leicester to london canal paths

[boris]

I think there used to be one sold by the ctc shop when it was geoff butlers maybe 15 years ago. I remember it as an airscrew type accoding to the photo in the ctc mag.. Or did I dream it?

here is one

http://www.dx.com/p/1-5-lcd-digital-win ... KimQPKNDdI

[Sosimpo]

OP, how was this ride? American here, going to England for my first time. I'll arrive at Heathrow mid September and will stay there for two nights before I go to Leicester. I'd like to cycle to Leicester. Should I bring my own road bike (700 x 23 road tires), or can I find a suitable one in London? If so where? Do you have a GPS map of your ride between Leicester and London? Can anyone tell me what the weather and road conditions are like?

Staying for two weeks, moving around various shires.

[Barks]

"Has anyone ever made a bike mounted anemometer? Linked to the bike computer to give some idea of what the wind speed actually is? It would be interesting but would remove one excuse as to why I'm going so slowly. In a time trial situation it could give you an idea when is best to use extra effort"

On sailing boats they have a system that links the wind speed and direction (from anemometer, wind vane and ship's compass) to the boats speed and direction across the 'ground' (GPS) - the integrated output is called the 'Apparent Wind'. So it is technically possible but just how you set up all the instruments to measure each component on a bike would be a challenge. In simple terms if you are travelling North at 20mph in still air the apparent wind will be moving South at the same speed. In moving air it is a combination of the the two vectors i.e. Travelling N at 20 mph into a S (i.e. Moving from the N) wind at 10 mph gives an apparent wind of 30mph, if the wind was from the S (i.e. Moving towards N) then the apparent wind would be 10mph. It gets more complicated if the travel and wind directions are from different angles but the principle is the same, the apparent wind is the outcome from the two input vectors.

[millimole]

OP, how was this ride? American here, going to England for my first time. I'll arrive at Heathrow mid September and will stay there for two nights before I go to Leicester. I'd like to cycle to Leicester. Should I bring my own road bike (700 x 23 tires), or can I find a suitable one in London? If so where? Do you have a GPS map of your ride between Leicester and London? Can anyone tell me what the weather and road conditions are like?

I'm not going to comment on the bike - wiser heads than mine will have a view (although I'd be tempted by Decathlon for a sensible reliable not-too-spendy option).
I used to regularly cycle from Enfield (just north of London) to my home in Leicester (exactly 100miles). I had two routes A6 through Luton, or A5 (roughly) to Milton Keynes, the Sustrans Route 6 to Leicester.
If you give us a clue where in London you expect to start (it's a big place) and how long you hope to take then I can sketch out a route on RideWithGPS if that'll help?


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[millimole]

Here are two routes I've quickly thrown together based roughly on the routes I use to take - as far as I remember them.
I've taken the starting point as Bush Hill Park Station as that's somewhere I know / knew - and is somewhere you'd be able to take your bike to by train if you didn't fancy cycling through London. I've taken the end point as the Bike Park in Leicester. The routes go close to Bradwell Youth Hostel in Milton Keynes as a reasonable half-way stopping off point. It passes various bike shops (St Albans, Milton Keynes, Dunstable, Market Harborough) in case of mechanicals. The surface is road (often quite busy) to Milton Keynes then mixed country roads / surfaced path to Northampton; from Northampton to Market Harborough it's hard-packed stone, but quite fast - this part is ex-railway with good gradients, and is lightly used as you go north - there are two fairly long tunnels that have poor surfaces (lights are useless!). From Market Harborough it is country lanes / tarmac path right into Leicester. It may be slow going due to tricky navigation through Milton Keynes and Northampton. (I always got lost in Northampton! )
There may be better options between London and Milton Keynes, but I really do believe that this is the best route beyond that.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23022434

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23022617

I'm happy to try to answer any questions - particularly about the route north of Northampton, as I ride that fairly frequently.
Mike

[Cyril Haearn]

To measure wind speeds one might use a pitot tube, that is a device fitted to aircraft to find the wind speed when moving

Not sure exactly how it works, might need to be modified for a cycle

[Sosimpo]

If you give us a clue where in London you expect to start (it's a big place) and how long you hope to take then I can sketch out a route on RideWithGPS if that'll help?

I'm staying at a hotel in Heathrow airport. After this I will be in Leicester for a week, then will travel to Bath (likely by train), and then Paris via Eurostar. What are the rules for taking bicycles on trains? Where I hire a decent bicycle for two weeks? I'd like to take a ride around Peak District if I can get there too.
It would be nice if I could find a bicycle anywhere in London easily accessible by train. I'll plan to return the bike before going to Paris.

[mjr]

I'm staying at a hotel in Heathrow airport. After this I will be in Leicester for a week, then will travel to Bath (likely by train), and then Paris via Eurostar. What are the rules for taking bicycles on trains? Where I hire a decent bicycle for two weeks?

Others may have more idea on hire shops near Heathrow, but it might be worth checking spinlister or you could try to get a Brompton folding bike out of one of the London docks.

Bikes on trains: http://www.atob.org.uk/bike-rail/uk-bik ... vel-guide/ and http://cycle.travel/advice/cycling_by_train - Leicester to Bath will need reservations for a non-folding bike - via London on both trains and you could cycle between terminals http://cycle.travel/map/journey/44920, or cheaper but with three trains via Birmingham New Street and Bristol Temple Meads - instead of the last train, you could ride the 16-mile Bristol-Bath Railway Path which was among the first parts of the National Cycle Route network and is still one of the better ones in parts.

[millimole]

Hiring a decent bike could be a problem. I'd be strongly tempted to look at buying a not-too-expensive bike you could attempt to sell when your trip is finished.


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[boris]

op here , I just saw that the thread has restarted.

I got knocked off by a double decker bus and had surgical fixation of fractured elbow a few months ago , still not riding my bike.
The irony of this is that my friend who has leukaemia is not the problem , I have had to disappoint him!

For South-eastern peak district rides look at The calendars for Alfreton cycle club and South Normanton CTC and Cycling UK Derby . Where in the Peak District will you be? How many very hilly miles would you want to ride and ?

You could consider getting a folding bike from Decathlon at the start of your trip , maybe get it delivered to your first stop before you travel to uk. Then you can go on the trains without worrying about booking a bike-place.

www.decathlon.co.uk/tilt-120-folding-bi ... 78488.html