If your idea of a bike ride is a mellow passage through bucolic landscapes, pastoral idylls and Hardy-esque belts of verdure, urban cycling is always going to be a bit of a shock to the system. However well maintained and planned the route, the soundtrack is more bin lids crashing than birdsong, and it won't be a stubborn sheep that blocks your path but the local Asbo kids.
And yet there is a certain serenity to inner-city cycling. You feel so Zen-like pedalling down a tarmacked towpath to work, knowing that you're avoiding near-death on the main commuter routes into town. Sure, you might have pedalled over some dog poo along the way, but how smug you feel that at least you're not getting a lung full of chemicals en route.
Often you will find that these cycle paths offer nifty short cuts, too. Take the Fallowfield Loop in Manchester. This six-mile off road stretch opened fully last summer and links up areas of the city that are a nightmare to travel between on public transport. It also provides an interesting social transect of the city, running from the chichi neighbourhood of Chorlton in the west (it's got an organic shop), through the deprived suburb of Gorton (where Shameless was filmed) and on to Fairfield in the east.
I've just moved up to Manchester and I wasn't going to bother bringing my bike, having been told the city is even less bike-friendly than London. But routes like this prove that there are the beginnings of a cycling culture in Manchester - even if you still can't hire a bike for love, money or even promises of fame in a national newspaper supplement.
Things you need to know: this is not in any way a loop, in fact, but a straightforward A-to-B route. The name harks back to the route's original use as part of the old Manchester Central Station Railway, which ran between Hull and Liverpool. Rather than going into Manchester itself, the track looped around the city. The route still skirts past several working stations, such as Levenshulme and Reddish North, making it handy for commuters wanting to cycle at least part of their journey by bike.
It is not going to win any prizes for natural beauty - the shopping trolleys and carrier bags lodged in trees recall grim Ken Loach films more than Turner oil paintings - but it has its fair share of urban charm. Plus the route runs close to three green expanses, including the particularly picnickable Highfield Country Park on the border of Levenshulme and Stockport, and the wildlife-packed Chorlton Water Park, a designated nature reserve and important wintering site for water birds.
The student area of Fallowfield offers numerous refuelling opportunities too. Breakfasts and smoothies at Trof come highly recommended, and there's award-winning real ale at the Vale Cottage pub in Gorton.
There is only one road to cross on the Loop (at Fallowfield) making it perfect for children. Just don't let the kiddies read the graffiti under the bridges, unless you want to explain the etymological meaning of "Busty hearts Jizz" (and much worse).
It is debatable whether you would let your little ones loose on the route alone, though. It was a cold but sunny Sunday when I did the Loop and other cyclists were thin on the ground. Pedalling along the darker narrow sections did make me feel a little as though I was playing the tragic lady cyclist in a Crimewatch reconstruction. But Costel Harnasz of the amiable Friends of the Fallowfield Loop - the pressure group which raised the money for the conversion and which organises monthly rides and social events - assures me that the route is generally bustling.
Before Harnasz and his pals set wheels in motion 10 years ago, Manchester was a cycling blind spot. But it's testament to their hard work that Sustrans now has an office in the city and that the Fallowfield Loop has helped spur on the development of other routes including the Manchester Cycleway, the Trans Pennine Trail and another to Manchester Airport. There are 10 free cycling maps to the city available, too. OK, so Thomas Hardy wouldn't have written a poem about it, but it's major progress none the less.
