Ride every road

In May 2013 an idea entered my head, to ride every road in London. I looked at the map. I calculated how long it would take to ride from home in Acton to the furthest reaches of London and back, and realised the scale of the M25 is too much. I got realistic and worked out that I could at a push do everything within the north and south circular. 20miles across at the most = 1 hour there, 1 hour back and 1 hour riding everything I could get my tires on. Anywhere closer and I could either do a quicker ride, or do a larger ride every road area. Enough ground can be covered in a <3 hour ride, especially after 9pm, betterlater, when most of London's 8 million are watching tv.

I don't plan routes exactly. I started doing these by just going anywhere, picking a few main roads to delineate an area and ride everything in between. Quickly realised that London has no pattern, is dense, and infinitely varied. And that it takes an hour at least for 1sq km. But sometimes, like close to the center, it can easily take an hour for just 0.5sq km. No matter what though, whether it was straight terraced houses (rare), industrial estates (they're a treat), estates (plentiful, but surprisingly pleasing to ride around at night), or absolutely anything else in between, every ride without fail has been fun, surprising, eye opening and/or rewarding in some or other way.

My 'rules' are that if I can ride down it, I go. Anything I can roll along I go on. There is definitely an element of urban cyclocross here. I ride to be as efficient and flowing as possible. Dead ends don't mean there's nothing there to see. Curb hoping is an often used skill. Pedestrians ALWAYS have right of way. Make all attempts not to startle, be courteous, say thank you. I don't want to be that prick on a bike on the pavement. Ideally, I aim to be invisible. It does feel safer to ride quickly through places I would feel vulnerable passing through on foot. There are some intimidatingly dark alleys out there late on a week night where speed is your only defense. Otherwise a little happy smile/thumbs up can help ease the vibe a bit when stumbling across whatever people are doing late at night down dark alleys. Plus speed!

The rides there and back are just done as quickly as possible.

I have done a lot of these rides now and it isn't getting boring. At all. I've found something I love, and want to share, hence this baring all. I guess I have been trying to convince myself that these rides are awesome and that there would be others out there that would think so too, and that feeling is just getting stronger.

So, if you still reading and want to join in, how would this work? Flexibility is key for which days, but about 2 per week. I usually ride on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday Wednesday or Thursday or combo of these. I only look for a place to ride just before setting off. Leave Acton after 9pm getting to start of area about 45min later. Hour of blasting about, then home by 12ish. Flexible working hours help. Getting there and back is half the fun, but I do just go as hard as possible, so if hammering it across London is not your idea of fun, then meeting somewhere in vicinity of the RER area can work. I'll therefore start posting at around 9pm on the evening of a ride.

Or of course, if you want to try youself to see if what it's like, well, I can answer any questions so you don't make all the mistakes I have repeatedly made. But it is complicated getting all the roads without duplicating, so following someone (me!) will be easier. Of course I'd be happy to follow too. I have over the years developed a heuristic based "system", basically just repeatedly making mistakes, which has resulted in a style of riding relatively efficient whilst maintaining flow and fun. I have tried fixed and geared, and fixed is better imho.

I would never have dreamed that a Hellraiser 2 quote would be appropriate, but anyways, in closing: "The mind is a labyrinth, ladies and gentlemen. A puzzle. And while the paths of the brain are clearly visible, its ways deceptively patterned, its destinations are unknown, its secrets still secrets. And, if we are honest, it is the lure of the labyrinth that draws us to our chosen field, to unlock those secrets. Others have been here before us and have left us signs, but we, as explorers of the mind, must devote our lives and energies to going further, to tread the unexplored corridors in the hope of finding ultimately...the final solution: we have to see, we have to know".

tl;dr come ride all the roads