Can We Do An Epic Ride Around London?
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- čas přidán 14. 05. 2024
- London is one of the world’s biggest and most populous cities but certainly not the first place you’d think about when planning the perfect ride. But should it be? Hank met with London native Alec Briggs for a tour of the UK’s capital to find out if you can do an epic ride in a big city!
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Where would you choose to go for the perfect city ride?
No in a city. I live in small town and the scariest thing I have ever done is ride in big city rush hour traffic. Buses are the worst.
Monaco, doing formula one noises with my mouth all the way around the GP circuit.
Riding the whole mauerweg in Berlin is epic
St Kilda to Oliver’s Hill and back, Melbourne Australia.
Boston: nice weather, history, courteous drivers and doughnut stores on every corner!
I think these guys just make it feel so smooth and pleasant meanwhile in reality you would fear every car you pass by… anyway - really nice film, thanks Hank and Alek
Well when you have a film crew blocking the way ahead so cars know they cannot pass anyway it becomes easy...
Nahhhhh, ride in Asia and then this will feel like a breeze
When in a big city it's not like that... Cars can't travel as fast in the busy city stop/go roads, unless it's a highway mainroad (which you should not get into). The relative speed of vehicles are almost the same or just slightly faster than you that makes everything feels like slo-mo, so it's not that intimidating at all. Just treat yourself as another motorized vehicle, respect the car rules and car laws, and don't go too slow to block everyone, and you'll be fine.
Riding in a city can take some adjusting! We've got some tips here czcams.com/video/HOASHDryAwU/video.html
It's not so bad once you are used to it. Plenty of routes which flow really well, and in places some good infrastructure now. Not perfect, but not the terror some make it out to be
Nice to see London not being slagged off and slated. Great place to ride. Sure there is some stop start on some routes, a bit of traffic to contend with etc, but still love doing big rides in London. Nice ones GCN 👍
GCN should create more series and content of Hank and Alec, always a freaking fun series 🚴
I used to do this all lot, minus the crossing over the multiple bridges though. Yes, it does get busy and stop-start like some had pointed out, but go out early and it's absolutely breathtaking. Try the weekend at 6am, you'll love it. Also, if you're into gravelling, there is a stretch of the Thames Paths that starts on the west side of the southbound of Putney Bridge (i.e. Putney Embankment), it continues like that all the way to Kingston which I can vouch is an absolute beautiful ride with no traffic to worry about whatsoever. The only issue is, after Hammersmith Bridge but just before Barnes Bridge station, you'll have to get back on the road and rejoin the footpath after Kew Bridge. So if anyone has read this, has done it or wants to do it, get it done and thank me later.
Literally just come back from doing that ride lol
Do you have a gpx link as sure i would miss the path!
Sounds awesome
Absolutely bang on. The Thames Path is fantastic, as is the Greenway and so many other great places to ride. Sure its not country lanes, but still spectacular.
@@gilescudmore7325 See Plus codes FQ8M+X7 London and FQCG+VJ London from Putney Embankment. Keep the River Thames on your right and you should be fine.
Just West of Kew Bridge is where the scene of Ringo Starr attempting to take a 'selfie' from "A Hard Day's Night" was filmed.
I love riding in London. Have commutes by bike there for over twenty years, always something new to see and, slowly but surely, the infrastructure is improving. The stretch from the Tower of London to Parliament along the embankment, all on a lively segregated bike Lane, is a real highlight
Aye (same here)
it's quicker than Public Transport, which to be fair in London is well above average, cost less and is more flexible. Wakes you up in the morning, and you get fitter, what's not 2 like.
I mean, we're the London Cycling Campaign so call us biased, but there are so many ace routes around London. The views are insane. Regent's Park is closed roads before 7am and has its own early morning cycling community for race laps. There's killer climbs like Swains Lane in Highgate. Richmond is obviously stunning. And lots of routes out into Kent and country lanes.
And tiny brag, but our policy team's work has been instrumental to getting consecutive London mayors to commit to the game-changing properly separated bike lanes like the one along the river. More space for cycling = more epic rides around London like this one 👌
You can do an epic ride by circling Regents Park for 5 hours, then climbing up Swaine’s lane 25 times, and that’s just in Camden!
