For those of you that haven't done one of these the Skyride involves closing the centre of London to traffic and creating a bike friendly route that passes some of the capital's top sights.
I started on Westminster Bridge (above) and after passing Big Ben it was onto the loop up to Buckingham Palace and down the Mall to Admiralty Arch. Then we went via Whitehall onto the Embankment and the main route, following the Thames to Tower Hill, before returning back to complete the circuit back on Westminster Bridge.
It was such great fun I did the loop twice!
Many brought their own bikes in but I used one of the Boris bikes. Technically known as the TfL Barclays Cycle Hire everyone calls them after London's Mayor, here with Kelly Brook in a picture from the Standard's article on the Skyride.
Boris bikes are a great idea: dotted all over central London are docking stations where you can hire bikes for short periods of time and then return them to any other docking station. If you have registered you just slot in a special key and are off and away in seconds, and having just signed up this seemed like an excellent way to try them out.
There was another benefit in using a Boris bike which was that the forecast was for heavy rain and hail which would have put a damper on the ride home, though in the end there was just the slightest drizzle for the shortest time.
And everyone clearly was having an absolutely great time. I don't think I've seen as many smiling people clearly enjoying themselves.
It was just brilliant.
Updated: might have been lucky with the weather as the heavens have just opened up, which is a shame for those who started the Skyride mid-day
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