Route planning - south of London to the Olympic Velodrome
Discussion
Looking for advice, 6 of us have a track taster session at the Velodrome in April. Two weekends later, I am hoping to do the Fred Whitton, so want to ride more than an hour on this weekend!
How knackering is the taster session? I've never ridden a fixie track bike before, but it is only an hour, at least some of which will be instruction and gentle intro, so I am not going to be too done in from that am I?
I think there is parking for bikes at the velodrome, does anyone have an opinion on whether it is safe to leave your pride and joy outside for a couple of hours?
I would probably train it to Croydon, are there cycle routes to the velodrome from there, or would it be god-awful south London roads? I'd cross the river at Greenwich or maybe the Woolwich ferry. It's a Sunday though, will 6 of us be able to get on a train with our bikes?
Coming back I might ride the whole way, or just reverse the route in.
How knackering is the taster session? I've never ridden a fixie track bike before, but it is only an hour, at least some of which will be instruction and gentle intro, so I am not going to be too done in from that am I?
I think there is parking for bikes at the velodrome, does anyone have an opinion on whether it is safe to leave your pride and joy outside for a couple of hours?
I would probably train it to Croydon, are there cycle routes to the velodrome from there, or would it be god-awful south London roads? I'd cross the river at Greenwich or maybe the Woolwich ferry. It's a Sunday though, will 6 of us be able to get on a train with our bikes?
Coming back I might ride the whole way, or just reverse the route in.
Taster session will be very easy, it's designed for complete newbies. At a guess you'll do a few drills then be back into the track centre for a breather. If you do more than 10 minutes on track at a time I'll be surprised.
Bike parking is indoors past reception, take a lock, should be fine.
Bike parking is indoors past reception, take a lock, should be fine.
Daveyraveygravey said:
Looking for advice, 6 of us have a track taster session at the Velodrome in April. Two weekends later, I am hoping to do the Fred Whitton, so want to ride more than an hour on this weekend!
How knackering is the taster session? I've never ridden a fixie track bike before, but it is only an hour, at least some of which will be instruction and gentle intro, so I am not going to be too done in from that am I?
I think there is parking for bikes at the velodrome, does anyone have an opinion on whether it is safe to leave your pride and joy outside for a couple of hours?
I would probably train it to Croydon, are there cycle routes to the velodrome from there, or would it be god-awful south London roads? I'd cross the river at Greenwich or maybe the Woolwich ferry. It's a Sunday though, will 6 of us be able to get on a train with our bikes?
Coming back I might ride the whole way, or just reverse the route in.
I just finished the accreditation process at Lee Valley last week.How knackering is the taster session? I've never ridden a fixie track bike before, but it is only an hour, at least some of which will be instruction and gentle intro, so I am not going to be too done in from that am I?
I think there is parking for bikes at the velodrome, does anyone have an opinion on whether it is safe to leave your pride and joy outside for a couple of hours?
I would probably train it to Croydon, are there cycle routes to the velodrome from there, or would it be god-awful south London roads? I'd cross the river at Greenwich or maybe the Woolwich ferry. It's a Sunday though, will 6 of us be able to get on a train with our bikes?
Coming back I might ride the whole way, or just reverse the route in.
I skipped the taster and went straight in to Stage 1 but, like stage 1, the taster will be tame in terms of intensity. Mostly getting you used to controlling your speed on a fixed. Then using that to hold a constant gap, riding smoothly round the lines progressively higher up the banking and getting you in the habit of always looking over your shoulder before changing line. Nothing taxing.
There's a bike rack in reception but take a lock. They don't allow you to take road bikes with you down to the track centre.
The travel planner on the TfL website is worth a look. Go to the cycling tab, put in your start and finish locations, and it gives you easy, moderate & hard routes, where easy = quieter roads & paths, possibly longer, and usually slower average speed, with hard being "pretend you're a car".
Why is organising something fun for 5 people such hard work?! Still trying to work out a 30 mile/2 hour route into the veldrome from somewhere south-ish. We're going to drive up to Dorking/Reigate somewhere around there and then ride in. Trouble is that means the drive is through all the nice quiet countryside and then we ride in the busiest bit!
Daveyraveygravey said:
Why is organising something fun for 5 people such hard work?! Still trying to work out a 30 mile/2 hour route into the veldrome from somewhere south-ish. We're going to drive up to Dorking/Reigate somewhere around there and then ride in. Trouble is that means the drive is through all the nice quiet countryside and then we ride in the busiest bit!
Where are you coming from? Is it an option to ride to Woking, Guildford, Dorking or Redhill then get a train in? Either leave your bikes there, festooned with many, many bike locks, or spread yourselves across several carriages, take them with you and figure out a quiet route for the last leg to the Velodrome?Alternatively, drive to Dorking the evening before in convoy, leave however many cars you need there overnight, then ride to them in the morning and drive the rest of the way in?
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