You can't beat a quick 3 laps before the gates open @7am. no traffic, no people, Pure Heaven. Best way to start the day.
@@jamespond7496 As a North Londoner, Swain's Lane is the bane of my existence!
Been up Swains today features in most of my rides
You must be a communist 😉
25 Swain's? Are you dizzy man? That's sadistic not epic :)
Great video and I can't believe how many great cycling-sites weren't covered! As bridges go they edited out my favourite, Albert Bridge. The route didn't include Regents Park (and the giraffes!). Cycling past Buckingham Palace and up The Mall is always nice. Right next to Richmond Park is beautiful Bushy Park, which also has deer herds like Richmond.
And then there are the views not pictured, like the recently restored Battersea Power Station from the Embankment cycle path. Or the views from Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges. Or any views of old London including the dome of St Paul's.
None of this is a complaint about the video! I'm simply reminded of how many great things you get to see when cycling in London. I have to imagine that other London-based viewers must have their own lists of favourite things the video didn't cover?!
Spot on! 👍Couldn't agree more.
That just goes to show there's even more epic places to explore in London
I'm so glad hank got that fist bump @ 9:40 after waiting a lifetime, I could feel his need for it.... oh my.
We need this format in different capital cities !
Reykjavík has a sweet round tour (so long as the wind is not tooo aggressive)
I support that! Just imagine such rides in Edinburgh, Dublin, Cambridge, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Hamburg, Paris, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Rome, Vienna etc. Ooof! So much stuff to see!
i can confirm that i have done the Ipswich 100... and that's 100 miles within the towns boundaries. i rode around every estate and down most footpaths. 40 years in my town, and discovered so many nooks and crannies i was completely unaware of of... i even discovered a few shops! try it people
this was fun to watch, really enjoyed this! thanks for sharing your adventure with us, felt like I was there with you 🤙✌😊
I ride London very often and all rides are epic. I love it when I go into the Tube and go down the elevator section. I can really get my intervals in when I go up that same elevator section. I can't get enough of Zwift!!
LOL!!!!!!!!!
Alec is such an awesome guy. More of him - what he does with Tekkers is amazing, and his love of 2 wheels is infectious. It takes a certain rider to ride in big cities, but, when you get used to it you realize cities have their own charm that the country roads don't have. There's nothing like an early ride seeing the city wake up, or going through the big normally busy areas (around financial districts normally) and seeing it quiet.
I did the Tour de Stadia yesterday where you visit 10 football grounds in London. From QPR, Fulham, Chelsea, Palace, Millwall, West Ham, Leyton Orient, Spurs, Arsenal, Wembley and then finished at Brentford.
Covered 100km and a nice way to keep things interesting throughout the ride.
Super video! Great romp! Cheers to Alec and Hank for such great fun seeking attitude! Love this content! Great to see the bridges of London! I think it would be great todo a fun ride around Prague! Can't wait for the next one!
Loved the video. I used to spend quite a bit of time in London years ago (and before I discovered cycling as a sport). Being a Dutchie, as soon as they came out I switched from public transport to the Boris bikes and I found out that everything in London is actually a lot closer to each other than you’d think. Cycling in London is different. I mean, one of my most vivid memories is riding Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square and looking over my shoulder to see three London busses side to side right behind me. That gets your adrenaline flowing. 😂
Commuted through London for a couple of years, hands down the best way to get through the city. Might have to try this, it's good to mix things up
great video!! more of these please:D and kudos for alec's bike handling skills.... amazing!
One of the best episodes of GCN I've seen, you even visited my area near Borough Market. More content like this please! 🙏
What a great video, mates! Bringing good vibes with all the great shots, sun and music! Only sad thing: it was way too short. Please do more of it. Maybe even as a series: riding in cities.
Just wanted to say GCN has some of the best (if not the best) content I’ve watched, as a person just getting deep into cycling and bikpacking.
During lockdown I redcovered the Surrey lanes and haven't looked back great rides
Surrey is great for riding apart from the dodgy tarmac
Makes me want to explore Anaheim. Only 3ish million people in Orange County, no HUGE cities, but y'all made exploring the possibility of an epic ride look fun. Thanks
Hope you have a great ride!
