Commuting Help in Manchester

[Martin109]

Calling all commuting cyclists in Manchester - my mate Stan wants to commute to work, lives in Stretford and needs to get, I believe, to just north of the city centre, but is not confident about tackling traffic.  He got a bike through a bike-to-work scheme, but now needs encouragement and buddying to get him into the cycling groove.

Can anyone help my mate?

PM me for Stan's contact details if you feel you could help.

[Torslanda]

Martin.

He could do most of that on the Bridgewater canal.

It won't mean much to you but he should be able to access the towpath near the end of Talbot Road near to Gleave Tools. It's a 10 minute towpath trundle to Castlefield then he's into Deansgate. Traffic in central Manchester doesn't go fast enough to do you any harm, provided you're not dicking about . . .

luv'n'stuff

J

[cheadle hulme]

Bridgewater canal is very muddy and the block brick sections are slippy most of the year.

Talbot Road/Chester Road might be better for access to Deansgate.

Depending on his destination, Talbot Road/Stretford Road and avoiding city centre by skirting round back streets broadly following Mancunian Way is also good.

I used to do Old Trafford > Oldham and have tried most routes.

[Zoidburg]

Its not muddy at my end as its been ashed over, it does get a bit ropey away from civilization though

[Tom B]

Whereabouts in Stretford is he? I think there should almost certainly be an on-road route that avoids the fastest, hairiest bits.

Cycle tracks and paths aren't normally much use but there are some on this route that make busy junctions / roundabouts more doable

[Martin109]

Thanks for all these replies. which I'll pass on to Stan.

He's in Melbourne Avenue, which is very close to the A56.

Hopefully we'll have a chance to research something in November when I hope to visit, so these ideas are useful.