Pedal on Parliament (Scotland)

[Brandane]

Weather forecast looks good for tomorrow, so thought I might drive through as far as the Falkirk wheel and then ride in from there. Mainly to avoid the chaos that might follow the event on the trains if a lot of people are all trying to head west from Waverley station at the same time! Will either be on a black Tricross or an orange Trek 6500 MTB. MTB will probably be the better choice for the canal path. All the above is dependant on my bits recovering from a 70 mile jaunt today .

Is there a common meeting point for other CC'ers?

 

[Deleted member 20519]

Hope to see some of you guys here! There's supposed to be almost 1000 people going so it'll be pretty busy.

 

[Telemark]

So, are we trying to meet anywhere in particular?

Hmmm ... hadn't thought about that ... Goo will be wearing his CC top - he might be a good person to look out for?

I'll be wearing my PoP-blue (pure co-incidence) cycling jacket ... and probably be near where the PoP team is gathering - they are putting bunting/flags/balloons somewhere apparently... you should be able to hear Magnatom from a long way off and possibly spot Mark Beaumont.

The core PoP team will be wearing white T-shirts with the Panda picture (or possibly with a helmet camera cyclist ) , and the marshalls will be wearing blue high-viz vests ... they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Will you bring the kids?

Getting excited ...

T

 

[Theseus]

Will you bring the kids?

Nah!, t1 is going ice skating with some pals and t2 has street dancing lessons. Yo!

 

[Telemark]

Cyclists are converging on Edinburgh, with various rides from all over Scotland are on their way to Pedal on Parliament ...
including from Aberdeen, Dundee, Fife, Dunbar, Glasgow and many other places
... and the is shining on us!

The feeder ride from Leith is gathering before setting off ... spot the CycleChatter

I'll be heading off shortly, too, may see some of you at PoP!

If you are reading this and haven't signed the petition yet, please do so now!

T

 

[Brandane]

Not long home from this. Ended up parking the car out near the airport and cycling in along Cammo Road then from Cramond on the NCN route. Until I got lost somewhere around Haymarket, thanks to the tramworks. I hope these trams are worth all the chaos they have been causing for years, not to mention the cost!

Made my way to the meadows and was surprised by the turnout. Will be interesting to hear what the attendance figure was. Saw a CC top so introduced myself and turns out it was Scoosh, who was at the time talking to one of the event organisers, HJ. Good to meet both of you.

Good to have a dry afternoon for it, but despite the sun there was a cold wind blowing and because of the numbers involved, it was slow to get everybody moving. By the time I got going I was frozen, and didn't hang about long at Holyrood as I had the return cycle to Turnhouse Road to do. The return trip was with the tailwind so very pleasant.

Well done the organisers; let's hope the MPs listen! A few photos from the day:

Gathering at the Meadows. This was only looking one direction from where I was, about half way down the queue!

Heading down High Street (The Royal Mile).

Outside the ugly and mega expensive Parliament building.

 

[Deleted member 20519]

Can't say I expected for 3000 people to come! Didn't meet anyone from here unfortunately.

 

[Telemark]

What a day!
Conservative estimates (police on bikes) said 2,500, the organisers think 3,000 a better estimate - impossible to count, and so many wee cyclists! All sorts of bikes, people of all ages, everybody with a smile on their face!
Perhaps 5-10 times as many people as expected

A 1 minute silence on the Meadows, in memory of cyclists no longer with us, a minute of ringing bells/horns/etc to celebrate, and we were off ... slowly.
Some short speeches in front of the Scottish Parliament with official handover of the manifesto to the MSPs ...
led off by ex CCer Magnatom, round-the-world cyclist, North Pole rower etc. Mark Beaumont, Lynn McNichol (sp?) whose stepson was killed in an accident, and politicians from all parties gave short speeches (one exception - nobody turned up for the Tory party). What happens next in terms of investment remains to be seen, but it was an impressive show of strength by a cross-section of the general population.

A good turnout from CC Ecosse - among the audience Goo Mason, Touche, Scoosh (+ Mrs Scoosh), Brandane (sorry missed you!), and HJ. Amazing what 8 people started off only 2 months ago! and 25% of them CCers (or ex-CCers in Magnatom's case)

Lots of excitement & photos via Twitter and Flickr (#pop28) if you want to see the sea of cyclists!
Really proud to have been a (small) part of this, and thanks to Admin for letting us advertise on CC!

T

 

[Deleted member 20519]

Another picture

Did anyone else see the two guys riding the unicycles or the guy who had a 4" thick tyre?

 

[Theseus]

Did anyone else see the two guys riding the unicycles or the guy who had a 4" thick tyre?

Interesting riders for me included:

• Man on a unicycle by himself
• Lady riding a flower decorated bike while wearing a white stylish outfit and high heels.
• Chap with home made chopper with very small front wheel (6-8 inch)
• A couple of riders had Surly bikes with the big fat tyres, but not riding together. One had all sorts of kit on front and rear racks including front & rear cameras and strobe lights. He gave me a card, but I can't find it now.
• A family on a Thorn trandom
• Two chaps on a bike with a recumbent stoker at the front and the captain riding upright behind. The stoker was more into playing what looked like a guitar, but wasn't as it had a rounded back.

As for the numbers, outstanding. I was stood to one side of the start line to watch the off, intending to join the back from the pit lane. After about 20 minutes a gap appeared, but you could still see the queue bending back along Melville Dr.
A big congratulations to Magnatom, HJ and everyone else in organising it. Lets keep the momentum going.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I hope these trams are worth all the chaos they have been causing for years, not to mention the cost!

I think it will be eventually, particularly if they extend to the Airport, etc, but it has been messed about with so much that it'll be off to a shaky start in the public's eye regardless of how good it is.

Oh and you'll get all the locals being totally immature about and refusing to use it for whatever inane reason.

Oohh! I wonder where that guy got that black yellow and red Rugby shirt! (I presume it is that anyway). I've been looking for things in those coloures for something specific see.

I wish he could just turn round and tell me Ok, it might not exactly be high fashion or anything, but I could still do with one.

Outside the ugly and mega expensive Parliament building.

Are people STILL going on about that?? I thought we'd gotten over it about 10 years ago!

 

[Scoosh]

Can't say I expected for 3000 people to come! Didn't meet anyone from here unfortunately.

You might not have met them - but you've got goo_mason in your photo !
(in white top/black shorts/white legs to right of guy in jeans/black top and left of blonde lady in yellow jacket in lower portion of pic)

Most unfortunate, as you missed the CAKE !

 

[snorri]

Keith Brown claims to be interested in cycling matters if his reported words following PoP are to be believed, we shall see.
I took advantage of the fine day today, did a survey on a local joint user path and have now reported quite a few defects, several of which were repeat reports, it will be interesting to see if anyone does anything this time.

 

[Deleted member 20519]

You might not have met them - but you've got goo_mason in your photo !
(in white top/black shorts/white legs to right of guy in jeans/black top and left of blonde lady in yellow jacket in lower portion of pic)

Most unfortunate, as you missed the CAKE !

This guy?

AND THERE WAS CAKE?!

 

[Scoosh]

Yup - that sylph-like () figure is none other than goo_mason - on the look-out for Cake.

He found it, too, generously provided by the lovely Telemark and the (even more ) lovely Mrs Scoosh, as can be seen here :

L-R : Mrs Scoosh almost hidden behind Scoosh; Telemark; Magnatom; HJ; Touche
Not shown, as too busy eating CAKE : goo_mason

Although he got separated from us, Chapeau to Brandane, who came up from Largs for this ride .