Beyond London - Crawley specifically

Moving down to Crawley from Manchester at the beginning of January at pretty short notice. Not familiar with the area at all and was wondering if anyone knowledgeable could give me an idea of what the area is like for access to London.

Been told Crawley is a bit weird so wanna be getting into London as much as possible, looking at the trains i gather its on the line into Croydon? Is it plausible to be riding in?

Basically trying to work out whether regularly getting into town for events and rides (beers, guessing it'd be south/southeast, rollapaluza league, herne hill etc) is gonna be problematic.

Any help appreciated, feeling a bit out of my depth!

er.........nah, I'll leave it for someone else to break the bad news

Crawley's a fair bit further south than Croydon (about 15-20 mins on the train). Cycling is pretty good in the area, and you can get out into the countryside immediately. Getting into London by bike is another matter, but Southern trains have bike carrying capacity.

I'm from Horsham which is 10ish miles from Crawley so I might be able to help.

Crawley is pretty shitty, it is rideable (just like anything is) but getting the train is the sensible option. Trains to Clapham Junction will be your best bet and will take around 40 minutes. Southern trains always have a bike carridge so it's not too bad getting the train. Not really worth it for drinks everyweek but for big forum rides or events it won't be much trouble at all.

As James said you can get out in to the sticks really easily and there are some nice quite roads about, I'd suggest getting some gears though.

Crawley's a fair bit further south than Croydon (about 15-20 mins on the train). Cycling is pretty good in the area, and you can get out into the countryside immediately. Getting into London by bike is another matter, but Southern trains have bike carrying capacity.

I'm from Horsham which is 10ish miles from Crawley so I might be able to help.

Crawley is pretty shitty, it is rideable (just like anything is) but getting the train is the sensible option. Trains to Clapham Junction will be your best bet and will take around 40 minutes. Southern trains always have a bike carridge so it's not too bad getting the train. Not really worth it for drinks everyweek but for big forum rides or events it won't be much trouble at all.

As James said you can get out in to the sticks really easily and there are some nice quite roads about, I'd suggest getting some gears though.

thanks for the help, figured i'd be able to cycle to three bridges and get the train from there as they seem to run more regularly

kind of what i feared about crawley, although i'm originally from st helens in the north west so can't be much worse than that (i hope)

got a road bike too, hoping to get into more competitive riding/poss. triathlons. you familiar with any cycling clubs in the area? hoping to head to herne hill fairly regularly too, maybe for weekend rides.

Herne Hill is pretty easy to get to from Crawley but it takes around an hour by train. Palmer Park in Brighton is probably closer and more straightforward to get to. Drop someone like andy or babydinotrackboy a line on here, as they ride there.

Given it's proximity to Gatwick I'd take earplugs if you're a light sleeper.