m5 to the city commute in sydney

So I'm all set to start commuting to work. Bought an honest bike, a
fuji tourer with some bags on the back and a shmidt hub. Goes really
well, it's a bit light on the front with the bags loaded and a
backpack strapped on. It's not too bad, just have to be careful with
over steering.

I did a test run on the weekend to try and work out a route and see
how long it would take. Looks like about an hour ten, but that should
come down as the weeks roll on. It's an hour by train door to door.
By car is about an hour, too.

Anyway, the m5 is really nice, I was a bit worried about it
before. But nice wide shoulders and not too much junk on them. Don't
know what the entry and exits are going to be like during peek hour,
though.

My route after I get kicked of the m5 was homer st, bayview av, unwins
bridge road, I went up bedwin, edgeware to enmore rd, then on to wilson
and followed that all the way to redfern, and a few more streets to get
to work.

There are a few hairy bits, a single lane bridge with no shoulder
where some ute couldn't wait and crossed the double to overtake me.
Homer is a bit busy in some areas. Getting on the m5 coming home (and
going in, for that matter) is going to be fun in peek hour.

Can anyone offer some alternate routes?

Where do you start from?


--
geoffs

"chesty" wrote in message
...

So I'm all set to start commuting to work. Bought an honest bike, a
fuji tourer with some bags on the back and a shmidt hub. Goes really
well, it's a bit light on the front with the bags loaded and a
backpack strapped on. It's not too bad, just have to be careful with
over steering.

I did a test run on the weekend to try and work out a route and see
how long it would take. Looks like about an hour ten, but that should
come down as the weeks roll on. It's an hour by train door to door.
By car is about an hour, too.

Anyway, the m5 is really nice, I was a bit worried about it
before. But nice wide shoulders and not too much junk on them. Don't
know what the entry and exits are going to be like during peek hour,
though.

My route after I get kicked of the m5 was homer st, bayview av, unwins
bridge road, I went up bedwin, edgeware to enmore rd, then on to wilson
and followed that all the way to redfern, and a few more streets to get
to work.

There are a few hairy bits, a single lane bridge with no shoulder
where some ute couldn't wait and crossed the double to overtake me.
Homer is a bit busy in some areas. Getting on the m5 coming home (and
going in, for that matter) is going to be fun in peek hour.

Can anyone offer some alternate routes?


You could possibly go down Wardell Rd from Homer down to big roundabout,
turn right which is still Wardell road which continues over the Dulwich Hill
stn (and past Cooks river cycle path) then continue accross Marrickville
Road at Dulwich Hill then continue to Petersham to New Canterbury Road turn
right untill you get to Crystal Street then Douglas Street (you could go
down via the Petersham train stn which is a lot quieter than Canterbury
Road) which will take you past Stanmore Station left and then vere right
along Salisbury road till you get to Missenden road at Newtown/Camperdown
Sth area then work your way towards Redfern via Darlington by continuing
along Carillon Ave,right city road,left Darlington Rd,Left Abercrombie, then
Vere Right to Lawson till you reach Redfern area.

You could follow the Stanmore road from Petersham but it's pretty damn busy
in the AM peak.I wouldn't ride it as cars seem to really hoot along there.
There are some back streets that will take you to the same area to miss the
traffic around Petersham so a bit of study will find them.

Hope this helps

DJ

On 2005-10-30, DJ (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
You could possibly go down Wardell Rd from Homer down to big roundabout,
turn right which is still Wardell road which continues over the Dulwich Hill
stn (and past Cooks river cycle path) then continue accross Marrickville
Road at Dulwich Hill then continue to Petersham to New Canterbury Road turn
right untill you get to Crystal Street then Douglas Street (you could go
down via the Petersham train stn which is a lot quieter than Canterbury
Road) which will take you past Stanmore Station left and then vere right
along Salisbury road till you get to Missenden road at Newtown/Camperdown
Sth area then work your way towards Redfern via Darlington by continuing
along Carillon Ave,right city road,left Darlington Rd,Left Abercrombie, then
Vere Right to Lawson till you reach Redfern area.

You could follow the Stanmore road from Petersham but it's pretty damn busy
in the AM peak.I wouldn't ride it as cars seem to really hoot along there.
There are some back streets that will take you to the same area to miss the
traffic around Petersham so a bit of study will find them.

Damn. That's all my old territory, but I can't remember enough of the
map to tell you which roads I took from Petersham and later, Dulwich
Hill to Sydney Uni. I found a nice back route on mostly non busy
roads. One of them was right along the train track.

Uh, whereis.com.au. Trafalga St, but don't go down Trafalga St west
of Crystal St (traffic or hills, I can't remember). Yeah, I spent
quite a few peak hour on New Canterbury Road/Stanmore st, and it
wasn't overly fun, but I didn't die, either.

I think I made use of part of Salisbury Road and Kingston road (I
think the latter was to avoid some bad traffic over the more direct
Salisbury Road) to get to either Trafalga or Stanmore Sts, depending
on which suburb I was living in at the time.

