Commuting: Practice first or just MTFU and do it?

UndercoverElephant

Dooooo eeeeiiiittt!!!

hatbeard

biondino wrote:

At the very least, have a ride of your bike somewhere easy and safe first, both to ensure it's set up correctly and to reassure yourself that you won't do anything silly once you start!

If I can stick to the soft drinks at the pub tonight I may have a quick whizz around the inner roads of the ashburnum triangle in greenwich, the worse thing I need to worry about there is the dog poo which seems to permeate everywhere.

ketsbaia

Pufftmw wrote:

mese13 wrote:

That's definitely the route you want, or a portion thereof. Don't go anywhere near the Old Kent Road - it can get pretty hairy - and is too far south for your commute - you'd probably add a mile to your journey.

Absolutely nothing wrong with the Old Kent Road - its virtually empty from New Cross to Albany Road!! I've never found it hairy or dangerous, instead its free-flowing and fast

+1. OKR is absolutely fine. Frequently coast along at 23+mph and have touched 31mph along the bit past Lidl. There is bus lane from New Cross Gate to Glengall Road, after which it can get a bit busy but nothing that's ever bothered me.

dhope

hatbeard wrote:

biondino wrote:

At the very least, have a ride of your bike somewhere easy and safe first, both to ensure it's set up correctly and to reassure yourself that you won't do anything silly once you start!

If I can stick to the soft drinks at the pub tonight I may have a quick whizz around the inner roads of the ashburnum triangle in greenwich, the worse thing I need to worry about there is the dog poo which seems to permeate everywhere.

Going OT, if you head around the triangle pop into the Ashburnham Arms and say hi to the landlord, Dennis, he's a lovely bloke and it's a good local. I lived 3 doors away for a year and regularly got trounced on the quiz.

hatbeard

dhope wrote:

hatbeard wrote:

biondino wrote:

At the very least, have a ride of your bike somewhere easy and safe first, both to ensure it's set up correctly and to reassure yourself that you won't do anything silly once you start!

If I can stick to the soft drinks at the pub tonight I may have a quick whizz around the inner roads of the ashburnum triangle in greenwich, the worse thing I need to worry about there is the dog poo which seems to permeate everywhere.

Going OT, if you head around the triangle pop into the Ashburnham Arms and say hi to the landlord, Dennis, he's a lovely bloke and it's a good local. I lived 3 doors away for a year and regularly got trounced on the quiz.

I live on the triangle myself (not saying where in case any canny bike thieves are reading this) but I've never ventured into the ashburnham arms. will give it a go.

p.s. the graduate is not my local either
p.p.s neither is it the george and dragon

Alphabet

once you're a bit more confident, take yourself over the river at London Bridge - some good racing to be had on there

rjsterry

I think it depends on whether you already know the roads you are planning to use or not

London traffic is fine when you know where you are going (whether by bike or car), but if you are unfamiliar with the route, some junctions can be a bit tricky. Sometimes you can make life a lot easier by getting into a particular lane at the right time, for example. If your route takes you through any big, multi-lane junctions, or other more challenging bits then a test run will help a lot with confidence when you ride it 'for real' as you won't also be worrying about whether you are going to miss a turning/be late. It'll also help shake out any bike related issues as others have said.

hatbeard

Alphabet wrote:

once you're a bit more confident, take yourself over the river at London Bridge - some good racing to be had on there

That's a good point actually... which is the best place to cross the river?

the route I imagined I'd take would be up to london bridge across left down towards cannon street hang a right up through the pedestrianised cycle crossing up to gresham street then cross over at the end and slip up little britain then through the alleyway to smithfields and through there to where I work.

If london bridge is a bit chaotic am I better off going another way?

I'm not above getting off the bike at london bridge and walking across either for the first day or two if that's an alternative option.

kelsen

I see from the gear you've just bought thread that you got yourself a Tricross.

Good choice and welcome!

london_scottish

ketsbaia wrote:

Pufftmw wrote:

mese13 wrote:

That's definitely the route you want, or a portion thereof. Don't go anywhere near the Old Kent Road - it can get pretty hairy - and is too far south for your commute - you'd probably add a mile to your journey.

Absolutely nothing wrong with the Old Kent Road - its virtually empty from New Cross to Albany Road!! I've never found it hairy or dangerous, instead its free-flowing and fast

+1. OKR is absolutely fine. Frequently coast along at 23+mph and have touched 31mph along the bit past Lidl. There is bus lane from New Cross Gate to Glengall Road, after which it can get a bit busy but nothing that's ever bothered me.

I shall add my +1 too, nice and fast road, plenty of bus lanes. Only problem with it is heading home east, the surface is shocking. Hit a bump so hard last night my computer stopped working. Oh yeah and there's always a headwind

ketsbaia

Yeah, I go a different way home to avoid that surface.

And the perma-headwind. :

mese13

london_scottish wrote:

ketsbaia wrote:

Pufftmw wrote:

mese13 wrote:

That's definitely the route you want, or a portion thereof. Don't go anywhere near the Old Kent Road - it can get pretty hairy - and is too far south for your commute - you'd probably add a mile to your journey.

