "regardless of what I eat" bit may well mean you won't have major issues. Many of the people that get caught out are those who were active in their early 20s, then slowed down & got a desk job. For the next 5-10 years they get more stressed and less exercise and lose muscle tone, then suddenly the body runs out of space to store fat and caches it in front of the belly...
Keep active and don't let your diet get out of hand and you might well be fine.

I've been 75-85Kg since I turned 20 or so (75 was as a poor student) and I'll be 45 next year... I'll never be thin but so far I've not had any particular issue staying healthy.
If you havn't had early warning of weight problems by 29, you may well just need to work harder to maintain the fitness you used to take for granted...

Cheers,
W.

PS Are we far enough off topic, yet?

lost_in_thought

Totalnewbie wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

+1 for google maps.

And yes, 10 miles in london a max of about 45 minutes depending on route/traffic of course.

I think they err on the side of caution to avoid enraged 15 stone smokers beating their doors down and shouting at them...

You are much faster than I!

My 5 mile commute takes just under 30 minutes. It only ever varies by about 5 minutes, it seems really dependent on traffic lights of which there are many, although being faster and being more daring when it comes to filtering would probably help...but I like to be cautious.

Mine's 7 miles and I do it in 25-30 minutes unless the traffic is shocking, but I deliberately pick quiet roads where I can so I can travel at speed - out one way, back the other. I don't like to take risks when filtering etc. either!

But I agree with Buns that I hadn't really included the navigation element - I was constantly getting lost when I first started cycling around London, which made even the simplest routes take forever sometimes.

Now if I get lost I tend to just keep going on the basis that I'll figure out where I am eventually.

chuckcork

No, I want to keep cycling to work to keep my weight down!

My father was apparently very slim when he married my mother way back in '68, but over the years slowly added to his beer gut, with a combination of too much food, enjoyment of beer and wine and non-existent cardio exercise (I don't consider playing golf to be exercise). Though he now has less of a beer gut, that, and my fathers 2 seriously oversized sisters (the other 3 just don't eat) are a warning I could go the same way easily enough.

Back on topic, the job I hadin Ptney was 6 miles, I used to do that in about 25 minutes, places me doing a 10.5 mile distance in just under 50 minutes.

_Brun_

Google maps also has a 'walking' directions option, which is often more direct than the suggested driving route. Just check it's not sending you down any one way streets etc, and modify it by dragging the blue line to add waypoints.

wgwarburton

..and see recent News article:

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/g ... ists-19487

londonlivvy

I find that TFL's timings are about right if I'm
a) on my hybrid with pannier
b) not planning on arriving in a sweaty heap
But then I'm boring and stop at traffic lights and don't filter down the inside of bendy buses etc.

My commute's 11 miles and it generally takes about 50-55 minutes, but then at least 2 miles of it are on a tow path with dawdling pedestrians/snogging couples/out of control dogs.

You're right that TFL's maps/routes are annoying to print and sometimes a bit too convoluted but once you learn them, they're genius and generally the quietest routes from A to B. If not necessarily the quickest. I tend to mix & match their routes and mine.

lost_in_thought

Hey London Livvy, you and I share a name and a location!

I think most of us on here are pretty good at stopping at reds and filtering safely - I know I am, and I'm pretty sure Jashburnham is too!

As for the plans to not arrive sweaty... plans are all good... I always find myself SCR-ing!! The game plays you... :shock:

Totalnewbie

I think you're just faster than me LiT...!

Actually I think I should be thrown off the SCR thread because I've been doing things like slowing down over the bridge to look at the view when I'm not in the mood to race anyone, which is becoming increasingly frequent :shock:

And as for when there's a fox walking through Hyde Park...(of the red furry variety!)

londonlivvy

Cool LiT - a marvellous name may I say?

And yup, I may just have to fess up like total newbie and admit I'm just quite slow/pondering stuff. I come up with genius strapline solutions on the bike sometimes. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Harry B

Re: the TfL route thing. It's rubbish. I worked out my own route by looking at a map and working out an "as the crow flys" route which is not only much more fun, at's also about 7 miles shorter.

Re: timing, it takes me 90 minutes to do 23 miles which is an average of about 15 mph. A lot does depend though on traffic lights although my times are surprisingly consistant.

Sadly work has conspired against me this week and I haven't cycled in once

Hopefully things will be back to normal next week

chuckcork

Created a new thread about the route options shown up by Google....