CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Events, rides etc.

Sky Ride Edinburgh Route announced!

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  1. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    "although this is getting looser all the time"

    Apparently not. I queried this with Historic Scotland last year and was told the same routes that are always closed on a Sunday are still closed, and the same routes that are always open on a Sunday are still open. Worth chasing them again, though I don't think we're ever going to get the lovely idea of a park being a park through to Historic Scotland.

    I'll not be here that day, as I may have gone along - though I still think it's a bit cowardly of the council only allowing this to take place in the park, on roads that for the most part are usually closed anyway. I mean, they have big running events and the like on Saturdays and close the park no problem at all.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  2. cycletrain
    Member

    Calling the route a "city centre" route is stretching it a bit. The first time I saw the SkyRide promotional stuff mentioning traffic free city centre routes I expected Princes Street, George Street etc. Not a trip round a park that all ready has cycle paths, a one way system and low traffic volumes.

    Seems like a lot of hype and money for nothing unusual. It would be better to spend the money on educating road users to respect each other. Woops lol.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  3. crowriver
    Member

    Calling the route a "city centre" route is stretching it a bit.

    Not really. If you look on the map Holyrood Park is pretty central.

    a trip round a park that all ready has cycle paths, a one way system and low traffic volumes.

    One way only applies to the Dunsapie Loch loop 'high road'. The rest is two way. Cycle paths only on Queen's Drive, access to the start of each end is not traffic free. Traffic volumes are 25,000 vehicles per day (except Sunday). Is that low?

    Posted 11 years ago #

  4. gibbo
    Member

    I live next to the park and got a letter from the council put through my letterbox today re Sky Ride.

    Road closures as expected: Duke's Walk and most of Queen's Drive from 6am - 7pm.

    Parking restrictions:

    Abbeyhill Crescent
    Calton Rd (from Abbeyhill to Lochend Close)
    Canongate

    Fri 6pm - Sat 7pm.

    It does appear - if I'm reading this correctly - that there'll be traffic controlled traffic between Holyrood Gait and Horse Wynd.

    My recollection was that that was closed last year.

    Any questions, let me know.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  5. Roibeard
    Member

    It does appear - if I'm reading this correctly - that there'll be traffic controlled traffic between Holyrood Gait and Horse Wynd.

    My recollection was that that was closed last year.

    I think they split the road down the middle, with cyclists on the crags side of the road and general traffic on the Dynamic Earth side. I don't recall if last year they had it one way (Scotsman->Palace) or if it was two-way with signal or manual control.

    Robert

    Posted 11 years ago #

  6. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Again just speaks voilumes that even in a park, over a really short section of road, they can't close it to traffic.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  7. Roibeard
    Member

    Just been advised that no SkyRides will take place in Edinburgh this year...

    I strongly suspect that this will be down to our "cycle-friendly" council, based on how the Council approached the SkyRide and SkyRide Local for the last two years.

    Robert

    Posted 10 years ago #

  8. chdot
    Admin

    "I strongly suspect that this will be down to our "cycle-friendly" council"

    To be fair to 'the council' (no really - I am sometimes...) I'm sure R means 'some sections of the council'.

    Perhaps the ones making it difficult for the organisers of PoP3(?)

    CEC should want to make sure this is a massive success this year...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  9. chdot
    Admin

    "
    Dear Edinburgh Ride Leaders,

    I hope that you have all managed to enjoy some cycling this winter in-between all the torrential downpours.

    We have spent the last few months sorting out all of the Sky Ride Local partnerships for 2014 and unfortunately I am sorry to say that Edinburgh will not be one of our Council partners this year. We have enjoyed working in Edinburgh for the last 2 years and would like to thank you all for the contribution you have all made to the programme and trying to get more people out cycling. If any of you live close enough to Glasgow and would be interested in leading rides there then please just let me know and we will get a ride leader agreement for this year sent out to you.

    For those of you that are keen to still organise and lead some rides in Edinburgh you may wish to look at organising some of your own Social Cycling Groups http://www.goskyride.com/Social. We would be happy to provide you with any of the information required for the routes that were used in the Sky Ride Local programme if you wanted to use them for Social Cycling.

    Thank you all again for your support and we hope you all keep enjoying your cycling.

    "

    Posted 10 years ago #

  10. Roibeard
    Member

    @chdot - thanks for the accurate correction. I had some awareness last year that Edinburgh's SkyRide was much more difficult than that in other cities, and I don't doubt that it's down to the same elements.

    Robert

    Posted 10 years ago #

  11. chdot
    Admin

    @ R

    Thanks for thanks - you know I wasn't 'correcting' you, just focussing your annoyance!!...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  12. Edinburgh Cycle Training
    Member

    It would seem CEC refused to contribute financially.

    "British Cycling and Scottish Cycling have been working in partnership with Edinburgh City Council to promote and develop recreational cycling opportunities which we deliver under a partnership agreement.

    The Sky Ride Mass Participation Event is one component of this agreement which also features Local Led Rides and Social Cycling Groups amongst other activities which encourage people to cycle throughout the year.

    Under this partnership agreement, we ask all our partners to commit a percentage of match funding and provide financial support and regrettably Edinburgh City Council were not in a position to do this.

    Therefore as there is no partnership, there will be no Sky Ride in Edinburgh this year."

    Posted 10 years ago #

  13. chdot
    Admin

    "

    Organised by broadcaster Sky and British Cycling, the city council contributed £20,000 to pay for the event and a smaller series of local rides held throughout the year.

