Does anyone know about cycling from Stansted Airport station? I know you can't go on the Express trains with a bike, but there are others (I think). It's the nearest station to Great Dunmow for the Horsepower event, and the M11 junction is a mess at the moment if I use BS. Otherwise Elsenham might be OK, but I don't think there are so many trains.
Is there any reason not to get a train there and just head off into the wilds of Essex? Will they make me fly to Australia or something instead?
If you decided on Bishop’s Stortford, as you head out on the Dunmow Road just pop onto the footpath after the golf club and go through the services. That brings you out on the M11 roundabout, and the bit you use when heading east isn’t impacted by the roadworks. For the return, you can also use the services and exit on the footpath on the Dunmow Road, or I usually just stick to the road - it’s a single lane down to the Dunmow Road exit, but the traffic light phasing means I can get there before the next batch of cars come along. If there was a car behind, I would take a central position on the lane and indicate to turn early.
You can get to Stansted Airpoort with the bike. The first bit on the road from there would be a dual carriageway where drivers are not going to be expecting cyclists, but you’d soon be off that. The return might be a bit more tricky as bikes technically aren’t allowed on the Stansted Express, so you might be blocked … I’ve never tried it, so don’t know if that happens in practice.
Other options would be Elsenham or Sawbridgeworth, but as you say, fewer trains go there so you’d need to be more mindful of train times.