I've been here in the UK for 6 months and hands own my favourite riding is in London.
You could do a truly epic ride where you almost get hit for 5 hours. Traffic lights starts and stops would make it like high intensity intervals.
Hank you are wrong, the 3 green locations on a monopoly board are Bond Street, Regent Street and Oxford Street.
Love this! Proof that if you find the right roads, an epic city ride is possible! I would just say for safety’s sake, ride with at least one other person. Great video, and love the energy you guys have in it!
Since 3/4 of my heritage comes from England, Ireland and Scotland it behooves me to come visit ( if you will have me). GCN and Hank, Manon and Connor, especially, really demonstrate how beautiful the Isles are in all seasons.
Love this video. Does make me miss Londinium since moving out quite a few years ago. Love the channel 👍
11:45 that's an impressive hop Hank, even though earlier he said he could not jump up a curb 😉
There's the difference that if a bunny hop over a speedbump fails, you're usually just going to get an unpleasantly hard shock on your handlebars (or perhaps a pinch flat at worst, if you run clinchers), but if you're trying to jump sideways over a kerb instead and fail, you're almost certainly going to crash. Had Alek crashed his jump at 13:27, the car behind him could easily have crashed into him next. Personally would never have dared to attempt such a jump, but his bike-handling skills are truly impressive; his jump at 4:23 is pretty cool as well!
Used to commute daily from Kings Cross to Chiswick - when I wanted to go further for training the options were there, even leaving early and going out to the Surrey hills on the way back
That's a great video of my home town and loved burning round the city on my bike, Now live in South Yorkshire and my rides now consists of steep hills up and down rolling countryside and my heart rate is always sky high :) great vid again GCN
I love riding around in Brugge, not the center but just outside of it, with my gravel bike i can go through the woods, also they have really nice infrastructure where you barely come across with cars, wide and well maintained bike lanes where you can ride at your max and only have to watch out for people riding in front of you.
Great episode, love Alec! (And Hank ofc)
I love this Richmond and Kingston Parks. That was my favourite routes in London 😍 and any time I visit this city I try to find the time to go there (not much time for busy as a bee hard working Polish boy 😁)
14:26 nice trick. :) This woman on the left side was impressed too hehe :)
Damn this was such a great episode! Inspired me to go downtown in my city and make my own epic route. As soon as it stops raining...
More content like this please. What a video. Alex needs more appearances, the guy has some levels of enthusiasm!
Top quality entertainment from GCN as always
The best part about Hank as a presenter is he seems enthusiastic about everything, so any video he in looks fun.
Been to London back in 2019. Big Ben was under repairs that time. As much as I love the city, it's the Cotswolds that can make me go back to the UK. The rolling hills are astounding.
That’s fair - the Cotswolds are great. You should check out York too when you next come here, really pretty city
really enjoyed this one! 😊
Mentioned Kent and Surrey, but there's some absolutely spectacular lanes to be experienced in Essex as well! Epping Forest right on the doorstep of London! Hasn't got some of the climbs of Kent or Surrey, but Essex is beautiful for a day's cycling and only a few miles away!
Even though I was brought up in and around Greater London particularly Kingston upon Thames as a kid/teen riding around London would scare the living daylights out of me however my eldest son lives in London, rides and loves it. I’ll stick to the Cambridgeshire/Lincolnshire fen roads thanks!
The question is: how long can you do a cycle ride 1) without any traffic lights 2) using only cycle lanes 3) do not use the same road/cycle lanes twice 4) must be all within a city (or chain of cities, without country roads)
Central London has a lot of cycle routes now, they can get you through with lane separated around most of the area. You do have more Cycle Traffic light filters, so they allow Bikes to go before Cars, maybe 20 secs.
An experienced cabbie can get you through the city with very few lights, and that's with a car. With experience you can find similar routes for bikes. The (route formerly known as the) Q5 is a great example, with only two lights between the Imperial War Museum and Clapham Common (not including the ones marking each end).
@@pkomarek Well, London in the past was absolutely dreaful with regards to bike paths. But in the last few decades they have improved by a lot. Still, from what I can see, only in the parks are bike/walk paths. When the park ends, those bike paths end. Some roads have a bike gutter, basically still occupied by cars busses and lorries. And th next thing is that those raods almost always collide with another road with traffic lights.
