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Help. My girlfriend is making me move to London... CENTRAL London. This is a living nightmare for me, since I'm a northerner who is used to being able to jump on the hardtail and boost straight out of the kitchen door and into the Peak District.
So I'm after some advice from my MTBing brothers and sisters: what the hell am I going to do? Are there any XC riding clubs in town? Any quick rail links to decent trails? Will I have to buy a road bike to train on?
If anyone starts talking about Hyde Park or canal towpaths I will cry.
Paging RudeBoy....
Don't worry, apparently London is the best place to live in the UK for mountain biking 😕
Make sure wherever you actually live, it is in south / south east London.
Trains from Waterloo / Clapham Junction out to Dorking for tons of great riding (it is easy to do a 40 mile ride from there, with loads of singletrack & a few hills).
Joe
If you really are central, then the North Downs are a short train ride from Waterloo or Victoria, the south downs are a longer train ride from Victoria, the Chilterns are a medium train ride from Marylebone or Paddington and I believe there are things to do in Kent that I've never even thought about. Doing a night ride on Box Hill in the evenings is perfectly feasible.
Personally, I reckon getting a road bike for mid-week training is probably the way to go though. 🙂
Sounds like it's time for the "It's not you, it's me...." conversation! 🙂
to be fair, while joe's right about the access out that way, i live in north london - highbury - and it's only about 4 miles from waterloo so it's hardly much effort to get there and get on the same trains.
from there, you are also able to get on trains out north to places like aston hill and that. so i wouldn't worry too much about where in london you are, it's not going to be quite as on your doorstep as you're used to, there's no two ways about it. 🙁
Don't do it!
hmmm, is a new girlfriend an option?
I disagree with Woody. I reckont he "it's not me, it's you" conversation is the one to have.
Don't worry, it won't last. 😛
I was just being nice BD 🙂
I made the move in 2001. The riding in summer on the Surrey Hills is fantastic, infact I'd go so far as to say the only place I'd rather ride in England is the Lakes. I live in Ealing 6 miles west of the centre and I can get to the Surrey Hills in 45 mins by car.
There is also Swinley Forest 27 miles, Aston Hill 30 miles and South Wales can be had in under 2 hours drive. I used to regulary get to Swinley for mid week night rides until a few years ago
+1 for the roadbike option too though, even if its just for keeping you off the public transport
There isn't any good riding in London although you can ride from your door in central London and bang some miles out around Richmond Park, Wimbledon Common and along the Thames. By no means exciting riding but not too bad, Richmond Park in particular.
Otherwise you are looking at getting a train (or driving) out to Swinley Forest (Bracknell), Surrey Hills (Dorking) or up to Chicksands, Aston Hill etc
Dont stress about a road bike, just get some cheap wheels and some commute slicks with kevlar and swap them over.
I rode a road bike for about 2 years but found between the potholes and summer cyclists I now prefer to ride my hardtail with forks that mean my teeth dont rattle out and brakes that mean I can stop at short notice!
Training wise its bad news - loops of Richmond Park, Regents Park or city routes endlessly stopping for red lights 🙁 get an iPod (only for in the park mind!)
Upside is loads of cycle shops!
Don't forget, there is more to life than biking, living in London is ace!
Life is very short and there are loads of chicks out there. That's all I've got to say about that.
There are places you can get to to ride, or even ride out to if you do a day ride.
Won't be on your doorstep though unless you go down the somewhat cheeky route.
I'd be tempted to go with woody/BigDummy.
BUT, you could wheedle it to your advantage.
It may be possible to engineer it so that she feels VERY guilty (you'll have to get emotional about lovely countryside you'll never see again, etc- pulling the right strings NOW before the move will be crucial to the long term outcome, only you know her well enough to know what these are!) so you may be able to get yourself into a situation where she won't justifiably be able to complain about you going off biking or spending money on bike parts for a very long time, perhaps ever.
Play it right, and you could effectively slap a lifetime ban on her standing even remotely in the way of your pursuit of mtbing. It could be a blessing in disguise.
Trains aren't that bad.
And you will also have to get a fixie.
BUT, you could wheedle it to your advantage.It may be possible to engineer it so that she feels VERY guilty (you'll have to get emotional about lovely countryside you'll never see again, etc- pulling the right strings now before the move will be crucial to the outcome, only you know her well enough!) so you may be able to get yourself into a situation where she won't justifiably be able to complain about you going off biking or spending money on bike parts for a very long time, perhaps ever.
Play it right, and you could effectively slap a lifetime ban on her standing even remotely in the way of your pursuit of mtbing. It could be a blessing in disguise.
Haha - I thought I was cynical!
London is astonishingly flat and therefore ideal for a ****tish niche machine like a fixie or a cargo bike. 😉
I think this is one of those times when you need to MTFU and not let your girlfriend make you do something you dont want to do. You said it yourself, its a living nightmare for you.
Who wears the padded tight lycra shorts in your relationship anyway.
the fact that she expects you to move to london shows that she has no comprehension of what mtb'ing actually means to you.
Why not negotiate living near the south Downs and she can commute to central london?
where in London will you be living?
Apart from surrey hills, epping, swinley etc etc......try London Phoenix - they have a big mountain bike presence. Also Beastway racing starts tomorrow at Hog Hill and there is the London League cyclo-x races as well.
get a bmx and become a street trials expert like that kid on all the youtube videos
to be honest youll be surrounded by so many cool clubs and amazing cultural experience that youll forget all about biking
and in 5-10 years you can move out to the sticks somewhere and complain about the hell of living in London 🙂
Hmm, some interesting and heartening sentiments from my fellow riders. Thanks!
