Skyride is a free closed-roads mass participation ride to encourage folks to get out on their bikes. It started in London with huge numbers of closed city-centre roads, and consequently huge numbers of riders. The Edinburgh ride, in typical half-arsed parsimonious fashion, uses roads that would have been closed anyway, or at least have no impact if they are. Closed, that is.
That said, it's still a grand day out. The loop round Arthur's Seat is undertaken anticlockwise, and the climb up past the Commie is a bit of a grind, especially if you're a six year old boy on a single-gear bike carrying a bit of a cold. It's all worth it coming round the bend though, south and east Edinburgh and the Forth are spread out before you, and you get a stonking descent back to the event "village" by Holyrood Palace. Such was the pace of progress this year that I didn't manage to get any pictures of the actual cycling.
We met up with the Earnshaws, and our little peloton was strung out all the way round the route.
There's plenty of other stuff to do too. Sky Procycling were there, and (when we left at least) I was at the top of the 500m sprint leaderboard. Edinburgh Leisure were there, with throwing and jumping games, and tug-of-war. British Cycling athletes were there, signing helmets, bibs and oranges.
Also very much present - and fittingly for a Scottish September - were grey clouds, and occasional showers. It also seemed a bit quieter, a bit more subdued, a bit smaller than last year. So we went home.
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