    However in 2013 just 250 people turned out for these events, causing council bosses to pull the plug, with funding now going to a professional race series in a bid to tempt Tour De France organisers to choose Edinburgh for the prestigious race’s Grand Depart.

    "

    http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/sky-ride-cycling-event-axed-over-lack-of-funding-1-3313290

    Posted 10 years ago #

  14. Roibeard
    Member

    Looks like the info is now in the public domain - every other city funds their own SkyRide, but British Cycling paid for ours last year, when the council refused. No other city placed British Cycling in this position...

    Robert

    Posted 10 years ago #

  15. Snowy
    Member

    However in 2013 just 250 people turned out

    Might have had something to do with the weather that weekend; if I recall, it was bucketing down.

    Think my OH managed to beat a policeman on the watt bikes.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  16. davemorrison
    Member

    The weather was bad last year and the route was awful. Billed as a family event, I have no idea how my 5 yr old girls and 7 yr old boy were supposed to climb Arthur's Seat let alone manage it into the teeth of a howling gale. Why not use the promenade at Silverknowes and a few of the roads close to it for a flat, child friendly route that causes minimal disruption through road closures?

    Posted 10 years ago #

  17. twq
    Member

    @davemorrison it sounds like you are trying to encourage the uptake of cycling for young people. Heretic!

    Posted 10 years ago #

  18. chdot
    Admin

    "However in 2013 just 250 people turned out"

    Presume that refers to take up of the Local Rides(?)

    Main event less popular than first year.

    "I have no idea how my 5 yr old girls and 7 yr old boy were supposed to climb Arthur's Seat"

    Some could/would/did - but it's certainly not my idea of a suitable way for encouraging 'novice' families to cycle.

    Then there's the downhill bit...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  19. chdot
    Admin

    "
    Sean Allan (@seansauzee)
    22/02/2014 17:13
    #thisisedinburgh A city that can find £1m to self promote find £50k to sponsor #pearlizumi pro race but can't find £20k to sponsor #SkyRide

    "

    Posted 10 years ago #

  20. Nelly
    Member

    I am confused about why we should be finding money to sponsor an event which is just free advertising for Sky?

    And has a terrible child unfriendly route?

    Would rather any cash went to infra improvements than this nonsense.

    In my opinion, obviously :-)

    Posted 10 years ago #

  21. chdot
    Admin

    @N

    1 Yes, big companies seem to be good at getting people (councils) to pay for their events. (Maybe the TdF started it!?)

    2 That's certainly true. 'Blame' for that must, at least partly, must be with CEC. There are clearly people who don't want 'cycling events' in 'the city centre'. It's 'unfortunate' that Princes Street is no longer 'cycle family friendly' - even with no traffic.

    I would close Melville Drive, Lauriston Place GivB etc. for a few hours.

    3 I think there should be some degree of spending on 'promotion'. It's doubly ironic that there is no £20k for a participatory event (plus a series of local rides), but £50k for someone else's spectator event.

    4 Other people may agree...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  22. chdot
    Admin

    Random -

    "
    Sarah Connolly (@_pigeons_)
    23/02/2014 22:36
    I'm more & more convinced mass-participation rides aren't how to get more people cycling regularly, & riding-in-traffic classes & groups are
    Caroline Stewart (@swordpanda)
    23/02/2014 22:41

    "

    "
    @_pigeons_ that makes sense as mass participation is great for those who “already do” , the smaller GoSkyRides attract those who didn't

    "
    "

    Ginny Spencer (@gs1968)
    24/02/2014 07:25
    @_pigeons_ @CyclingEdin as a novice cyclist, I'd agree. Supported and non-judgemental proficiency/skills classes!

    "

    Posted 10 years ago #

  23. Roibeard
    Member

    Bear in mind that the expenses of the SkyRide were predominately in the cost of the road closures (TRO, council roads staff, etc).

    So where other cities absorbed the costs of the road closure, signage, cones, etc themselves, Edinburgh passed the cost on to British Cycling. It's not (necessarily) that they were paying for Sky advertising, or paying for Sky to do something.

    By saying that they won't fund the road closures themselves, they are saying that there won't be a council sponsored closed road cycling event in Edinburgh, regardless of the route chosen.

    Yet one might consider that £20K would be better spent on 92m [1] of Quality Bicycle Corridor than on a day of mass participation cycling.

    Robert
    [1] http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/news/article/1063/cycling_boost_for_edinburgh_with_new_dedicated_bike_route

    Posted 10 years ago #

  24. chdot
    Admin

    "they are saying that there won't be a council sponsored closed road cycling event in Edinburgh, regardless of the route chosen."

    Unless it's a race...!

    Posted 10 years ago #

  25. Roibeard
    Member

    Unless it's a race...!

    Or a protest - yay for PoP3!

    Robert

    Posted 10 years ago #

  26. Nelly
    Member

    "Yet one might consider that £20K would be better spent on 92m of Quality Bicycle Corridor than on a day of mass participation cycling"

    Wasn't thinking of QBiC really, but - regardless of location - I would be questioning the validity of the Skyride if those children particating couldn't safely ride from home to the start. Which most probably can't, and hence people have to put the kids bikes on cars, drive to venue, go round in a (hilly) circle and drive home.

    Not for me, thanks.

    But - totally agree that it seems incongruous to subsidise the pearl izumi event - but I will bet that these are/were paid out of different CEC budgets (pearl izumi probably out of the development budget - ie attracting tourists).

    That's not an excuse, more an indictment of the non-joined up-ness of CEC cycling policy.

    Posted 10 years ago #

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