Pedal for Scotland is Scotland’s biggest organised charity bike ride; held annually, it links Glasgow and Edinburgh.

This year, team .citycycling took part. Richard Evans tagged along for the ride.

A big, black cloud was coming down the M8 towards us, as team .citycycling’s small, but perfectly formed and Tardis-like motor transport struggled with three bikes on the roof into a squally headwind. The weather signs were not good; our destination - the People’s Palace in Glasgow Green – straddled the corners of four pages of the AtoZ; and the traffic lights were all out. “Follow that car with the bikes on it” did the job.

Having checked in and fixed rider numbers (posh or what) to bikes and clothes we joined the steady trickle of riders rolling through the start, out of Glasgow green and on to the (no’) mean streets of the east end of Glasgow. Policemen on point duty waved us through the first few junctions - the traffic lights were out for us! We passed the first p*n*t*re casualties close to the start. At the first red traffic light I remonstrated with a red-light jumper who narrowly avoided getting run over, by a very late application of brakes: “I was only doing what they were doing.” “Yebbut – they went through on green.” Apocryphal words of the Duke of Wellington sprang to mind: “I don’t know what they do to the enemy – but the put the fear of God into me.”

The first rest stop came soon – a rainswept country park on the edge of the city, three portaloos and boxes of green bananas. I broke open the malt loaf. .anth’s brake cable had snapped and so he was riding not only fixed, but brakeless, while Mel’s bike number was zip-tied around her rear brake cables. We managed a quick fix for Mel, but not .anth. Forty miles to go, with no brake. The weather was rough and the faint of heart living nearby were phoning home for lifts.