--
TimC
Black holes are where God divided by zero. -- Steven Wright

"TimC" wrote in message
...
On 2005-10-30, DJ (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
You could possibly go down Wardell Rd from Homer down to big roundabout,
turn right which is still Wardell road which continues over the Dulwich
Hill
stn (and past Cooks river cycle path) then continue accross Marrickville
Road at Dulwich Hill then continue to Petersham to New Canterbury Road
turn
right untill you get to Crystal Street then Douglas Street (you could go
down via the Petersham train stn which is a lot quieter than Canterbury
Road) which will take you past Stanmore Station left and then vere right
along Salisbury road till you get to Missenden road at Newtown/Camperdown
Sth area then work your way towards Redfern via Darlington by continuing
along Carillon Ave,right city road,left Darlington Rd,Left Abercrombie,
then
Vere Right to Lawson till you reach Redfern area.

You could follow the Stanmore road from Petersham but it's pretty damn
busy
in the AM peak.I wouldn't ride it as cars seem to really hoot along
there.
There are some back streets that will take you to the same area to miss
the
traffic around Petersham so a bit of study will find them.

Damn. That's all my old territory, but I can't remember enough of the
map to tell you which roads I took from Petersham and later, Dulwich
Hill to Sydney Uni. I found a nice back route on mostly non busy
roads. One of them was right along the train track.

Uh, whereis.com.au. Trafalga St, but don't go down Trafalga St west
of Crystal St (traffic or hills, I can't remember). Yeah, I spent
quite a few peak hour on New Canterbury Road/Stanmore st, and it
wasn't overly fun, but I didn't die, either.

I think I made use of part of Salisbury Road and Kingston road (I
think the latter was to avoid some bad traffic over the more direct
Salisbury Road) to get to either Trafalga or Stanmore Sts, depending
on which suburb I was living in at the time.

--
TimC
Black holes are where God divided by zero. -- Steven Wright

Yeah Tim, I think it was trafalgar street that follows the rail line north
of crystal but not sure how far it goes but i think it might be a safer
option to go that way till Stanmore Stn then under the little tunnel to
Salisbury rd.
I know this area because i often drive the 412 bus route through there.

DJ

geoffs writes:

Where do you start from?

revesby

"DJ" writes:

"TimC" wrote in message
I think I made use of part of Salisbury Road and Kingston road (I
think the latter was to avoid some bad traffic over the more direct
Salisbury Road) to get to either Trafalga or Stanmore Sts, depending
on which suburb I was living in at the time.
Yeah Tim, I think it was trafalgar street that follows the rail line north
of crystal but not sure how far it goes but i think it might be a safer
option to go that way till Stanmore Stn then under the little tunnel to
Salisbury rd.
I know this area because i often drive the 412 bus route through there.

Thanks, I think I'll try illawarra rd instead of bayview, then a
right, and a left on to enmore. See how I go tomorrow, if it's not
raining

chesty Wrote:
geoffs writes:

Where do you start from?

revesby
I also should have added "where do you want to go?" doh
We ride into Randwick from Ashbury via Fore St, Permanent Ave,
Riverview Rd and through to Tempe station where we join the cyclepath
and go under the railway line.
The cycleway continues on beside Airport drive onto Coward St. From
there you can turn of onto one of the roads parallel to Botany Rd that
heads into the city.
We go along Coward St to the end and do a dogleg onto George St, Evans
Ave and through the underpass to the other side of Gardeners.
Take the first on the left into Tunstall and follow the sings to
Doncaster which heads straight to Centennial Park.
tailwinds

Geoff


--
geoffs

Thanks, I think I'll try illawarra rd instead of bayview, then a
right, and a left on to enmore. See how I go tomorrow, if it's not
raining

Use Wardell instead of Illawarra which has some really narrow sections.
Wardell is much wider and better to cycle on.
I sometimes ride in along Stanmore onto Enmore Rd, Through King St and
then through Redfern. The traffic does't move that fast and I can keep up
most of the time.
Just make sure that you take the lane and dont be a gutter bunny

Cheers

Geoff


--
geoffs

geoffs writes:

Use Wardell instead of Illawarra which has some really narrow sections.
Wardell is much wider and better to cycle on.
I sometimes ride in along Stanmore onto Enmore Rd, Through King St and
then through Redfern. The traffic does't move that fast and I can keep up
most of the time.
Just make sure that you take the lane and dont be a gutter bunny

I've managed 3 rides in now, 2 via illawarra road. You're right about
Illawarra road being narrow, it's half duplex in some sections where
with the parked cars on both sides, 2 cars don't quite fit down the
middle. That's probably not the worst part.

The worst would be where there is one lane in both directions with
islands and parked cars everywhere. It's not so bad in the morning as
there isn't much traffic and it's down hill in that section so I take
the lane. In the arvo there are more cars around and it's a hard slog
up hill where at the top I'm in the granny doing 8kph. I feel bad
about taking the lane doing 8, but a car and bike just don't occupy
the same space gracefully.

The m5 is magical, there's something very uplifting about overtaking
cars in a 110 zone that are going as fast as they can. I need a shirt
that says something like "Toll $0, ULP $0". The only thing is, dodging
rubbish is risky business when the cars are barely crawling along,
motorbikes like to get on the emergency lane and wiz pass just inches
from you.