A question of a commute: Greystones to Dublin

Plastik

Does anyone here commute the 30k each way from Greystones on their bike? I'm considering it at the moment and I'm trying to find the easiest, and fastest, way of doing it. I've driven this route and it looks ok-ish. There's a lot of lights and stop starting in through Bray/Shankill, but avoids the N11 completely.

There's this route too, which makes use of the N11 though skips some of Bray. Anyone care to suggest something different?

daragh_

Up through Windgates is probably the most direct. Wouldn't fancy that hill every morning though.

You'll hit traffic coming into Bray that way, along the Vevay Road and down the Main Street. So the second route probably makes more sense.

Seaswimmer

I would take the back road from shankill through ballybrack village then Church road/rochestown avenue/abbey road to rejoin your route before blackrock. This means you can avoid the n11 altogether especially the bit where you have to negotiate the roundabout at Loughlinstown hospital..

fenris

I would go with your first route, getting through Bray in the morning on that route is very easy, the turn off to Deansgrange gets rid of the hill at Foxrock but feels slower as you have to deal with traffic in Blackrock etc.granted the traffic is mostly stuck but you do get some bizarre maneuvers from frustrated motorists. It may be worth just staying on the N11 as it doesn't have as many interruptions and you can get up a good flow, choose your bits of cycle lane wisely!

I wouldn't be to enthusiastic about your second route, the stretch of road from Kilmac to the start of the M11 is very busy and there is a lot of lane changing/ merging between traffic from Bray south joining and traffic trying to get to the Enniskerry exit with nobody giving any leeway, very easy to get a slap of a car that could ruin your day. You would probably be better off swinging into Bray at the Bray South exit and straight down Killarney road, there would probably be a difference of seconds and a lot less risk.

draven_steel

I'm doing a greystones to blackrock commute at the moment. it's about 20ish k. I head up windgates (nasty hill!) and in through bray, then shankill. The traffic is ok in bray except on the way down from the vevay to the main street. School time is a nightmare and the road is extremely narrow so take care here. Lots of lights, it does slow you down but offers a breather if you need it. Can be annoying after a while admittedly.

Coming out at loughlinstown roundabout isn't as bad as it would seem and i've yet to even have a close call here (touches wood...). Just be careful and alert. I do like seaswimmer'ss idea here tho

I'm not heading all the way down to blackrock village so i continue on the N11 and then go down newtownpark avenue.

As others have said, sections on the N11 cycle lanes (both ways) are really poor so be careful until your used to it. There's a couple of fairly well hidden craters along the way, you'd come off at any decent pace but you will learn where these are and so problem solved.