Compare this with many Dutch cities, where bike lanes are often separated from the roads, sometimes specific bike tunnels, and often dead end roads for cars, but bikes can go through. I don't know of any place in London where a road is blocked at an end, or in the middle, where bikes still can go through. Then of course strategic bumps in the road so that speeding cars are punished, the faster the more their car shakes all over the place, till the car breaks, or the rider breaks. I don't see that in the UK, I do see that a lot in the Netherlands. Also bike lanes together somehow form a network where you can go from one end of the city to the other, rarely together with a car/bus/truck. And so often even without traffic lights, using tunnels, over passes and the like. All of this means cyclists are a main way to travel and taken seriously.
@@Aragorn.Strider I doubt London is ready to compete with Dutch cities. I do see all of the features you mention. For an example of a segregated bike paths the CS7 (which includes Blackfriars bridge) has a long section like that, and it's not in a park or even close to one. I think you were also describing "mode filters" that allow only some modes of transport to pass, and there are many of those around in various forms - for example the C3 has multiple. The Q15 is one of many routes that makes use of a contraflow bike lane (unprotected) to give cyclists additional options that cars don't have, beyond just using mode filters.
Very enjoyable (and impressive kurb hopping and sprints).
Great video, Gentlemen !!!
I wish they would do that in Chicago.
Keep up the great work !!!
Riding Chicago is awesome - the lakeshore trail is just too cool!
7:00 anyone else noticed this is a repeated clip already shown at the 4:51 mark? :-D (Brompron Electric guy must be chuffed, featured twice!) Loving this video, love GCN!
Fab - the key to best experience London on a bike leave early like I did today ( Sunday) 6.30am the sun rising it’s better than anything …. you have the whole city to yourself from Richmond Park to Woolwich - take in the câble car and if you throw in a random segment smash it makes it all the more fun.
When you have a camera car in front of you any city is a epic ride.
I ride around the City center of KL often. It's actually great fun.
Love riding round cities, channeling my inner Danny MacAskill. Hopping kerbs, jumping speed bumps and generally jibbing about. Not so easy in a less cycle-friendly city though!
I feel very lucky living in Calgary, Canada now - hundreds of km of connected pathways where you don't have to worry about cars and you spend a lot of it passing through gorgeous parks and viewing wildlife like deer. Cycling in London just looks stressful and unpleasant.
Loved this🍻
The 18 km (each way) commute to university I do in Berlin is about as much city riding as I can stand. With the condition of the bike lanes, density of riders on the bike lanes and other traffic around, it's excellent bike handling training...
I prefer it over taking the train, which takes pretty much the same amount of time, but if I want to go for an enjoyable ride, I'll leave the city.
When this girl from Winnipeg Canada goes the London, every ride will be a Epic ride 😀 as long as I remember what side of the road to bike on 🤣🤣
2 more months ✈
Fantastic ride and the city!
Another surprisingly great city for riding - Washington DC. You have Rock Creek Park in the city, Montgomery County in short riding distance for great country roads and Loudoun County nearby for gravel. Plus you can ride the C&O from DC all the way to Pittsburg car free.
How is the dog situation in Loudoun county? Do you get chased a lot?
@@davidadamus177 so far so good! Off leash dogs are my biggest fear. I’d honestly rather run into a bear. I’ve definitely heard of dogs being an issue in some areas though.
Whoa you serious London is huge I could easily spend 12 hours cycling around it.
As a lightweight London cyclist myself this looked fun. However the section at 13:39 shows what a lot of my "cycle infrastucture" is like .. a painted strip barely wider than the drains with all the detritus from the gutters . That bike lane is only marginally wider than the double red lines at the side of the road.
I rarely get into central London and make do with lanes like that out in the suburbs. it would be safer without that "lane" as some drivers expect us to cycle in it rather than cycle in "their lane"
all in all though a fab video and I liked the look of that Putney cafe !!
With sure high quality cinematography, you could make cycling anywhere look amazing
Wow road bike is awesome
Cool see Hank riding around familiar roads, did 70k in London on Sunday, key is to leave early I think. Left home at 5:30 and was home by 9.
