Commuting from Greenham to Basingstoke

daniel_b

Morning all,

so my 5 minute walk to work only has another 11 months or less to go until they relocate to a brand new office in Basingstoke.

Good news is:
- Secure bike parking
- Workstand and tools
- Lockers
- Drying room
- Showers

And if I can leave a computer there, I may be able to go rackless, and just use a large under saddle pack thing.

Bad news is that the main route down there is the A339, which is not ideal on a bicycle at anytime of day, though I have ridden on it a bit at weekends.
I can see a route of sorts slightly off to the east, but alas bury's bank road is also a bit of a mare - although I appreciate I could just mtfu, but I also need to get this past the missus, who is bound to be thinking about the safety aspect.
I will have ample lights, Lumos helmet etc, so no risk of me not being lit up like a christmas tree, though I appreciate that is no guarantee of actually being seen.

I could drive part way, and park up to complete I guess, but that would mean the van was unavailable for my gf should she need it, and also parked up somewher potentially random where it could be at risk of damage or broken into.

Probably fairly unlikely, but has anyone ridden a regular route between the two places?

I'll do some recce runs in the summer at weekends to see what is feasible.
Will likely be working from home 2-3 days a week, so just hoping to ride into the office maybe twice a week.

The shortest route (18ish miles) is across the common, but that doesn't seem very practical, as I will likely want to be on a roadbike for decent levels of speed, so if I go the road route, that's more like 20. Google maps has a load of squiggly bits near the end, which I suspect are intricate little cycle paths, which might slow me down overall.
Used to manage the same distance commute to Reading in an hour, but that's along a pan flat and fast A4 for most of the way, I wonder if this will end up more like 75 minutes.

wolfsbane2k

Unable to help personally, but cycle Basingstoke might be able to give you a sample few clues
http://www.cyclebasingstoke.org.uk

daniel_b

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Unable to help personally, but cycle Basingstoke might be able to give you a sample few clues
http://www.cyclebasingstoke.org.uk

Cheers WB

eyko

So I haven't lived in Greenham for nearly a decade, so not sure on current traffic levels but I'd rather take the rat run that is Burys Bank than the A339.

As for through the common, I feel that would mainly be down to time/risk. You could probably* do it on a road bike as the paths are quite compact, however I imagine it would be slower than Burys Bank even if it is shorter.

Sorry I can't really be any help.

* I wouldn't do it on anything less than 28s

Tashman

Never ridden it myself but driven the 339 many times. Definitely wouldn't be my first choice road to cycle, especially the windy, up and down section at your end

daniel_b

Thanks gents - no agreed, I have ridden the 339 on occasion, but only at weekends, and for short stretches.

I ride on the common fairly regularly, and despite the hard packed paths, it's not that hard packed, so is pretty bloody mucky, and although I will have mudguards on, I don't overly fancy it - although I will likely give it a try.

I let Strava plot a route for me, and that went with towpath, but it's even more mucky than the common tbh, although I will consider it.

I agree that Bury's bank should be ok, as long as I am carrying some decent speed, and am lit up like an hgv, which I would make sure I would be - and I'd likely be doing it at around 06:30, so should be light in terms of traffic - different story on the return leg of course.

Alternatively, I plot a longer route to see if I can circumvent the crapness.

ugo.santalucia

For that kind of distance, provided the commute is relatively flat, this is what you want.
The quest carbon allows you to travel in style at 30 mph

http://en.velomobiel.nl/

daniel_b

ugo.santalucia wrote:

For that kind of distance, provided the commute is relatively flat, this is what you want.
The quest carbon allows you to travel in style at 30 mph

http://en.velomobiel.nl/

Looks fantastic, who wouldn't want to rock up to work in effectively a giant cucumber


€6.5K is a bit of a stumbling block though, especially come April, it will probably be more like £7.5K.

craker

One of my favourite rides is through Ecchinswell, over Watership Down you end upon a road near Whitchurch with signs to Overton, does that get you close? Alternatively there's a back road to kingsclere over Headley ford. Like many an A road the 339 is fine to ride on just not pleasant

ugo.santalucia

Daniel B wrote:

€6.5K is a bit of a stumbling block though, especially come April, it will probably be more like £7.5K.

Only in a no deal scenario, which is very unlikely at this stage.

Not to dig in your pockets, but you are not shy when it comes to cycling expenses... might as well buy something a bit special, rather than yet another pair of disposable and overpriced yellow shoes...

daniel_b

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

€6.5K is a bit of a stumbling block though, especially come April, it will probably be more like £7.5K.

Only in a no deal scenario, which is very unlikely at this stage.

Not to dig in your pockets, but you are not shy when it comes to cycling expenses... might as well buy something a bit special, rather than yet another pair of disposable and overpriced yellow shoes...

aha, yeh I'll take that I here what you are saying, but it's not just the large cost, it's also the space it would require in my garage, I wouldn't be hanging that up by the front wheel in a few seconds!

