I did a crazy thing...

DeF said:

....and went for a ride in London.

Encountered a White Van Man yet? BTW - you should try to catch up with Hippy. 🙂

DeF said:

...and went for a ride in London.

They showed "28 days later" on TV this weekend. You'd have had no
problem with buses and cars in the scarily empty streets of London they
showed at the start [1]. Murderous, infected madmen are another matter
though!

Graeme

[1] *Very* effective and sending chills down your spine if you're used
to seeing those streets full of thousands of people.

"DeF" <""d.farrow\"@your finger.murdoch.edu.au"> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

...and went for a ride in London.

I haven't done any heavy traffic commuting for
many years but I thought it would be "fun" to
have a ride through London. I borrowed my mate's
bike (an old steely with index down-tube shifters)
and rode from Streatham (South of river) to UCL
(near Euston). This included riding part of the
Strand (where Australia House is, so this is topical
for a.b). Round trip was about 90 minutes which
included getting lost a couple of times.

Bikes are allowed in the bus lanes in London which
I was quite wary of. However, in practice, a bike
is generally faster than the buses and is certainly
faster away from lights. This meant that I often
had a lane to myself despite the heavy traffic.
Cars and buses seem much more aware of bikes there
than in Aus. Two scary moments I recall. One was
where I got a bit lost and ended up riding through
the Elephant and Castle Roundabout. Scary enough
in a car but a white-knuckled, wide-eyed ride on
two wheels. Once on the 3 or 4 laned roundabout,
there are no lane markings. Second was when I
nearly got cleaned up by a bus. Heavy traffic
and despite the green light, traffic in my direction
had stopped as the other side was blocked. UK
drivers generally do not queue over intersections.
I went to go across as there was plenty of room for
a bike however I didn't see (or look for!) the
double decker red bus coming from the other direction
turning right. Whoops.

PHHT, Duncan, that's nuffin'! I used to cycle through Hyde Park Corner
before they 'tamed' it and put traffic lights at all the intersections.

London's not a bad place to ride around, it certainly hones up your
defence/offensive cycling skills. In the winter months, on less used roads
you might have to contend with black ice, and with all the traffic the roads
can be very treacherous (slippery) when it rains. Nearly got run over by a
logging truck (yes they do exist over there!) when I came off riding around
the major arterial road on the south side of Vauxhall Bridge. Makes riding
around Perth seem like riding around a large country town. It'll give you a
bit of healthy perspective Duncan

Enjoy the rest of your stay, and if you can, enjoy a ride out into the
countryside around London. If not, the next best thing is exploring the
bike/walking paths of Hampstead Heath.

Graeme

Grazza said:

" If not, the next best thing is exploring the
bike/walking paths of Hampstead Heath.

I used to ride a lot from Queens Park across to Hampstead Heath, then down to Regents park. Can't remember having any hassles. Even took the bike on the ferry across to Belguim once.

BTW, can you still go swimming in the ponds on hampstead heath?

Quoted message said:

DeF

....and went for a ride in London.

OOH GOODY.. another "aus.bicycle goes to London" story! 😄

Riding in London is a daily event for thousands of locals..

Quoted message said:

Strand (where Australia House is, so this is topical
for a.b). Round trip was about 90 minutes which
included getting lost a couple of times.

hehe way to get on topic! :P
Can I get hide in Australia House muttering "diplomatic immunity" while the Old Bill search for me?

Quoted message said:

Cars and buses seem much more aware of bikes there
than in Aus. Two scary moments I recall. One was

Definately!! This amazed me when I started riding here.
That's the real reason I made it harder for myself going fixed 🙂

Quoted message said:

I went to go across as there was plenty of room for
a bike however I didn't see (or look for!) the
double decker red bus coming from the other direction
turning right. Whoops.

Don't worry, the ones that you don't see and avoid you are equalled by the ones that do see you and force you into the gutter.

Quoted message said:

Otherwise, riding in London was pretty good. Faster
than cars, bus or tube. Cheap and easy to park.

Especially if you really want a Jethro Tule and then Vic line goes down and and it takes a 2.5hr lunch break riding in buses to get back to the office..

Quoted message said:

Lots of riders there on all sorts of bikes which was
good to see. Not sure if it's the same story in the
colder months.

Still much more than in Melbourne but the numbers here do go down a lot.
Means there is plenty of room in the bike lockers and the shower is queue-free 🙂

hippy

cfsmtb said:

Encountered a White Van Man yet? BTW - you should try to catch up with Hippy. 🙂

WMV are everywhere. I reckon taxis are worse though
Yeah.. I know him.. can pass on his details if ya want..

not-really-hippy

quote='Graeme Dods'DeF said:

...and went for a ride in London.

They showed "28 days later" on TV this weekend. You'd have had no
problem with buses and cars in the scarily empty streets of London they
showed at the start [1]. Murderous, infected madmen are another matter
though!

Graeme

[1] *Very* effective and sending chills down your spine if you're used
to seeing those streets full of thousands of people.[/QUOTE]

Love this film!! It was made extra cool due to the fact I was walking down some of those "dead" streets at the time!

Apparently (and I think I blogged this..) they shot those scenes at 3-4am using light amplification gear (and handing out free pills to stop clubbers ruining the shots) 😉

hippy