Bit of a missed opportunity, just going East to West. A lot of people who've never lived in London think it's almost completely flat, as they arrive at Kings Cross or Euston and stay in the central area. To the North and South it's a lot more hilly, with some short but pretty sharp climbs. A ride in Highgate in the North, or into the North Downs in the South would have been good to see. It would have been fun to see them try Succombs Hill in Warlingham (a suburb to the South of London) - a 600m climb which maxes out at 25%
A better epic ride of Richmond Park is doing a few laps and then going to use the bathrooms. Once you've come out and accepted that your bike has been stolen, you can start the long walk home.
I do love doing some early morning laps of Regents Park though. You can really build up some speed before the London Zoo crowds arrive.
I regularly do similar rides to this and commute Richmond Park daily it’s ace
I would say yes . . . Providing its 5 am in June 🌇
Also he’s like the tangerine candy floss version of Connor 😆
Excellent vid as usual, loved it, my only complaint is it could have done with a few more fist bumps..😄
I wouldn’t mind being a tourist in London on a bike. That’s seems like a great idea. Visit London and go on a bike tour of all the bridges.
We did an epic 48 mile ride from Greenwich, across in the cable car, along Embankment to Parliament and Buckingham Palace, then out to Hampton Court and back to Herne Hill. It was a fantastic day 🚴♀️🚴
St Kilda to Oliver’s Hill (Frankston) and back. Melbourne Australia.
For any James-Bond fan:
Timestamp-6:37-to-Timestamp-6:57:
That's the [real/actual] MI6 building on the left
(ie. To be as specific as possible: the left side of the screen / recorded video-footage).
It would be interesting to know more on what is different in bike for climbing set up
8:47 What? Piccadilly is YELLOW and Euston is light BLUE.
Great video, now Hank knows how it feels to be Ollie and the third best rider in a video, plus he got dropped twice by Alec in the sprints ;-)
I was a cycle courier in London in the mid/late 90's right up until I got knocked off & broken my neck. Thankfully I've made a full recovery and now cycling in Spain.
Excellent!
Cycling in London can be great, Esher, Bushey, Richmond and Regents in a ride then stop for pizza / coffee.
London by bike Is the only way to go 🤙🏻
Needed a lap of Regent’s Park in there too
Epic Guys .. love city riding in Dubai .. keep it coming guys
Cheers will contact
More Alec please!
I tried the route, it was nice but not quite satisfying as there is some parts riding just next to the river thames on gravel and muddy land. Those parts were not suitable for roadbikes at all and really dangerous as there is hardly any protection along the river . I had to be very careful and slow. there are also several bridges that requires carrying the bike on shoulders to get on. Anyway, it's far not a perfect ride but still worth paying a shot. thanks Hank and GCN.
Many epic rides done in Tokyo, can't beat it.
You could do the "roadman" trail. That's the favourite London trail for dem badman n ting
City ride is good fun as you have to be aware of so many things.
Any premier league fans out there, cycling to all the premier league football clubs is a fun one 😄
Great video! But I have a challenge… can Hank do a GCN video, without a single sprint? It can’t be done! Nah…yeah, nice video mate. I’m moving to Sevenoaks soon and the city will be well within reach!
come try NYC. between the parks, landmarks and getting outside the city for some hills, It cant be beat.
I cycled to London (and back) for Ride London and the difference in support for cycling is night and day; the wife was horrified at the thought of blasting around London due to the traffic but it was the polar opposite of the likes of Reading and Ascot, which seem like crazy places compared to infrastructure in London. I've never felt safer (even if there is still a way to go), weird.
In the intro, that cargo bike was seriously hauling.
Some of the cargo bike riders wield them like scalpels through London traffic. Seriously impressive.
More Alec Briggs to the people!
I like London but I still love having Brecon so close for epic rides
At the start I was thinking "No, not possible." By the end I was happy to have confirmed those initial thoughts.
That was fun
Cycle highway from Westminster to tower bridge is good for top speed runs
Did those bridges rides back in 2014 but I did it before anyone awake like 6am 😂
i love the old guy in the skeleton jersey going by as hank does his interview, priceless, lol, time stamp, 11:25...