HAVING collected a quirky new bike from the MyVelo showroom in North Acton and taking it for a spin in the car park of the perfume factory, my enthusiasm somewhat dipped when I found out I was four miles from the Sky Ride starting point.
I wanted to get down to Lammas Park quickly, to show London mayor Boris Johnson's tag team how it's done.
Ever the keen cyclist, and having notched up 20 miles around Richmond Park the day before, I kept telling myself and my news editor, Chris Longhurst, our route from North Acton down the back streets towards the park was a great warm-up before the actual event.
Sadly, my competitive streak then reared its ugly head.
We broke away from Raj Tandon, founder of MyVelo, a bespoke build-a-bike company and his team, and zig-zagged our way to Lammas Park. There, we were hit with a sea of people wearing bright yellow bibs, colourful helmets and tight lycra pants, while the vuvuzela effect of ringing bike bells carried in the breeze.
Stunned by the sheer number of people, we were directed to the start and off we went, first of all passing
the unfortunate car owners who would soon be cursing Sky Ride after having parking tickets slapped on their windscreens.
I snaked my way through the younger and older cyclists as the marshals directed us left and right around the back streets of South Ealing. The smooth ride was interrupted only a few times by the traffic lights at busy junctions, where cars were still allowed to be driven.
As the two-wheelers came gently to a stop, all eyes were on the
unicyclist who nervously approached the junction. But he simply propped himself up on another cyclist's shoulders and we all sighed with relief and laughed as we learned how it was done so 'professionally'.
All the children, pedalling twice as fast with their little legs, kept on smiling as parents gently urged them to keep going. Along every street, people came out to cheer and wave to the dribs and drabs of cyclists riding past.
It was heartwarming to see church congregations offering riders free drinks to quench their thirst and the ingenuity of people selling cakes and snacks to the thousands passing their homes.
We rode over Ealing Common, where police and ambulances were on standby, through some more back streets, before riding past Ealing Studios, Pitzhanger Manor House and
on to the Uxbridge Road bus lane.
There we wound our way over the bridge by Ealing fire station towards Drayton Green and then Bunny Park. We gave ourselves 30 minutes to soak up the atmosphere, watch the riders come in, see them stretch their legs, grab a drink, and relax with friends and family in the sunshine.
A large crowd gathered round the 'puncture kit guy' - who turned his
bike frame upside down, removed the wheels and screwed in about half-a-dozen drums and cymbals to entertain the masses.
Our journey continued back through Hanwell, West Ealing and Northfields,
before finishing the loop back at Lammas Park. It could have been longer as the roads were pretty flat, but that was the beauty of Sky Ride.
You could do the circuit as many times as you liked and one cyclist claimed to have done it eight times.
I managed two circuits - and my excuse? I had to cycle all the way back to North Acton to drop off my borrowed bike.
