My van is causing me grief at the moment – spending far too much time and money on something which is old and probably going to die sooner rather than later anyway. I’m considering cutting my losses and running away.

I’m tempted to try going without a vehicle for a while, probably by joining a city car club and/or renting for weekends, or using trains perhaps. My main concern is that I won’t get away much as I’ll look at the cost of each trip individually – even though I’ll probably save loads by not having to own one. It seems unlikely I’d do any last minute day trips either. That said, a broken down van doesn’t help these things.

Does anyone do this? How do you find it? Any tips? I’m in Bristol, so while there are local trails, they aren’t enough to keep me happy and I like to get to proper mountains as often as I can.

3/4 of my rides are probably straight from the door.

I spend too much time commuting in a car so the last thing I want to do when I get home is get in the car again.

All my rides are from the door

I like to start with a train ride in the winter, cuts out 5 miles of boring riding or spending time jamming the bike in the car. Other than that, I’m enjoying using a gravel* bike at the moment: easy road ride out to trails, plenty of fast fun if you pick the right offroad route.
*possible made-up marketing bs name….

If you’re in Bristol, they I’d have guessed you could jump on the train to lots of interesting places to ride

You could also rent a car and lob the bike inside

Or you could buy a gravel bike (N+1) and do a bit more distance with some roads thrown in

I live a fair way from any decent off road trails.

During Hockey season the wife has the car, so my options are:
1) Cross bike around Richmond Park.
2) 40 mins ride/train/ride to Swinley / Surrey Hills / North Downs
3) Get a Zip Car (or van) for the afternoon and head somewhere further afield.
4) I book the car about 4 weeks and advance & wife makes other arrangements

4) is reserved for events I’ve paid for.
3) rarely happens because I think “£50? For an afternoon?” and bin it – despite us saving a couple of grand each year by not running two cars.
2) happens about once a month, if I haven’t commuted much that week
1) is boring, but good if I haven’t been out.

Just ride out of the door.

Always feels wrong to me putting a bike in a car.

All rides from the front door. Got some of Britain’s best and emptiest roads within 10 minutes here in Lancashire.

Anyone manage to get out biking without a car?

yes, 3-4 times a week.
Open shed, get bike out, close shed, ride

Wouldn’t have bought an MTB if I had to use the car

Yup me. trains to ride and ride from the door. Its about 8 miles to decent trails.

Provide guard with current password, Lower drawbridge, Feed Crocodiles, Raise portcullis, Deactivate landmines, Pacify Guard dogs, Switch off security system, Open shed, Open safe, Switch off high voltage electric current, Remove chains, remove shackles, get bike out, close shed, ride

FTFY. You can’t be too careful 😉

Where are you in Bristol? I have a car and drive out regularly. Also do some local riding but like you, it isn’t enough long term. BPW, Machen, Cwmcarn, Triscombe trips etc are always potential weekend trips.

Let me know if you want to join.

Can’t tolerate driving to ride these days – used to when I was younger and had more time. Only drive to events or somewhere further afield like a day in the Lakes or something now. The train gives some good options to get out from your local stuff, depending on where you live.

Only drawback is that this is a sure path to becoming a roadie. I’ve managed to hold this off up to now, but it’s in the post heading my way.

Thanks all. Yep for local stuff (Ashton court etc) I never take the car, and often go out on the road bike which is always from my door. But there’s only so much interest in that without getting away for weekends (I also walk/run/climb) and just like getting to proper mountains (e.g. Wales, Lakes, Scotland) as often as I can.

I got the van hoping I’d get away more, as I could stealth camp and not worry about having to find or book camping or accommodation. Think I’m probably going to give it a go without a car for a while and see what I manage to do.

Anyone want to buy a transit with (probably) a dodgy fuel pump?! 😀

A cheap car never cost me much to run. The key is to not need 100% reliability for a commute, you can get away with a knackered old rust-bucket and if it spends a few days at a local garage every so often, that’s no problem. It even earnt me a few quid when I got travel expenses which at 26p/mile were far more than the marginal cost of using it.

These days most riding is from the door but we can’t all be as lucky/choosy as I have been in deciding where to live. And I still drive quite regularly to rides further away.

Sounds like you have been unlucky with the van.

Bristol to the Lakes is 4 hours by train. Book in advance and split your fares for bargains.

If you join City Car Club it’s now part of enterprise. Some of the Enterprise weekend deals are very good. Or you can get the train to say Edinburgh and get a car club car to get you to say Peebles.

Find your nearest car club car here.

I surprised some people actually remember to breathe.
To ask how you manage to ride without a car is beyond me.

I can’t believe how many people get in the car/train for 5 miles to the trails!

I surprised some people actually remember to breathe.

I’m getting reasonably good at that these days. I have had a good few years practice I suppose.

Maybe I should have been clearer… I already do most of cycling from my door both on and off road. I would never drive even 10 miles to go for a cycle – that seems like a perfect warm up. But I do want to continue getting to more interesting places than Ashton court, and do like to get away for weekends. So was looking for people who do manage this, to give me a push to try it perhaps.

