Rides in London

rich_e

I moved to London last year and most of my cycling thus far in the capital has just been commuting using my Road Bike.

My folks live out in Hertfordshire on the edge of the Chilterns, so there is some great riding out there on Road and Mountain Bike, which I do often go home to make the use of.

However, I'm wondering if there is anything in London that is good for a quick training blast?

I live in North London (Finsbury Park / Holloway) area.
I'm aware that everybody says Richmond Park is good, but it's a bit further South and undergoing surfacing works from what I can see.

Looking at the Sustrans website, there are things like Cycle Route 1, which runs alongside the river, but also up to the North past the reservoirs. What I can't figure out though is how these works out as actual routes for a good cycle and what kind of material they are even made of? Or are they basically routes which are really just for a slow pootle along amongst pedestrians?

I'm really just looking for something which is good for a bit of fitness training and a nice ride without a ton of traffic.

Any suggestions?
Thanks.

greeny12

Hmmm - you won't get many nice rides without a ton of traffic in this town! It's one of the reasons I'm about to move to Sussex!

For training, the Regent's Park ring road can be fun, especially if you hook up with other riders for a bit of through and off action, but it only really works weekends first thing before the zoo opens, so 7-10am. Gets busy with zoo traffic and rat-running cars after that...

I tend to just do repetitions of Highgate West Hill and Swain's Lane, alternating them for a bit of variety. That falls into the dull but worthy category though!

Or try Mapmyride and type in north london in the search function - I found a good 80 mile jaunt up to Hertfordshire and back on there, although again it was traffic central on the way back (I set off just after 5am on a Saturday so nice and clear on the way out!).

Hope this helps...

tronic

Hey Rich

I live just around the corner from you, I'm guessing, I live on Drayton Park, and I head out pretty much every weekend for a 50-100 mile ride. They tend to follow the same route out and the same route back - out through Finsbury Park, Tottenham Hale, Blackhorse Road, Chingford, then through Epping Forest to Epping.

From Epping you can head west to eg Roydon and Hertford for a short (eg 50 mile) route, or north towards Hatfield Heath, Stansted Airport and Saffron Walden for a longer (towards 100 mile) ride. On the way back towards London, come into Hertford, then up Essendon Hill (which is a decent, if short incline) and onto the A1000 for a quick blast down through Potters Bar, Barnet, Finchley, Highgate and Archway.

From Chingford out you are on rural roads, until approaching Barnet. For a shorter ride just head up the A1000 to Potters Bar, and from there you have 'Little Switzerland' around Northaw, Cuffley, Newgate Street, Bayford, Brickendon, Essendon - some references to it here: http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=15358371

Hope this helps, I have saved lots of my routes on mapmyride.com but have just realised that the search functionality there is cr@p. Any other advice give me a shout.


Tronic

rich_e

Thanks for the advice guys.