Hi, I need a little direction... I live in Portland and will start commuting to central London once or twice a week. I have decades of commuting with lane splitting/filtering in Los Angeles so I am not afraid of getting in the mix. Parking though seems another story to me. Most times I will be in for the day but occasionally I will be a night or two. Because of the £100 return ticket Weymouth/Waterloo, I would like to save a bit of green and have some fun. I was thinking I could ride to LHR and park for free and hop the Liz, or Maybe Reading. I was thinking anywhere with easy tube access and fairly secure and somewhat affordable parking. The last thought is to just park in central London anywhere I can find a space and hope the bike is still there when I get back. If anyone has any suggestions or experience of doing a similar thing, I would appreciate the guidance. Thanks.
This seems like a lot of ballache, especially as it’s still another hour (at least) by train from Reading to Waterloo and you’ll be carrying or wearing all your gear (while probably standing) in a railway carriage which is more like a cattle truck. Commuting by bike on wide boulevards and freeways in sunny LA is also going to be a very different experience to dicing with buses, lorries, Deliveroo riders with a death wish and pedestrian phone zombies coming at you from all angles on narrow traffic enforcement/entrapment camera infested London lanes during a UK winter. Your journey is going to be 2 hours+ of monotony (A31-M27-M3) followed by an hour of life-affirming lunacy which will often be great fun, but depending on what sort of work you do, might not be the most appropriate psychological set-up for the day. Plus, it’s going to be getting on for an 8 hour round trip with the time for gearing up, fuelling etc pushing it closer to 9. Let the train take the strain (IMO).
That is just one of many hurdles to overcome...I am thinking rolled up in my backpack until I can hang it to dry in my office. I am not even sure I can think of all the little things that make the train a good option. If there is a relatively safe place to park, I can leave my helmet in my top box. Maybe I was just dumb and lucky, but I always left my helmet unlocked on top of my bike in LA. I think either London is not that kind of place or I have got overly paranoid...
I get your point 100% and in the end that is probably what will happen. I am just exploring options. I do like the way you paint the riding in LA...more than likely I will mostly take the train and on good weather days, take the bike straight to Islington and leave it on the street. Thanks for the brutal honesty!
Zhed is on the money. I’ve commuted from Essex and hate everyone and the bike by the time I get there - and that’s with underground parking at the office. Get the train dude - the fare isn’t ideal but compare that to the hours on the bike - 4 more? You could be earning or at home - ?????
I did a couple of years of Sussex to the City commuting. Used the 748SP in summer (awesome on the deserted A3 at speed), BMW RT in winter. Winter is endurance riding. Weather, darkness, dozy drivers and two crashes. Now there is 20 mph speed limits and cameras everywhere. Then there is theft. Three times for me plus a recent one at LHR T5. In the end the train is expensive, crowded, occasionally reliable and punctual, but safe, dry and sometimes comfortable, especially if you board at the start station. Yeah, you should have stayed in LA
Thank you everyone....coming from a group of riders who will do anything to get out...I get it. I just needed to check if it was even remotely a realistic option. Train it is. Except every now and again when I get the itch and the weather is stellar, just to prove the train is the sensible thing. Cheers!
Well all is not lost. Remember that once you have been going to Islington awhile, you will have met people, and one or more of them may have a place you could store your bike during the day Maybe there's a back street garage/ workshop who has a corner for your bike, or your new lunchtime eatery has a large enough yard?? There are also storage places that perhaps you could rent and so long as its less than the train... Eliminate the theft issue and shite weather season. In the summer -well maybe its a different deal all together?
Motorway riding on a regular basis is the absolute worst and most dangerous. As others have said get the train into Paddington and be on your merry way. I speak as an ex m11 and m25 *warrior.
I'd not be worried about the commute, storing gear or the faff associated. That's part of owning a bike, if that upsets then drive a bloody car lol. What I would care for which would stop me commuting, is the bikes security. It's the UK, it WILL get stolen unless someone's eyes are constantly on it. Especially in and around London/Reading.
