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The DLR rule is stupid. The carriages are bigger than some of the tube lines. Fair enough no peak time travel but no off peak is ridiculous.
I queried it with them. They started off life as a separate organisation to London Underground and got brought into Transport for London much later (that's why you used to have to blip into and out of the DLR to continue your tube journeys). The problem is not because of technical difficulties or health and safety issues. Apparently it is an insurance issue - they are not insured to carry bikes. Which is an arse when you are north of the river and your girlfriend lives in Greenwich and it's after 7pm at night and you have to walk through the Greenwich foot tunnel with your bike, including the down AND the up set of stairs. Caryying my bike up, well, both bikes in fact, because hers was a heavy mountain bike, so I carried it for her, up all 300-odd steps was unwanted effort after having cycled for miles. I definitely needed energy gels after that one. And lycra was a must.
BUT...
It looks like we could slap up the office of Mr Boris and nag them nicely to change their insurance criteria for the DLR, or however this is doen in a legalistic sense. One for the LCC, I suspect. But I think this one is definitely solveable with people-power.
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thank you from the bottom of my heart! this has been a struggle for us since we came from NYC & can take our bikes anywhere on the subway we want.
Don't forget the Overground Network too, which has recently been brought into the control of TfL and you can take your bikes on. So all the way from Richmond around to Stratford, plus Willesden Junction down to Clapham Junction too. Depending on where you live, that line can be pretty useful.
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I think most kids would love it. You see a few families on CM always. Join them!
Only thing: most tubes don't allow bikes. Overland ftw.
Oh, I am such a tube geek, I'm sorry...
You can take bikes on any SSL tubes (sub-surface layer). They're the proper ones, that stand up straight like a real train does - Hammersmith and City, District, Circle, Metropolitan and East London. Also, you can take them on any deep-line tubes (Bakerloo, Central, Victoria, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Waterloo and City), so long as you're on the above-ground sections - so Jubilee Line would be ok from Stanmore all the way to Finchley Road, for example. The DLT won't take anything but folding. And technically, only in a bike-bag too, but they never enforce that.
You have to travel after 7pm though, or at weekends. So depending on where we go with CM, we can cut to a circle line station without toooooo much ado I expect and tube round to Embankment or Monument, where we can walk to Ch X or London Br to get an overland home.
Little monkeys gonna sleep goooood that night! LOL
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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. ;-)
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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.
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I've never managed to get on CM, because of other commitments on Fridays - particularly last Friday of the month. But I know a few people who go - including the guy who provides the trike-drawn sound systems. So I do want to do it.
Tomorrow I got early shift, so I'll be a tiny bit pooped. Plus I have had a reaction to some meds that made Waterloo up to Great Portland Street feel like climbing the Matterhorn last night. Meds have been ditched as of this morning. Reckon I can make May's CM though, by which time the evenings should be pretty long and the nights much warmer.
I've got a question that just popped into my head though...
My little ones are 6 and 9. They both cycle ok and have done three mile rides with me. Would it be safe to tag a couple of little kids along with CM do you think? I'm guessing we'd have to bale early and hop on the tube to get home but I think it'd be an experience for them. We have up to 4 adults to surround them to keep them out of other people's wheels. Do any other people take kids on CM, or is it mostly for dawdly adults?
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Sorry, how does it make me a twat. If I wasn't such an experienced cyclist I would have hit him a lot fucking harder.
I rode my motorcycle into a cyclist once. He was new on the road, didn't know how to judge distances properly and pulled out of a side road in front of me. I slowed down and if I'm honest, I could have avoided him completely but I decided to deliberately bump him off his bike and dump him on his arse in the middle of the road to teach him a lesson. If I wasn't such an experienced motorcyclist, I'd've hit him a lot fucking harder. Except I did make the choice to hit him at all.
(^^^^ this is irony, by the way)
That's the same mentality black cabs use to excuse knocking us off our bikes. From a moral perspective that drags you down with the slugs, snails and pondweed of cabbiedom.
Secretly though, I still think it's kinda cool twatting up a super-car. ;-) And I do agree that some lesson has been taught. But he might've taken it in better if you'd been calm and rational. People who have fucked up do better with excusing themselves when they have been given a mouthful of abuse. It leaves them feeling aggreived, which they use to mask their guilt. When you remain calm, all they are left with is that guilt.
And you know the Lambo driver has a tiny penis too, so you should feel sorry for him.
Mind, that said, I am the hottest-headed nutter at times - especially when my blood is in full flow mid-ride, so I am no one to talk about remaining calm when stuff kicks off. This post is a definite "do as I say, not as I do"... slaps own wrists for hypocracy
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Trouble is with black cabs, they're stroppy buggers. They break every rule and cut every corner and they HATE that someone breaks more rules than them (bikes running reds). So they take it out on every cyclist. I tried contacting the LTO but they aren't interested in anything that isn't a violation of their licence. Road traffic issues are irrelevant to them.
BUT...
I've often thought of reporting them for not stopping when they have their light on (a minor fib LOL). The LTO can slap them for that. If they get three black marks in the register book, they get a rap across the knuckles and have their licence removed and have to reapply for it. So rather than argue with the cabbie, stick your head in the back and tell the passengers to report them to the LTO. I'm not sure what the LTO think of a cabbie getting out to argue whilst he has passengers - that one I don't know. But they might consider that a bad-mark offence. Just get the cab number from the plate at the back and let's see if we can slap them into shape a bit.
The worst drivers on the road though are without question the LT Licenced Minicab people. Just one look at that blue badge in the back window and I give them a seriously wide berth. Like about two counties, if I could. They change lanes without looking, drive on the phone, etc. Now they should also be reportable to TfL as well.
Speaking of which, it's not necessarily a waste of time to flood Boris's inbox with email after email about leary cabbie behaviour (including cab numbers won't hurt at all). He runs Transport for London who "own" both the London Taxi Office (who run the black cabs) and the licenced minicabs too. It might get a few arses kicked...
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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 haven't had any major stacks since I was a kid. But the I don't ride like a psycho turbo nutter bastard with flames coming out of his arse either. I've dropped the bike a couple of times as an adult but came out without much of a scratch really. The funniest of the two was depths of winter couple of years ago, aiming to stop at the Chinese near my mate's house on the way to the station, so I could chom some dinner on the train. Looking around for where he's told me the shop is - look left, right, left, scanning the dark street intently. Suddnly, I see it! Slap on both brakes and there's either oil or ice on the road because the bike locks up, no scraping skid noise, just both wheels decide to move independently of me and the bike calmly turns sideways like I'm on glass before I can let go of the brakes (or maybe I froze a bit!). And then the tyres suddenly decide to bite whilst I'm almost sideways and the bike stopped dead pitching me straight off (but not at massive speed). I landed on my hands and rolled, then slid to a halt on my back. I do remember seeing the bike cartwheel over my head as I was on my back and that was that. No real damage, thanks to having gloves and helmet looking after me as I hit the floor. Wouldn't have been major damage without a lid though I don't think (I have a pretty thick skull) but better to have no headache at all I reckon. The waterproof over-jacket did a lot of the sliding for me too, it got a minor tear. Apart from that, scott-free. The worst bit was seeing the bumber of a 4x4 heading towards me as I was on the floor, worrying it hadn't seen me.