[LEL17] Paddington to the start

[marvin]

Hi all
I am travelling from Bristol on Saturday and am due to arrive into Paddington around 11.30am.  Please can someone suggest a reasonable route to cycle or a train service that will take me somewhere closer to the start?
I've tried planning a route but have no idea how reliable the suggested route is. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23515975
Thanks
M

[mongo]

Use the tfL website to plan your trip: https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/

You can go from Paddington Underground to Liverpool Street Station by District or H&C line

& then take the overground to Chingford Station

Will take 55min or so

Chingford is ~7km from the start

[Pip]

Hi Marvin, kilometres 14 to 20 are on the canal towpath, and 23-27 are through Epping Forest on a track. I wouldn't be over keen to ride these sections on my audax bike, but they are quiet and rideable. The rest of the route consists mainly of busy roads.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

According to https://tfl.gov.uk/tube-dlr-overground/status/?Input=&lineIds=&dateTypeSelect=Future%20date&direction=&startDate=2017-07-30T00%3a00%3a00&endDate=2017-07-30T23%3a59%3a59#line-raillo-overground
No service on the Chingford Overground this Sunday.

[Anthony]

Your rwgps route looks fine to me but I would be tempted to stay off the towpath [edit — and out of the forest] to help avoid getting dust/sand/grit all over your bike before the start

The typical and well-trodden route out from East London to Essex is via Lea Bridge Roundabout and the A104 Woodford/Epping Road. It's ok. You'll fork right after Woodford Green to get to Loughton

Alternatively, bikes are allowed on the central line after Stratford — so you could get to Loughton that way.

[hellymedic]

The OP is arriving on Saturday.

The Ride London FreeCycle will close some Central London roads.

The Circle Line should be able to take bicycles towards Liverpool Street Station.

[Anthony]

PS if you do ride the above rwgps route on Sat, be sure to stop at Beavertown Brewery (14km, open from 2pm) — oh yes

Information courtesy of Audax Club Hackney, your eternal guides to getting drunk before the start 

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I am aware he is travelling on Saturday. Somebody else may refer to a LEL thread "to the start".

[LMT]

Hi Marvin, kilometres 14 to 20 are on the canal towpath, and 23-27 are through Epping Forest on a track. I wouldn't be over keen to ride these sections on my audax bike, but they are quiet and rideable. The rest of the route consists mainly of busy roads.

Agreed with the above.

A nice route by and large, if you want to spin the legs then you can do some laps around Regents Park which is the one of the main training loops in North London. If it's been raining the day before be advised regarding the canal towpath, having ridden that your bike will get covered in shite.

[Veloman]

Why not ride to Liverpool Street Station and catch a train to Ponders End (17min) and then the short ride to Registration?  Train fare is £6.20 (Anytime Day Single) without any railcard (Greater Anglia Trains and no bike reservation required with trains every 12min past the hour and 42min to the hour).  Far nicer places to ride near Registration than Central London, unless you want to ride there which is great fun!

[marvin]

Thanks all
I have updated the route https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23515975 to avoid the canal path and forest
Hellymedic/Veloman - The Liverpool Street suggestion looks good but it means either cycling through the centre to get there or catching the underground (I would rather the extra cycle than getting on and off trains with a loaded bike).  I was hoping to jump on a train out of Paddington to get me out of the worst of the city traffic but it clearly doesn't work like that.
Anthony - I can't see an obvious route to the Lea Bridge Roundabout?  I have a return ticket booked for the following Saturday so the Brewery may be option then!

[hellymedic]

In general, London railway terminals are arranged radially so Paddington, in West London serves areas to the west, Victoria and Waterloo serve the south and Liverpool Street serves the east and north-east, etc.

[Veloman]

Hellymedic/Veloman - The Liverpool Street suggestion looks good but it means either cycling through the centre to get there or catching the underground (I would rather the extra cycle than getting on and off trains with a loaded bike).  I was hoping to jump on a train out of Paddington to get me out of the worst of the city traffic but it clearly doesn't work like that.

