June is bike month for the city, facilitated by the Manchester Friends of the Earth’s Love Your Bike Campaign. Throughout June’s 30 Days of Revolution, Greater Manchester will be embracing two wheeled travel with a whole series of “bike-tastic” events and activities.

Manchester is on its way to becoming a paradise for the cycling enthusiast. Last year £20 million of funding from the Cycle City Ambition Grant (CCAG) was awarded to Greater Manchester to help transform the region’s biking infrastructure and support the Vélocity 2025 vision. The aptly named Vélocity 2025 aims to achieve a healthier, safer and more sustainable city increasing the proportion of trips by bike to 10% of all journeys by 2025.

In the short term, the CCAG funding will be used to improve infrastructure and attitudes towards cycling. Strategically placed cycle routes are being built linking employment hubs, educational institutions and leisure facilities to encourage people to adopt the bicycle as a key mode of transportation. “Cycle and ride stations” are being added to public transport links to allow people to ride their bikes to Metrolink stops and train stations. The idea is to make the city as rider friendly as possible. Vélocity 2025 is also working to create a programme of cycle promotion to create a cultural shift in attitudes towards cycling.

Over 300 events are scheduled throughout the month all over the Greater Manchester region, catering to all age groups and abilities.

June’s month long celebration of all things cycling got rolling on Sunday with the Sky Ride, when riders donned their helmets and embarked on a bicycle-friendly rediscovery of the Bolton area. Over 300 events are scheduled throughout the month all over the Greater Manchester region, catering to all age groups and abilities.

Among the many interesting bike related events, Brompton Dock, located at Piccadilly Train Station is providing a special offer to try the out the iconic (and incredibly convenient) Brompton folding bike. Due to the compact size when folded, they are the only bikes that can be taken on all public transport, even during peak times. In honour of Bike Month, a leisure membership costs just £1 with the Free2Ride code and includes two free consecutive free hire days (The 2 days free hire must be used within a week of registration.)

Also not to be missed is the “Bicycle Bloc” Love Your Bike is co-ordinating in the Manchester Day Parade on June 21st. In keeping with the “Going Global” theme, the progress Manchester is making towards  “Going Dutch” for cycling infrastructure will be iconicized by a Dutch bike designed by artist Julian Taylor, and a woman cyclist in Dutch orange to lead the ‘bicycle bloc’ around the Manchester Day Parade route.

The extravaganza comes to a close with the Greater Manchester Cycle on June 29th; when bikers get their turn to rule the roads and ride down a car free Mancunian Way.

From rides and lessons to bike jumble sales and maintenance assistance, there really will be something for everyone.The extravaganza comes to a close with the Greater Manchester Cycle on June 29th; when bikers get their turn to rule the roads and ride down a car free Mancunian Way.

As well as offering a packed calendar of pedal-powered events, businesses and organisations can also take a pledge to cycle as much as they can throughout June. Whether you ditch the car for the month or just make it out to the park, Love Your Bike’s  Thirty Days of Revolution seeks to encourage people to cycle somewhere in Manchester every day for the 30 days of June. Daily bike rides are fun, good for you and good for the environment, so why not sign up to take the Pedal Powered Pledge by clicking here. 

To help spread the word Love Your Bike has created a simple Twitter action. Simply click on the “Tweet to” links on the webpage and a Tweet message will pop up ready to send.

For a full listing of Bike Month happenings visit the Bike Month website.