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Cycle routes in London?

Tiring Tri ingTiring Tri ing Posts: 242
in General Chat
Hi



Does anyone have any suggestions for good cycle training routes in London (preferably in the centre)? I have found one road (South Carriage drive on the south side of Hyde Park) where a 1km stretch is closed to cars on Sundays so you can get up a good steady training speed by going up and down, but it is getting a bit boring. Other than that, every route I try seems to have 200 traffic lights and junctions per km. I've heard that Richmond park is good but it's a fair old distance away....



Any suggestions welcome



Mike

Comments

  • PC67PC67 Posts: 101
    Personally I think London is poor for taking my road bike out. I live in NW London and the best thing I can do locally is to lap the Outer Circle of Regent's Park, very popular with cyclists (just short of 5km I think per lap). There's a bit of traffic and some pedestrian lights to negotiate but it's about as good as it gets.



    Richmond Park is probably the best.



    I commute daily using a hybrid. I work in the Square Mile but I join the Regent's Canal towpath just after Little Venice and it takes me through just short of Angel. No traffic, just the odd goose, heron or sleeping tramp to negotiate. If you like you can leave the canal at Angel, go through Islington, and rejoin the canal and take it all the way to Canary Wharf / Limehouse. This is one of my favourites but it's a little bumpy and I'm not sure I'd take my best road bike on this route. It's traffic free though and you can get up a good bit of speed if there aren't too many pedestrians about.



    Sometimes I'll head over Hampstead - Highgate - Muswell Hill - Crouch End and do a couple of circuits. It's very hilly and quite good practice.



    The Square Mile itself is virtually dormant on weekends so a route taking in some of the above is good on a Sunday morning.

  • hillclimb1hillclimb1 Posts: 16
    hi

    strangely enough i do those exact two routes - south carriage is on the way to work so do a few laps of that sometimes in the mornings, and richmond park at weekends.



    Would say that if you can get to richmond park it is definitely worth it....11k loop with no need to stop for traffic lights etc. Someone else mentioned to me that Regents park has a smallish loop which is possible to cycle round - have not tried that yet though.

    Apart from that I dont know any other areas - please let me know if you find any though!
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