Anyone ridden A4 recently?

jeepie
jeepie Posts: 497
edited December 2008 in Road beginners
Planning to do 100 miles + but my country lane route in South Oxfordshire may be too dangerous due to ice. Therefore I am planning a backup of going along the A4 between Reading and Swindon-ish....

Has anyone ridden this recently?
Is it icy? Or fine due to gritting and the number of cars?
Is visibility on the route good and is the road wide all the way? I'm thinking safety here as the A4 will be quite fast....
Any safety tips or advice in general?

Thanks

J

Comments

  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Horrible piece of road - I avoid it whenever I can on the ocassional forays towards Pangbourne and Goring - too many fast cars / big trucks particularly between Reading and Thatcham. There are plenty of good roads to the south and north running parallel to the A4 - between Theale and Newbury, stick to the northside through places like Bucklebury - drop south to pass through Newbury and again cross back over to the North into the Vale of the White Horse for the ride towards Swindon.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • mididoctors2
    mididoctors2 Posts: 96
    avoid
  • jeepie
    jeepie Posts: 497
    OK. That's fairly conclusive. Was actually planning on going out to Buckleberry, but having had my bike wheel go on the ice was a little nervous about the ice on these country lanes. Fingers crossed the ice clears soon!

    Thanks for your replies.
  • bahzob
    bahzob Posts: 2,195
    Live in Newbury. A4 isnt too bad. We use it for time trials and I include in training routes if conditions bad. You dont really want to ride it all the way from Reading but once get to Aldermaston itsfine.

    Its quite wide with good visibility so at this time of year I quite often use it in preference to the country lanes. Latter can get dicey especially if you meet 4x4 coming other way, A4 is definitely safer, if less scenic.

    When/if you get to Newbury, if Swindon is your destination, then B4000 is excellent road. Straight and wide, quite a bit of it newly tarmacced in preparation for national 10 which will be held on it next May.
    Martin S. Newbury RC
  • el_presidente
    el_presidente Posts: 1,963
    bahzob wrote:
    B4000 is excellent road. Straight and wide,.

    part of the old Roman road from Silchester to Cirencester, history fans
    <a>road</a>
  • toontra
    toontra Posts: 1,160
    I regularly (well, a few times a year) ride the A4 from London to Bath and I've never had any problems. Doesn't seem worse than any other main road and a lot better than some. Pan flat from London to Hungerford, then gently undulating with great scenery (Avebury, Silbury Hill).

    I usually go on Saturdays so probably less heavy traffic.

    a serious case of small cogs

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