Manchester (Sky)Ride

Highlander in rare smiling shocker

I originally had Sky TV installed when we lived in Edinburgh - for the Premiership football. I've never had any desire to have the movies or any of the other add-ons (I don't own an HD telly for instance) and so our relationship, despite early promise, has been on a downward spiral since.

The fact that I sat flicking through a multitude of desolate channels with a classic "hundreds-of-channels-with-nothing-on" look on my face time after time, convinced me of the necessity to expunge this evil. (Or, at the very least, replace it with FreeSat). That and the cost. And the fact it's owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Sky has always been on my hit list of Highlander family austerity cuts (which we may return to at a later date).

Against this background, Mrs H, daughter and myself attended the (Sky)Ride in Manchester today. The idea is that a section of the city centre is closed off to all traffic for one day and cyclists are free to roam safely. We drove to Old Trafford, arriving about 10:15, where we parked up and got the bikes out. (And before anyone gets their green credentials out we drove because daughter would never have made the cycle from Timperley to Mancunia) Lots of other people there for the start and much cyclist camaraderie.

On the way out of the car park I exercised the right not to don a (Sky)Ride bib, which you will see in most of the photos, preferring to keep my message unsullied. (I think Mrs H might have muttered "Prick" under her breath but I can't be sure) I couldn't face cycling around with Murdoch advertising down my front. It'd be like puking over your shirt and then showing it off to everyone. Then it was a couple of miles cycling up to Castlefield for the official start and handing out of more advertising crap - particularly plastic flags.

It was a perhaps too-well marshalled 12km route from Castlefield Arena to Sportcity and back with promotional stands, refreshments and cycle repair facilities at either end. The cycling was good - no killer hills - and everyone was courteous and helpful. We had a good few hours cycling overall and thoroughly enjoyed it. Despite the freedom though you never really felt like stopping to take it in or to marvel at the absence of cars, vans, lorries and buses. The one-way system and the weight of numbers kept the cyclists moving in a similar fashion to cars in traffic - all moving in one direction and where you simply couldn't just stop. I found that a bit strange as surely the beauty of cycling is the fact that you are not restricted by the speed of movement of the vehicle in front or encumbered by the vehicle you are sat in.