Fair enough.  Route from Marylebone (virtually next to Paddington) to Liverpool Street is 7.3km and is quite benign as my tandem passenger found out who is not keen on traffic, so London was viewed with trepidation, but all went well!  And at least 11km from Ponders End so difference is only about 12km.

[αdαmsκι]

The Liverpool Street suggestion looks good but it means either cycling through the centre to get there or catching the underground (I would rather the extra cycle than getting on and off trains with a loaded bike).

FYI cycling to Liverpool St. station from Paddington can be done avoiding using a variety of cycle lanes & quiet-ish roads, rather than major roads, like so: https://goo.gl/maps/1DJadGssDj22

[wilkyboy]

This is the route I would use — a mix of bus/taxi/cycle lanes, lesser-used roads and residential, but there may be a Cycle Superhighway that would be better, I don't know.  Plus a bit of the Dunwich Dynamo route out of London — https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23420637

And from Ponders End station — https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23482537

And from Cheshunt station — https://ridewithgps.com/routes/22991642

[sizbut]

Wow, I read that so wrong to start with, until I understood you meant "a mix of bus lanes and cycle lanes" rather than multi-mode bus/taxi/cycle transport (do they even allow bikes on buses).

Personally the route you originally planned looked quite good and coming from Bristol, the traffic in that part of London hopefully won't be too much of a shock.

[Veloman]

The Liverpool Street suggestion looks good but it means either cycling through the centre to get there or catching the underground (I would rather the extra cycle than getting on and off trains with a loaded bike).

FYI cycling to Liverpool St. station from Paddington can be done avoiding using a variety of cycle lanes & quiet-ish roads, rather than major roads, like so: https://goo.gl/maps/1DJadGssDj22

And combined with a train to Chingford (very frequent) which is only 7km from Registration makes for a short and safe transit to the start!

[Veloman]

And from Ponders End station — https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23482537

Which goes right past Chingford Station!

[wilkyboy]

And from Ponders End station — https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23482537

Which goes right past Chingford Station!

Ha! I hadn't noticed that  

Me, I'm hoping to catch the Cambridge train to Cheshunt and cycle in from there.  A bit of a climb thru Epping Forest — should warm the legs up nicely for the start

[vorsprung]

I am arriving at Paddington at 1-ish on Saturday.   I'm taking the tube up to Debden with the bike.   Once I've registered I'll be back tracking to Hackney, I'm staying at my sister's flat overnight

[αdαmsκι]

I'm taking the tube up to Debden with the bike. 

How will you do that as you aren't allowed bicycles on the central line west of Leyton?

http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bicycles-on-public-transport.pdf

[grams]

How will you do that as you aren't allowed bicycles on the central line west of Leyton?

http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bicycles-on-public-transport.pdf

If you're willing to ride from Stratford to Leyton or Leytonstone High Road to Leytonstone it's easy enough.

(Edit: no service on the Gospel Oak to Barking line all weekend)

[vorsprung]

How will you do that as you aren't allowed bicycles on the central line west of Leyton?

http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bicycles-on-public-transport.pdf

If you're willing to ride from Stratford to Leyton or Leytonstone High Road to Leytonstone it's easy enough.

(Edit: no service on the Gospel Oak to Barking line all weekend)

Adamski, thanks, I didn't notice that.  Quite happy to ride from Stratford to Leyton.  I used to live around there.  Although that was before the Olympics so prolly the roads are all different

Actually, Circle / Metropolitan to Liverpool Street and then get the train to Maryland looks like a good option

[Veloman]

^^^^^ Surely cycling the 7km from Paddington to Liverpool Street would be a better option than lugging the bike around the Tube system?

[vorsprung]

^^^^^ Surely cycling the 7km from Paddington to Liverpool Street would be a better option than lugging the bike around the Tube system?

It might be but I rarely ride across London so I don't know the good routes.  And there are many many traffic lights.  I just want it to be easy.  I could ride all the way up to Loughton in theory