Absolutely nothing wrong with the Old Kent Road - its virtually empty from New Cross to Albany Road!! I've never found it hairy or dangerous, instead its free-flowing and fast

+1. OKR is absolutely fine. Frequently coast along at 23+mph and have touched 31mph along the bit past Lidl. There is bus lane from New Cross Gate to Glengall Road, after which it can get a bit busy but nothing that's ever bothered me.

I shall add my +1 too, nice and fast road, plenty of bus lanes. Only problem with it is heading home east, the surface is shocking. Hit a bump so hard last night my computer stopped working. Oh yeah and there's always a headwind

OK I'll add +1 as well. My original comment was not slagging off dear OKR, more upon its applicability for the bearded guy's journey into work. And personally I reckon Evelyn road etc. provides more pootling opportunities for a newbie than OKR, could be wrong though... . I do prefer OKR later on 9pm+ when the traffic has died down and you can hammer it.

Applespider

If you're fairly confident and assertive riding in traffic, work out your route and then just do it. If you run it occasionally anyhow, you'll probably have some idea.

If you're not that confident on roads, it might be worth checking whether your local council (home or work) offer freebie cycle lessons. I took one (arranged within a week of asking) just before I started commuting since I wasn't sure I had the best route and really didn't like traffic so the thought of VB scared the pants off me. The instructor was great - one on one - and helped me figure out best route and just cycled it back and forth so I got some traffic practice. Really gave me a boost - and haven't looked back since (well... aside from when pulling out to pass )

howie3472

I started cycling to work this time last year, 20 mile round trip, I just jumped straight in left for work in plenty of time (5am start!), It took about a week to get in to the swing of it but now I miss it if iI don't cycle. I don't live in the city but do commute on some very dark busy country roads. So the only thing iI would say is as long as you fell safe and enjoy it just do it and find the rout that is good for you.
Well done for giving it a go.

hatbeard

you guys are gonna be so proud of me... I managed a whole .9 miles today!

after a distinctly wobbly few laps around my block when I set out I thought it might be best to reduce the cycling distance so I hopped on the Thames Clipper with my bike and rode it up to blackfriars. I was wanting to get off at bankside and ride over southwark bridge rd but the boat decided to skip that stop so I got off at blackfriars which is a straight shot up farringdon road to where I work.

During this short sojourn I came to realise 2 things...

1. I need to buy some padded shorts my seat is pretty damn uncomfy

2. I don't quite have the legs for a full 7 mile dash to work yet. more training needed

but overall I'm fairly pleased. in my sub 1 mile journey I had to deal with a cab parked in the cycle lane and a luton doing a delivery that I had to dodge around, I then had to filter to the right hand lane to turn right onto smithfields market and cross oncoming traffic. in all it was a nice sampler of london traffic and I wasn't as panicked as I thought I'd be. Having other cyclists around made things feel much less like it was me vs every car on the road.

I'll be riding to london bridge at lunch to get train home to meet the BT installer as I'm in a rush but I think I'll probably repeat this process a few times over the next week until I feel like I can tackle the full thing.

thanks to everyone for all the advice and suggestions offered so far.

dhope

hatbeard wrote:

you guys are gonna be so proud of me... I managed a whole .9 miles today!

after a distinctly wobbly few laps around my block when I set out I thought it might be best to reduce the cycling distance so I hopped on the Thames Clipper with my bike and rode it up to blackfriars. I was wanting to get off at bankside and ride over southwark bridge rd but the boat decided to skip that stop so I got off at blackfriars which is a straight shot up farringdon road to where I work.

During this short sojourn I came to realise 2 things...

1. I need to buy some padded shorts my seat is pretty damn uncomfy

2. I don't quite have the legs for a full 7 mile dash to work yet. more training needed

but overall I'm fairly pleased. in my sub 1 mile journey I had to deal with a cab parked in the cycle lane and a luton doing a delivery that I had to dodge around, I then had to filter to the right hand lane to turn right onto smithfields market and cross oncoming traffic. in all it was a nice sampler of london traffic and I wasn't as panicked as I thought I'd be. Having other cyclists around made things feel much less like it was me vs every car on the road.

I'll be riding to london bridge at lunch to get train home to meet the BT installer as I'm in a rush but I think I'll probably repeat this process a few times over the next week until I feel like I can tackle the full thing.

thanks to everyone for all the advice and suggestions offered so far.

Good start

1. Yes, get shorts. But if you don't, don't worry, your arse adjusts anyway. You're just sitting on parts you don't normally sit on.
2. Sure you do, just don't dash the full 7 yet. Dash, pootle, dash, dash, pootle, dash Or, MTFU

hatbeard

dhope wrote:

Or, MTFU

hahaha

Cafewanda

Well done

lost_in_thought

A start, which is better than no start!

Don't worry about 'not having the legs for it' - when I restarted cycle commuting in 2005 I'd barely done any exercise for a few years and weighed a good deal more than I do now - the 7 miles from mayfair to liverpool street felt like the hardest thing I'd ever done. But I stuck at it andsoon developed the aforementioned legs!