Oh and the power of yellow shoes can't be underestimated ;-)

craker wrote:

One of my favourite rides is through Ecchinswell, over Watership Down you end upon a road near Whitchurch with signs to Overton, does that get you close? Alternatively there's a back road to kingsclere over Headley ford. Like many an A road the 339 is fine to ride on just not pleasant

I'll certainly have a look at that route -thanks for the tip, definitely rings a bell.

I normally come from the same camp as you re A roads, and know plenty of people who believe the A4 to not be safe to ride on, but personally I could not think any differently - it's pretty flat, and critically mostly nice and wide, And now, or soon, has\will have a larger amount of cycle path (might be segregated now as well, and I'm not saying whether that is good or bad, as have not ridden it, merely stating it has or is happening) which theoretically makes it even safer.

I have ridden a bit of the 339, at a weekend, and it was far from fun, as it's very twisty AND rolling (Also has double solid white lines down the centre for a large amount of the way), so I was going pretty slowly at times, and I can only imagine what is is like at rush hour - although I could likely avoid it on the way in, no way on the return trip though.

apreading

The A339 is alot more scary than the A4. I have no problem with most of the A4 personally. I ride as little as possible of the A339 when I pass that area. Burys bank is OK, but the turn right onto Crookham hill is pretty tricky and you have to wait a long time when busy. The routes through watership down are fantastic as stated. The route through Tadley isnt too bad although nicer to go through Brimpton Common and Ramsdell.

craker

See when I were a lad I used to put my woolly hat on and cycle from Bishops Green to Park House school on the 5 speed Raleigh Arena. That includes a good two mile section of single carriageway A Road (then on the pavement where it doubles up the hill to Tesco, though it was all grass and meadows back then...).

Wouldn't let my kids anywhere near an A road these days, woolly hat or not.

daniel_b

Hoping to carry out my first recce this weekend - currently looking like only the last 1.6 miles will be cycle paths, so be interesting to see how usable they are - or not.

Managed to get it down to 17.5 miles with allegedly 1000ft of elevation - fairly rolling, so an hour would be nice long term, but have to see how the roads\paths pan out.

Route should take me through:
Headley
Ashford Hill
Wheat Hold
Ramsdell
Charter Alley
Monk Sherbourne
Sherbourne St John

(Name wise it sounds delightful, and like something out of midsomer murders....)

And then into the belly of Basingrad for the last 2 miles.

itboffin

Enjoy Basinggrad :-)

An alternative route for you
https://www.komoot.com/plan/tour/d08Aw_olP_sbu0=GTkABLS0-T5MAA==/@51.3349018,-1.1247253,10z

daniel_b

itboffin wrote:

Enjoy Basinggrad :-)

An alternative route for you
https://www.komoot.com/plan/tour/d08Aw_olP_sbu0=GTkABLS0-T5MAA==/@51.3349018,-1.1247253,10z

Basingstoke is especially scenic this time of year - and afterwards I am riding to my sisters near Egham - that ride looks less pleasant, just trying to avoid the A30 in the main.

Thanks for that route - the bit that I will be riding, is identical to the route on there, which gives me confidence - heard of that site before, but never used it - good is it?
Is it similar to Strava 'popular' routes feature?

daniel_b

So had a crack at this Saturday morning.

My plan to ride on the footpath along the A339 which looked pretty ok on streetview, soon turned out tbe flawed - really unlevel, holes, crap all over it, overgrown hedges\foliage meaning you nearly fell into the road on occasions, so that was not a pleasant start.

*I wouldn't normally ride on pavements AT ALL, but these footpaths are VERY rarely used (And here is great visibility as it's just a long straight road really), and I would be a decent road block for a fair few vehicles, and that's not even thinking about my own safety.
The time I went was not rush hour busy, but I wanted to find out if this was a viable solution, and it was not.

I digress - from the time I turned off the A339 to about 2.5 miles from the destination, it was all going well, roads were decent quality, wide enough, and no significant climbs to speak of at all really.

About 2 miles away the cycle paths of Basing came into play, and this is where it went wrong - really narrow, so no way to carry decent speed, and even in one instance a curb to bump up and down, so will be re-routing for the last bit.

The first bit (A339) seemed more tricky to fix, however I have plotted a route out west on the A4, and despite it irking me to start by going in the wrong direction, this cuts out the A339 totally, and only increases the mileage by less than a mile, which is great news.
That does bring one climb into it, but I don't think it is much to speak of.

Will try another recce of this new route sometime soon, and also work out a better way of completing the end bit with less cycle path involvement.

Speaking of which, not sure how much vitriol I will draw when I likely cycle on the actual A4, as they have wanged a load of segregrated cycle paths along a fair chunk of it's length, much to many motorists dismay, but apparently you basically have to give way to eveyrthing else as you cycle along it :roll: Making steady progress somewhat tricky.