1. I'm still working on plans to put all this London nonsense out of her pretty little head.
2. I won't be binning her off - after all, she has endured Stockport to be with me for several years, so I do owe her a relocation!
3. I will indeed use maximum emotional blackmail to ensure she doesn't criticise me for spending £££ on a sports car, road bike, more bike kit and lots of bike trips to help myself "readjust" to my southern life.
4. I will NEVER buy a fixie. I call them FBFCs: Fashion Bikes For...
yeah. you'll end up destitute with a serious coke habit and end up having to sell your bikes just to fund it.
gutted
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[chuckles at alpin]
If you miss hills, you can do intervals on Highgate Hill. It isn't quite the Snake Pass, but it's definitely a hill. 🙂
Or for intervals the Hyde Park Corner underpass is pretty good 😯
4. I will NEVER buy a fixie. I call them FBFCs: Fashion Bikes For...
... commuters?
You need to accept that unless you have the use of a car to get out of town in its the darkside for you
*vadervoice* The force is strong in this one */vadervoice*
I'd say the opposite is true.
It can often be a nightmare getting out of london in the car (and back in). Sometimes the car feels like a prison you drive it down the road and suddenly your stuck in traffic and you just cant get out.
Like some of the others have said make sure you live near a train station and get the train out.
I'd recommend clapham junction plenty of trains to north downs, swinley.
We used to ride out to Leith Hill from Ealing, so its not that far - just make a day of it. there's a more or less off road route out of London on most directiosn if you take the time to find all the little bits and link them up.
Without some serious reward I just couldnt justify being forced to move to london. Its my personal nightmare of a place to live, I'd be looking for lovin' elsewhere if it was "we ARE moving to london"! And thats not just because of the lack of biking 🙂
Also, just a general tip - don't live in actual central London (like zone 1 or 2 of the tube). Almost everywhere in that area is either super expensive (Mayfair), or a dangerous place to live (Elephant & Castle), or both (Camden, parts of Brixton). It is way cheaper to just live in zone 3 or so, and easy to catch the tube in / night buses back when you want to go out. Plus, you get a London bike commute that way, which is great fun. Living in Zone 1 is a mistake that people who come from outside London make (we did it for a year), and it is just a hassle, you get mugged, either actually by muggers, or by skanky landlords, you have to live in a tiny flat where you can't fit bikes, and generally it sucks.
Joe
alpin where abouts is that in the UK?
quick look on the map suggests the Malverns to be a good half way compromise
unless she is going to London to earn millions, in which case you can be a kept man and spend the whole summer in Canada/Alps/Spain/US riding - about the only way I could consider it, due to locality of airports
All roads lead to London? No, they all head out of it.
You need to accept that unless you have the use of a car to get out of town in its the darkside for you
what a load of shite. i live in sw17 and have a couple of riding mates who live in the neighboring postcodes without cars who MTB. 35min train ride to dorking station then 2min ride to getting offroad.
Timber - Im currently posting this from my clients in London, having come in for two days from malvern. I do this everyu week, staying over one night.
Its a slow train (2:30) but its pretty reliable now. They are speeding it up by building double lines where theres currently single track! 🙂
Not too expensive too, £44 off peak return or £70 peak, when compared to similar distance journeys from say Bristol which are much more expensive although they are much quicker.
I wouldnt want to commute this every day.
Some do from Evesham (about 1h30m) and there's riding around there/cotswold edge.
red_dread - I did the same thing as what your about to do.... just under a year ago now! Used to live in lancashire so had the pennine way, the lakes, yorkshire dales and peak district all within an hour from where I lived!
Happy to say still with the misses 😉 but the cycling is not a patch on up north! Yes there are some good area's.. south downs great in the summer but pony in the winter.... Swinley forest is ok and box hill / surrey hills area is great for a blast! I live right next to richmond park and it can get at bit boring after a while.... all depends if you get out with a good group of people and show you the best bits?? Also I commuted to work everyday into the centre of london and bike is by far the best way to get around.
You will have to make more effort than normal to find the good bits.... Question is is she worth it? 😉
Relax.
London is okay - there is enough stuff to get to easily by train - and loads of options if you have a car.
Plus for an increased carbon footprint there are loads of cheap flights from the many airports that ring the capital that make long weekends abroad cycling in the sun very easy if you are that way inclined.
However, you do need to be orgnanised in the winter. Sunday trains - rubbish weather and limited day light mean you need to commit.
Looking out the window and seeing a break in the weather and getting away for a couple of hours never seems to happen (unless you live within easy reach of Richmond / Wimbledon).
Oh yes - you can buy a lot of mint bikes second hand. People do buy some very nice bikes and never ride them.......
Personally, as places where you have to travel to get any riding in go, London is pretty good, trains to the trails are easy and pretty quick, and if you have a car apparently that's okay too. I found London better than Nottingham in that respect.
It does suck in comparison to living right near trails and not having to travel to ride though. Living in Derbyshire is great. Working from home today - I think I'm gonna go for a quick road ride and to swim down some easy rapids in a nice fast flowing river at lunch time.
Joe
I've been offered a few jobs in London recently. I weighed up what really mattered to me - and living in the hills really does keep me sane. You can't beat the solitude and the scenery that the Dales or the Peak offer mid week or in the evening. Plus, we do have jobs and shops and things up north! I'm staying! I personally would be happy to never visit london ever again, but I can see that some people like the faster pace of life, each to their own.