The best way to get yourself sorted for cycling is to cycle.

So stop faffing and get on with it!

cyclopsbiker

I'd say just go for it. I cycle from Deptford Bridge to Holborn, about 6 miles. sure you're tired when you first start but the only way to crack that is to keep doing it. just don't rush for the first few weeks. ease yourself in and enjoy it. once your travel card has expired it will make it easier. Like loads of people I now hate PT, hate paying for it when I do have to use it. all those damp cold days on a bike are worth so much more than wasting time on PT. you get a great sense of satisfaction, and money in your pocket. if you're unsure if you can do the whole distance why not give it a trial run on a weekend/day off when there's no time pressure?

Butterd2

Mate, you had my sympathy yesterday when you appeared to be concerned about the London traffic, you are right to be so. Stay concerned and don't ever become complacent.

BUT to be concerned about riding 7 miles? My 6 year old daughter has ridden more than 7 miles with me on a SS bike that weighs 3 times more than mine. That I'm afraid warrants an MTFU.

Crack on.

Subaqua

If you have been training for a 10k run, a 7 mile cycle will be a total doddle - I can barely run for a bus! Within a couple of weeks, I doubled the length of my commute from NHG to St Pauls by taking the scenic route, via Chelsea harbour.

Been doing it a month or so now.... and only realised yesterday that it seems I'd joined a peloton (generally to get dropped within 100 yards or so :oops: )

hatbeard

Butterd2 wrote:

Mate, you had my sympathy yesterday when you appeared to be concerned about the London traffic, you are right to be so. Stay concerned and don't ever become complacent.

BUT to be concerned about riding 7 miles? My 6 year old daughter has ridden more than 7 miles with me on a SS bike that weighs 3 times more than mine. That I'm afraid warrants an MTFU.

Crack on.

to qualify that a little more I'm concerned about riding 7 miles in traffic where if I'm fatigued I'm not going to be able to ride as safely as I would like.

up until march this year I was a 19.5 stone fatty completely out of shape, it's only the past 7 months I've dropped 5 stone and started doing any exercise at all. I'm at a point now where I can run 10k just fine but this morning on the bike I could feel my legs were beginning to tire already as they're not used to this particular kind of exercise. don't get me wrong I don't doubt i'll be up to speed fairly quickly but I'm just trying to be realistic about what I can or can't do right now.

as for your 6 year old being able to ride that far, I saw a kid no older than 8 run 2k in 9 minutes last sunday. that 4m30/km pace put most of the adults waiting to take part in the 5k/10k afterwards to shame. kids can be pretty resilient.

but that said I readily accept I should just MTFU and get on with it. I think talking about it on here just helps me get things straight in my head so I am more confident in what I'm doing.

Butterd2

At 19.5st you wouldn't have had to worry about the traffic, it would have been worrying about you!

I started at 17.5st and am now at 15.5st so get where you're coming from.

hatbeard

Butterd2 wrote:

At 19.5st you wouldn't have had to worry about the traffic, it would have been worrying about you!

I started at 17.5st and am now at 15.5st so get where you're coming from.

haha yeah I was a bit of a big lump. sadly the 5st wasn't all fat I lost a fair amount of muscle mass too. need to get in the gym and bulk myself back up.

[cartman]Beefcake![/cartman]

lost_in_thought

hatbeard wrote:

<lame excuses>

Quit your whining and get on with it!

hatbeard

lost_in_thought wrote:

hatbeard wrote:

<lame excuses>

Quit your whining and get on with it!

but... but... ok

:oops:

jonginge

Good stuff, sir.
The cycling fitness will get there in a couple of weeks, I'm sure.

That right turn onto smithfield can be a bit daunting. My approach is go primary most of the way and sprint to the turn
Seriously, confidence is key for lane switching. Give other road users plenty of clues of what you are about to do and they normally leave space. Oh, and lifesaver check, lifesaver check, lifesaver check

cjcp

Good stuff.

Re your saddle: padded shorts are definitely good, but they alone won't sort the issue; the saddle itself may be uncomformtable. It's worth buying a good one. I can't stand one mile on a bad saddle.

You'll want to check out your LBS and fine websites such as these: www.wiggle.co.uk and www.chainreactioncycles.com

*WARNING*: This will not be the last time you look at these websites. Cycling has that effect

Also, check your saddle position and saddle height. Too high can knacker the knackers (and the knees). Check whether it's too far forward or back, too.

rjsterry

JonGinge wrote:

Good stuff, sir.
The cycling fitness will get there in a couple of weeks, I'm sure.

That right turn onto smithfield can be a bit daunting. My approach is go primary most of the way and sprint to the turn
Seriously, confidence is key for lane switching. Give other road users plenty of clues of what you are about to do and they normally leave space. Oh, and lifesaver check, lifesaver check, lifesaver check

Indeed, not a fan of it myself. Watch out for other cyclists steaming down Farringdon Road on the inside of slower moving traffic - had a couple of near misses myself when someone has 'appeared' as I was starting to turn out of the filter lane. +1 on the technique leading up to the turn as well.