As an example, I spent a weekend in Rhayader recently. I drove there in a couple of hours on Friday night. Slept in the van 2 nights, and went biking and walking. I don’t think there is any feasible way of reasonably doing this without a car, so I’d have to hire one. Or pick a different destination if going by train.

@northerntom Thanks for the offer. I might take you up on that. I’m in Sandy Park.

I spent several months without a van after it was viciously attacked by rustworms on the day of its MoT.

I ended up mainly riding my gravel bike for everything.

Then I got another van. Frabjous joy! The world opened up again. But last weekend my son wrote it off. 🙁

I now have to consider do I buy another or do I ride everywhere.

Maybe I should try a folding bike frame and use the bus.

Live in Hindley (Wigan) so its hard to manage without a car. Loads of good start points 20-40 mins drive away (Rivington, Ogden, Rammy, Stalybridge, Stockport) but nothing from the doorstep.

The only option from the doorstep is to go to Rivington and start and end every ride with about 9 miles of boring road/canal. Or get the train to Darwen and ride back to the house.

At least the car gets me to a variety of start points so I get to do loads of variety. If I had decent riding from the doorstep I might get bored of the same stuff all the time.

In Winter I have to drive further & stick to the trail centres as the amount of mud ruins the usual rides.

I could live somewhere with loads of riding from the doorstep but then it would mean having to drive further when commuting. Obviously my priority was to shortern the working day by living 3 miles from work even if it means driving a 40-50 mile round trip to get to start points of rides 2 -3 times per week.

I agree that if the vast network of local trails around Bristol (stretching as it does from the sea to Mendips and on) isn’t your thing then that would be a bit of a pain. 😉

It’s possible to do Cwmcarn and back on the train in a day alright, but it’s a long slog. Ditto FoD. And presumably if the local stuff is too tame, you’re riding a bike that you won’t enjoy doing the sort of railhead – trailhead grinds along endless roads that you have to do when you get off the train.

Buy an OS map.

Some people have a blind spot when it comes to riding not ‘from the door’. Not everyone is able to do it – but it seems to be troublesome for some people to see why this wouldn’t be a priority.

Personally, I have used trains to access riding a lot in the past. When I was younger before I had a car, I used to catch trains 30-50 miles to cycle at Cannock, Malvern, the Long Mynd and the Cotswolds – sometimes I used to even change trains! I never found it a particular chore – although it did mean being less flexible in terms of start and finish times. In the winter I was often wet and muddy on the train too and used to bring a thick carrier bag to sit on! More recently I have looked into a Seven Stanes trip by sleeper but have not got around to it yet.

So, dependent on your home location accessing distant trails is possible and not too much bother IME.

All rides from the front door. Got some of Britain’s best and emptiest roads within 10 minutes here in Lancashire.

This is the truth

However now I live north of London, and have a car, I just ride what is local, its pretty dull to be honest but I drive too much as it is

Anything local I usually ride to. By local I mean within 20 or so miles but a singlespeed mtb on the road is a spin fest.

I’ll ride even further in summer to a trail, but as the days draw in the lack of transport becomes a hindrance. A decent ride gets limited by the number of hours left.

I think I’ve convinced myself, I want another van.

You ride up to 20 miles of road each way to get to/from a ride ?

That would be too many junk miles for me

driving might be crap but I just see it as the quickest way to get ‘junk’ out of the way with

And presumably if the local stuff is too tame

It’s not that it’s tame, just that I like to get further afield too.

Train options need more exploring. I think they perhaps require a different way of thinking – i.e. choose to go where the trains go, not decide a destination and then try to get there by train.

Buy an OS map.

Got a whole stack of them!

He’s in Bristol so you might have a point!

Having moved from central london myself a few months ago to Bristol, I’m still in the honeymoon period of being able to ride form my door. I spent the last four years driving 3 hours for every ride just to the Surrey Hills!

However, for longer weekend riding, need to head out further to get some proper climbing and descending in.

@samej email in profile if you want to sort something

During the 21 years when I was the world’s most obsessed mountain biker I would be in the car most Friday evenings heading off to some corner of Britain to ride, or if not to ride, to walk, climb or even ski. Nowadays with the traffic and with family duties that’s simply out of the question, which is why road cycling straight from the door fits so much better.

Even so, my cycling buddy lives in a place called Whalley, which is about 4 miles away at the bottom of the big hill I live on, so for the midweek evening hooligan rides my son and I always drive down to Whalley as it’s the departure point for roads that go in three different directions and give access to some great riding.

I’m tempted to try going without a vehicle for a while, probably by joining a city car club and/or renting for weekends, or using trains perhaps.

The answer’s in your own post, surely?

grannyjone – Member
You ride up to 20 miles of road each way to get to/from a ride ?

That would be too many junk miles for me

There’s not many junk miles in the Northern Highlands. 🙂