Quiet route from Holborn to London Bridge

His desire to get it right is fantastic but the lack of initiative displayed and inability to understand that there is often more than one solution (personal preference, cost etc) have started to become quite tiresome. As such there are moments when rather than just telling him to HTFU, UTFS etc some slightly more humorous and less constructive comments are made.

You and a lot of others overlook how real or unreal my ignorance actually is. I know more than you think - I ask so many questions because even talking to friends or googling for hours on end I realise there is no one answer to anything. I often word things in inflammatory/ignorant/silly ways because I know it teases answers out of people, and it summarises all the info out there from people who I know will think like me, as opposed to people on bike radar. I prioritise getting a decent answer above my publicl image.

I consider this forum as having 'the final say'; it either agrees or disagrees with what I have found out prior to starting a topic, and I take its advice as final, principally because I respect you lot so much.

(There, I have admitted by tactics - which will no probably no longer work)

It just gets exhausting that you seem incapable of just trying something for yourself, being a bit more independent and, sorry to say it, grown up.

Totally unfair -

Already I am doing some basic mechanics.
Already I met up with Scott as he kindly allowed me to borrow one of this bags.
Already I ride recreationally all over London to explore new places (i only wanted some advice over a specific route).

And, most of all, coming on to this forum, and following single speed, is in itself a minority pursuit; if I was incapable of being indepedent, I would be riding geared with a Flourescent Hump Respro backpack.

If I am anything, Will, I am inpatient.

I am inpatient

I hope its nothing serious

Dear Paul

Rather than rile people with faux stupidity it may be more useful to do a search and then bump old threads on the issues at hand. The "stupid tactic" just serves to lose the point of the thread as people try to derail them. It is more useful to develop old threads than to continually start them on subjects that have been discussed ad infinitum/nauseam.

The forum does not have a final say, what works for one person may not for another (otherwise we would all be riding identical bikes).

I would question your respect for the advice here on the forum because it has been suggested countless times that you UTFS.

If you continually play dumb how do you expect to be treated?

You and a lot of others overlook how real or unreal my ignorance actually is. I know more than you think - I ask so many questions because even talking to friends or googling for hours on end I realise there is no one answer to anything. I often word things in inflammatory/ignorant/silly ways because I know it teases answers out of people, and it summarises all the info out there from people who I know will think like me, as opposed to people on bike radar. I prioritise getting a decent answer above my publicl image.

I consider this forum as having 'the final say'; it either agrees or disagrees with what I have found out prior to starting a topic, and I take its advice as final, principally because I respect you lot so much.

(There, I have admitted by tactics - which will no probably no longer work)

just get down to a car boot in tamworth and get a raleigh lizard

I'll treat the OP as real...

I used to ride this all the time and it'd better coming back the other way - I can't remember which streets are one-way, you'll need to check it. But from Holborn crossroads by the station, head south down Aldwych, on the way back, you'll come out right at the top, next to the station. Think you have to go down a couple of streets and cut in left there instead. Ride across Lincolns Inn Fields, which is empty at all times of the day. Watch out for tramps getting soup from the van if you're going very early - they mill in the road a bit. At the bottom corner of LIF, you're on Serle St and then left into Carey St. Then I think you can go down Bell Yd which is a dead end but you just hop off, cross 5yds of pavement and you're on Fleet St. Belt down the downhill end of Fleet St and across the crossroads, unfortunately, this is followed by pedalling up Ludgate Hill but because of all the buses and stuff, you're usually well shielded and the climb is good for you. ;-) After that, you have a little maze of street on your right that you can wiggle down to avoid traffic if you need to. I was never much fussed, so I just used to bomb down Cannon St all the way. It's got cars on it but it moves pretty smoothly. Much nicer than Victoria St and waaayyy better than Upper Thames St for some reason. Then you're at the top of the bridge...

But as I said, it is a better route coming the other way - particularly Lincolns Inn Fields. Even just a minute of silence and trees and grass on your commute does wonders for the soul.

