favourite part of your commute?

clarkey cat

for me it's coming over the small crest of the hill down from White Lodge heading towards Roehampton Gate (on the way in)

I have 10 or so miles of pretty boring roads and then I come through Richmond Park and as I drop down past White Lodge I get a feverish excitement knowing that I'm about to hit Priory Lane and the thrills and spills of London and SCR along Richmond Rd, NKR and Embankment.

Yours?

Kieran_Burns

This bit.

I have no idea why - for some unearthly reason it's an uphill stretch I can accelerate up and comfortably hold 19-20mph.

The other stretch I like is by the Church in East Leake - just here. The road surface is just beautiful and smooth and always quiet in the morning.

Gussio

The first quarter mile of my commute is downhill. I roll out of the drive (c.2mins after rolling out of bed) and get to put in a lazy, sweeping s-bend around a drain cover and a badly-filled pothole that I could now miss with my eyes shut. The tarmac on this section of road is lovely and smooth. It is a great way to start the day and often has me grinning like a loon, especially when the sun is shining

The worst part of my commute is often the self same hill at the end of the day.....

Verbal

Making it home in one piece and in time to put my son to bed.

cambs

New Kings Road to Victoria Embankment. Can spin up fairly quickly from (all the ) lights and plenty of stop/starts for some discrete skin breathing and loads of competition.

Priory Lane is the graveyard of my dreams (going north especially). I seem to get always passed there, must be something to do with the long, low gradient uphill - not suited to my slight build.

clarkey cat

my least favourite part is everything past Hampton Court. windy, no bikes, crap road surface... and still another 20 mins to go.

il_principe

9 Elms, London. Regularly spin up to and past 30mph on this stretch of road. Big, wide mostly empty bus lane and lovely surface.

snooks

The end?

OK then. On the way in going from Tower bridge down Upper/Lower Thames street travelling west. Usually static traffic all the way along it, gives me a feeling of joy passing lots of stationary traffic.

On the way home, from the top of the Bow interchange to Stratford. Nice long new road, a few traffic lights Grrr...I'm nearly home so I can really empty the tank, and had the hill as a head start

t4tomo

Up hill drag at the start of the second leg (station to home) of the home commute.
A) I'm nearly home.
I can power up it in top and catch / drop most other commuters up there which is always fun.

keyser__soze

On both the way in and back home the DSC between VB lights and Chelsea Bridge, onwards to Cheyne Walk if the traffic is clear. The killing fields Also like the stretch between Putney Bridge and Bolan Death Bridge and from the Priory Lane turn-off to the South Circular lights through Sheen on the way back, and from Northumberland Ave to Tower Hill on the way in. Seem to get a little bit more speed on these sections.

Least fave bits: NKR - been hooked twice on here, too many cars turning on/off and traffic usually bad. PS is always a nightmare. CB to NKR when the traffic is busy. The lights on CS3 should I go that way, otherwise the filtering on the Highway. Blackfriars tunnel to PS on the way home when it's busy - esp with all the coaches parked on the inside.

shouldbeinbed

Clayton Vale. a mile+ of car free country park, nice choice of tarmac or gravel paths and pootling along by a pretty little river surrounded by nature.

reformedfatty

It's the best and worst at the same time



Depending on what way you're going it means either you've still got another mile or so of climbing on top of the fierce section you've already done, or it means that you've got 3 miles of continuous 30+ mph descent and you're out of the worst of the crosswind areas.

cjcp

At this time of year, Richmond Park. But Victoria Embankment from AB to VB can be tremendous fun.

prj45

The bit from start to finish.

Hairybuddha

Deffo the lovely new stretch of tarmac on the way out of New Cross towards town. Slightly downhill with a tailwind 8)

Initialised

Since extending my route it would be here.

deptfordmarmoset

prj45 wrote:

The bit from start to finish.

Ah, yes, I like this bit so much I take my time and savour it at great length...

Though seriously, I think the best part of my journey is the daily detour, and you can go from A to B via the whole alphabet so there's almost always another possible detour.

Hot Orange

Here:



Pretty, halfway round and out of the wind. Although this evening at about this very point, a bee flew straight at me and stung me on the lip.

iPete

The traffic through Earls court! Its a breather after 16 miles & a chance to re-coup before entering embankment and the filtering gets the mind ticking over nicely.

diplomacy

going from putney bridge onto new king's road, the first corner left there is the perfect radius to go round by just tilting the bike instead of steering. i never fail to find that satisfying...

jonny_trousers

Crossing Waterloo Bridge south to north. The view blows my mind every time and makes me feel lucky that not only do I live in such an amazing city, but that I get to cycle through it.

ChrisLS

...the down hill bits...

roger_merriman

bushy Park, it's nice taste of something green since I grew up with stuff like this out the back door.

hfidgen

The run along embankment from the last set of traffic lights before BF bridge, through the tunnel and along to Tower Hill - the only bit I can properly open up without stopping ever 20 meters for red lights or slowcoaches

That and the ride down the mall - that's very pretty and I even occasionally stop just to take in the fact I live in London!

rick_chasey

diplomacy wrote:

going from putney bridge onto new king's road, the first corner left there is the perfect radius to go round by just tilting the bike instead of steering. i never fail to find that satisfying...

The tarmac there makes a nice change from the bridge too.

fossyant

Where be this mystical smooth tarmac folk keep talking about ?

pitchshifter

diplomacy wrote:

going from putney bridge onto new king's road, the first corner left there is the perfect radius to go round by just tilting the bike instead of steering. i never fail to find that satisfying...

This. Putting the hammer down here over the rough surface puts some serious damage into any "competitors" :twisted:

buy_my_cookies

This can either be my best or worst part of mine,

Hardly any cars, really nice road surface, looks good with the two rivers following the road either side for 2 miles, lots of wildlife about, nearly always see a Pelican that must live in the area and i swear sometimes he trys to race me.

But on a windy day arrrrrrr dead flat, no protection for miles around, ghusts have almost had me in rivers!

http://tinyurl.com/3n2pexj

But id still change all this zen/peace/country nonsence for some SCR in a heart beat, not seen another rider in 9 months!

secretsam

Wanging it round the corner into York Way from the Euston Road, outside King's Cross, scaring the bejeesus out of the lemmings who cross on a red without looking... :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

vorsprung

This bit is pretty good usually

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QVlNVwNEr0

Nice wide fast twisty descent. Best in the dry on a race bike

Aguila

This bit:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... ,,0,-18.88

Downhill, nice surface, quiet, usually tail wind, glorious views (often all the way to Belvoir Castle for those who know the area). I feel really sorry for 100% city commuters.