Cycle the Underground,overground,wombling free,making a tube map for a poster for me

Finished! Yesterday I completed the riding part of this mammoth mission. This was followed by some well earned celebratory beers, so I did'nt get round to writing it up yesterday..

After tweaking my original draft route and writing out the notes for the Piccadilly line, which took ages as usual, I really could'nt be arsed to plot a scenic route to Heathrow. So I braved the rush hour along the A4. I've done just about every other horrible junction in London, so why not.

The terminals are'nt in order so I decided to go round the whole site, starting at Henlys roundabout, where I took an inverse Scoblebrick photo.

My notes said to turn right to Terminals 1,2 &3 when I got to Nene Road, despite the signs suggesting I should turn left. I overruled common sense and went right, and spent a mile or so overruling my inner homing pigeon, before admitting defeat and turning around. Immediately after here:

there was a really good cycle tunnel which would make a great drag strip for some cycle sprints.
The first of 53 stations for the day

Lucy and the sky with wheelbarrows installation at Terminal 5

After Terminal 5 I had the wind on my back and blasted round the rest of the site before a sarnie break at Hatton Cross. I say blasted, but looking the speed it says I barely broke 10mph?? Anyone else notice any issues with the speed on the Ridewithgps site recently? My ride out to Heathrow had a higher average speed than the top speed, err how? Over the course of the Piccadilly line it said my max speed was 16.8 mph, pfft. Looking at the 'time spent at each speed' graph I spent 35 minutes doing 17mph, 26 mins at 18mph, 16mins at 19mph, so something is obviously wrong there. I don't have a speedometer and like to think I'm not bothered by speed, but this is obviously not strictly true. It was especialy crushing to see such lowly speeds as I thought I'd made really good time on this line overall.

Shortly after Hounslow East I cut up a ped path up the side of the rail tracks, it was like the path the council forgot. It had the worst surface of anything I'd come across and had a street light fallen across the path. I felt like the first person up there for years.

I cut through a nice calm section after Park Royal, which had a few wiers, and a nice circular path through some gardens with various ponds.

But there was construction work on 3 sides and they'd put up hoardings blocking all the exists so struggled to find a way out. I then pressed on to Uxbridge which was rather boring as I'd ridden this stretch already.

I sat on the benches for a peanut butter sarnie in Uxbridge and got chatting to a little old pensioner lady, who really made me laugh. She said she'd only left the house to buy some bread, had bought some but by the time she'd got back to bus stop realised she now longer had it, and must have put it down somewhere, so had to go and buy some more. The old grey matter is not what it once was she mused. As we were chatting a tattooed and heavily pierced rocker aged about 50 asked if he could squeeze in between us, and we all had a chin wag together. It must have looked like a scene from a comedy sketch or the beginning of a joke. We chatted about the weather (of course), the removal of benches to sit down on at Uxbridge tube/bus station, without a corresponding increase in buses. I told them what I was doing and they both wished me luck and a safe journey, before their bus arrived and they were gone. That perked me up for the leg back to Acton Town, and from there, no more branch lines, thank ye gods for that.

I had a near miss as a women and her two young children, not in the mood for waiting for the green man tried to make an impatient dash across the 3 lanes of Coventry Street by Piccadilly Circus, until I bellowed out a NOOOO! which almost made her jump out of her skin. Honestly of all the places to try such a move, she should be reported to Social Services. Otherwise the section through Central London went quickly and without incident.

I did a nice cut through a previously unridden section of path to Krapyrubsnif, onto the always congested Green Lanes before climbing up to the finish in Cockfosters. I was pretty pleased with my route today. It probably had the most paths and sections not on Streetview of any line ridden so far, and had loads of bits I've not ridden before, so I was a bit apprehensive about getting lost, especially as I don't have an A-Z anymore after cutting mine up last week to make my ginormous map. There were only 1 or 2 very slight errors but I don't think I strayed off course by more than 200 metres all day.

Before starting this project I'd never heard of Charles Holden, but he deserves a mention. He designed many London Underground stations in the 1920's and 30's, and many other buildings including Bristol Central Library and UCL's Senate House. Many of his building, including the stations have been granted listed status. The Piccadilly line perhaps best showcases his designs. Here's just 2 examples.

Personally I much prefer the curves of the flying saucer like station at Southgate

The Piccadilly line came out at 78.2 miles, so just shy of the Central lines 79.1 miles. Total mileage for the day, excluding the bicycle tag jaunt which came later, was 107.6 miles. Total mileage for the entire project is 913.4 miles over 11 days riding from January to April. Despite the Bakerloo line shambles, I'm perhaps most pleased that I did it all without a sat nav, and did'nt let that deter me from chosing winding back routes all over the place. I'm sure you've never wondered what the written directions for such an undertaking look like, but I'm going to show you anyway. Each row represents a line, in the order I rode them.

Perhaps the most surprising thing is despite my tyres being pretty thrashed I've only had 1 puncture to slow me down. Perhaps the least surprising, for us at least, is that for speed, flexibility, efficiency, value, and enjoyment, the bicycle is by far the best way to get around London, and I love mine a little more.

In case anyone asks if I fancy doing the bus network, the answer is a resounding NO. I've done a big stint of city riding and am looking forward to some quiet country lanes.

Underground
18th January Victoria line- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2168039
16 stations
18th Jan Central line- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2168037
49 stations
18th Jan, 26th & 27th Feb Bakerloo line- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2284876
25 stations
21st Jan Jubilee line- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2179359
27 stations
21st Jan Metropolitan line- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2179362
34 stations
22nd Jan Waterloo & City line- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2181152
2 stations
22nd Jan Circle line- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2181146
36 stations
21st Feb District Line- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2259166
60 stations
21st Feb Hammersmith & City- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2259143
29 stations
26th Feb Northern line- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2282509
50 stations
4th April Piccadilly Line- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2430829
53 stations

Overground
15th Mar Overground 1 Stratford, Willesden Junc, Ricmond, Willesden, Clapham Junction- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2345908
28 Stations
14th Mar Overground 2 Clap Junc, New Cross, West Croydon, Highbury & Islington- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2341571
29 stations
13th Mar Overground 3 Gospel Oak to Barking- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2338449
12 stations
13th Mar Overground 4 Euston to Watford Junction- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2338455
19 stations

DLR
23rd Mar Docklands Light Railway- http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2380539
- 45 stations

I can now concentrate on making the maps.