Depending on where you go after Holborn (or before, depending on which way you're going), cutting out of the top of LIF and into Red Lion St brings you up towards Lambs Conduit Passage which is also a nice quiet moment on your commute. And you can look at all the recliners outside Bikefix as you pass as well.

Enjoy.

Tim

I'll treat the OP as real...

I used to ride this all the time and it'd better coming back the other way - I can't remember which streets are one-way, you'll need to check it. But from Holborn crossroads by the station, head south down Aldwych, on the way back, you'll come out right at the top, next to the station. Think you have to go down a couple of streets and cut in left there instead. Ride across Lincolns Inn Fields, which is empty at all times of the day. Watch out for tramps getting soup from the van if you're going very early - they mill in the road a bit. At the bottom corner of LIF, you're on Serle St and then left into Carey St. Then I think you can go down Bell Yd which is a dead end but you just hop off, cross 5yds of pavement and you're on Fleet St. Belt down the downhill end of Fleet St and across the crossroads, unfortunately, this is followed by pedalling up Ludgate Hill but because of all the buses and stuff, you're usually well shielded and the climb is good for you. ;-) After that, you have a little maze of street on your right that you can wiggle down to avoid traffic if you need to. I was never much fussed, so I just used to bomb down Cannon St all the way. It's got cars on it but it moves pretty smoothly. Much nicer than Victoria St and waaayyy better than Upper Thames St for some reason. Then you're at the top of the bridge...

But as I said, it is a better route coming the other way - particularly Lincolns Inn Fields. Even just a minute of silence and trees and grass on your commute does wonders for the soul.

Depending on where you go after Holborn (or before, depending on which way you're going), cutting out of the top of LIF and into Red Lion St brings you up towards Lambs Conduit Passage which is also a nice quiet moment on your commute. And you can look at all the recliners outside Bikefix as you pass as well.

Enjoy.

Tim

Thanks Tim, sounds like a good route. I will try it out.

paul

Yeah, watch out for Ludgate Hill, it's a killer. You may need to gear down. Lycra is a must. Take some energy gels for recovery.

Yeah, watch out for Ludgate Hill, it's a killer. You may need to gear down. Lycra is a must. Take some energy gels for recovery.

Not funny. Many people haven't returned to base camp.

Thanks Tim, sounds like a good route. I will try it out.

paul

I'm sorry if this is well known - don't know how much TfL publicised it but my mate built a lot of the stuff that went into the Routes system that works out the here-to-there calculations, so I got to hear about this very early on. Apologies if there are any grannies out there who aren't into egg-sucking.

On the TfL website, they have an A-to-B route planner for cyclists. It's not perfect but it's bloody good for something that's free to use.

Go to www.tfl.gov.uk and under the Journey Planner is a link to Advanced options. Stick in your Travelling From... and Travelling To... plus time of day and scroll down a bit. Either untick everything and tick Cycle as your preferred mode of transport, or go further down for the "I want a cycle-only route" option.

It'll generate you a route which it stores on PDFs you can read using Adobe Acrobat Reader (which is free to download if you haven't got it). You can save the PDF to your PC for routes you're likely to do again. You can print out and carry with you, if you have a colour printer as well. It works out journey times and distances for you etc. Plus, it has roads on the map marked to show where you're cycling along a canal or park, quiet roads recommended by cyclists and roads which have marked cycleways on them.

So if you want to have a furtle about with different routes from here to there, it's a great utility and you don't want to pore over a cycle map for ages. Oh, and TfL will send you cycle maps for free as well, if you ask them.

Enjoy.

Yeah, watch out for Ludgate Hill, it's a killer. You may need to gear down. Lycra is a must. Take some energy gels for recovery.

There's nowt wrong wi' lycra!!!

Hey, I even have some gel-filled shorts, for that "just-pooed-yourself" look. ;-)

I use 18 pints for that look.