Sky Ride Manchester

A hub of activity at Sportcity

Even at 10am, the Sportcity arena, in the shadow of the City of Manchester Stadium was already alive with Sky Riders of all shapes and sizes.  Friendly marshals were on hand to funnel everyone into the arena, where a carnival was already in full swing.

Manchester City Council arranged a host of sports to try out, including rugby, football and rock climbing.  Sky Ride bib-clad kids were scaling the climbing wall that had been erected in the athletics centre.   Around the running track, there was a whole host of stands and attractions.  No one was going to go hungry as there were plenty of refreshment stalls selling hot potatoes and sandwiches and Gatorade, Sky Ride’s official partner was handing out free Drench water and bottles of Gatorade.

Love Your Bike (Friends of the Earth's Manchester campaign group) had a bike powered smoothie machine.  Smooth Radio created a chill-down area and also had their own smooth blend of fruits, powered, of course, by bike.
  
Sustrans, the organisation responsible for the National Cycle Network, were on hand to provide information on safe, traffic-free local cycle routes.

Close by, Manchester Diamonds cheerleaders were doing their thing while beyond, Cycling Projects accessible bikes demo was gearing up for a busy day.

The overwhelming impression of Sportcity was the sheer strength in depth of cycling in Manchester. There were fixie riders, hipsters, retro riders with handlebar moustaches and tweed, club riders, occasional riders, Penny Farthing riders, you name it - all of whom had descended upon the route determined to show their support for the event.

Riding Manchester's traffic-free route

Amid a swarm of hi viz Sky Ride vests, the route went from the football stadium, through the back of the Sportcity complex and onto Bradford Road heading towards Manchester town.  The scenes out on the roads where mind blowing and heart warming.

The roads on both sides were nose to tail with bikes.  With no cars to spoil the ride, there were just smiles, bicycles and the ringing of bells.  This carnival of many wheels was bound for the city centre, passing down Store Street and beneath the Ashton Canal aqueduct, where a lollypop man had what must have been the most bizarre assignment of his life - stopping legions of Sky Riders heading in and out of town.

Passers-by looked on, bemused, as if they'd suddenly found themselves amid a cycling exodus but the bikes just rode on, heading past Piccadilly Station onto Whitworth Street (usually nose to tail with cars seven days a week) and onto Princess Street and the Town Hall.

The real highlight of the route was Deansgate.  A ruler straight road around a mile long usually the busiest shopping street in Manchester but now kerb-to-kerb with cyclists.   All enjoying the all too brief, surreal experience of riding this usually intimidating road, traffic-free. Looming larger and larger as the cyclists pedalled up Deansgate was the stunning 500ft Beetham Tower, which marked the point where the route turned off Deansgate and headed for the main event village at Castlefield.

Castlefield Arena - Sky Ride's Entertainment Area

Castlefield Arena was transformed, packed with an amazing amount of activity.  Amid the impressive spans of the brick and iron railway bridges and nestled along canal locks and narrowboats, the event village sprawled into every available inch of space.

You could visit the Rainforest Zone (a 3D cinema experience showcasing the work of Sky’s campaign partner) or sit back and watch the amazing displays at the  BMX Flatland Area before having a go at the Go-Ride Skills course.  Staffed by British Cycling's Go-Ride coaching staff.

The Sky Ride Beach Party

The most wonderful and surreal part of the whole day was the Sky Ride beach party!

The beach, created earlier in the summer, had been taken over by  Sky Ride Local and the British Cycling's Love Cycling stand.  Our cycling stars and celebrity ambassadors could all be found here who included Geraint Thomas, Becki James, Dave Daniell, Victoria Pendleton and Gemma Atkinson who all took time out to sign Sky Ride bibs for eager fans.

Next door at the Wattbike stand, Sky Riders had a chance to win British Cycling Gold Membership for posting top scores in the Wattbike six second peak power challenge. For the less energetic, there was a beach bar and hot dog stand, complete with stripy deck chairs, where riders could relax and stock up of fuel for the next lap.